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Pump/Sump for 6x2x2 tanks


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<H1>Pump/Sump for 6x2x2 tanks</H1><DIV id=Qtextbox><P><STRONG>Author: approximate</STRONG><BR><BR>Dear forum users,

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I am after a reliable water pump capable of supporting two 6x2x2 tanks, Since the pump is going to be running in the spare bed room, I need it to be whisper quiet as we may have guests staying in that room from time to time. Cheap running cost is a bonus although not necessary. Is it possible to support multiple tanks using just one pump? If so, which pump(s) do you recommend?

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Also what size sump would be needed to support two 6x2x2 tanks? I was hoping to use an existing 3'x14"x20" tank as a sump? Is this suitable or would I need something larger?

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Also in your experience, would I be better off running the tanks off separate sumps or one large sump? I am hoping to run everything off one sump to cut down on maintenance time and equipment costs if possible.

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Can someone help me?

</DIV><H2>Replies »</H2><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: elise007</STRONG><BR><BR>No reason why you can't use the one pump at all or the one sump.

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Main thing you obviously need to recall is if using the one pump and sump then the water willbe identical in both so you can't have Americans in one and Africans in the other tank.

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You could, IMO, have one tank of Malawais and one of Tang's though.

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I use a trickle filter system in my fish room for all my cichlid tanks and currently run about 1,500 litres through a single trickle filter of similar size to the one you are poroposing. The pump i use for that is a Pondmaster 4200 and it is pumping back through piping into 9 tanks simulataneaoulsy and up to a height on three of those tanks of about 85 inches with two other layers below that.

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I also have a least a spnge filter in each tank but that is more to stir up the water a bit, fry to feed off and backup in case the sump runs dry, or the pump blocks up or a tank leaks.

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For some reason i find that although the total volume of return water does not vary much i often over a week or two have to alter slightly the return taps to keep the current even.

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With only two returns you should have far less difficulty.

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I would also suggest that you amke sure that the returns out of the tanks are through a weir arrangement in a corner and out the bootom rahter than through a hole in the side as this could cause overflow problems with that current.

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I would also suggest you set up the two tanks and the filter and fill them up with water and then see if you can't do a deal with someone to let you try a 4200 Pondmaster or an equivelant pump and see what the return water flow is like.

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Many of the sponsors have multiple pumps on offer and could probably assit i would of thought.

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Just some thoguhts, hope it helps.

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Mark

</DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: c2105208</STRONG><BR><BR>Mark has some great ideas there but I'd like to add the following;

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2x 6x2x2's I would be running 2 separate systems or one considerably larger than the one you are proposing - You'd want a turnover rate several times 1500lph! I'd suggest something of the order of 4500lph.

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As for a pump, ehh well considering the legalities and the problems SCF is having lately, it's hard to say too much but hmm... *cough* Pondmaster not whisper quiet *cough*. 'nuff said for the moment. I'm in the process of finding some pumps myself for some wet/dry sumps. It depends how much money you are willing to spend. The Pondmaster range are excellent value but you will need two of the PM4200's minimum to run the 6x2x2's (and use efficient plumbing), otherwise if that is too expensive you could try Ben from AOA for two king-4's. I wouldn't go bigger than that size as they start to get quite noisy IMO. Personally, if you have the money, I'd do what I'm doing - the new Rainbow Lifegard (now pentair aquatics?) Quiet One pumps are due in the country probably by the end of November. It will be worth the wait for these as they are indeed whisper quiet and provide excellent performance - whilst being both submersible and in-line. They also come in 4 sizes now instead of the one size that they used to come in. You may still need two of the larger ones to do a system that big however if it's moderate to heavily stocked cichlid tanks. Be prepared they won't be cheap, I'm anticipating being in the $300-500 range per pump of the larger models. General rule of thumb, if you want high performance and whisper quiet, you have to be prepared to pay the $$, if you want low performance and whisper quiet that's achievable with low cost, and if u want pure performance and dont care about noise then you can also get something fairly cheap. Up to you

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Cheers,

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Adam

</DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: chorrylan</STRONG><BR><BR>hi,

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I have a similar setup in my fish room (which my poor stressed kids used to call the family room).

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It's the one on the right hand side of this photo:

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It has a 6x2x18" tank on the top and a 6x2x2 tank in the middle, both draining to a 3x18"x16" sump at the bottom left of the rack and currently returning via a sunsun 3500 pump (from Ben).

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I would recommend a bigger sump than I have, I should have used a 3x2x16" which would just barely fit fo me. The smaller tank has limited space for media and (more importantly) water.

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While faster flow rates are wonderful things I'm struggling to keep the noise levels form this one to tolerable levels. The sunsun 3500 l/hour pump is imporessively silent but the water is not. I'm getting quite a bit of water turbulance noise that I'm still trying to quieten down (the rack has only been set up for a couple of weeks). I only had a 2700 litre/hour pump when it first went up as that was what I was runing the 6x2 with (it's the fastest pump I can safely run without overloading the siphon overflow unit). Suffice to say that the 2700 was far too slow to run both tanks.

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I'm trying the 3500l/h unit at the moment but if I can't drop the noise levels down will consider using a 3200 l/hour I have in the cupboard and putting some powerheads in the tank for circulation.

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Hope that helps or at least gives you some things to think about,

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Laurie

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<br></P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: approximate</STRONG><BR><BR>Wow.. thanks guys for the insight.

Much appreciated. Now for some more silly questions.

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Mark (or anyone else that knows), assuming that each tank has a corner weir where water can flow through the hole down the bottom of the tank, how would I reduce the amount of noise generated as the water drops down the weir? Is stocking the weir with bioballs and sponges sufficient to eliminate the "waterfall" noise? Assuming that they are, do the bioballs and sponges still need to be maintained regularly? What I meant by this is, do I still need to worry about rinsing the sponges in used water every couple of weeks (to get rid of scum build up) or can I simply chuck them out when they get really dirty? Considering that most of the bacteria will be in the sump or on the bioballs in the weir (not sure if this is a valid assumption or not), I imagine that it will be ok to chuck out the dirty sponges?

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Adam (if you don't mind), can you share with us your experience with the Rainbow Lifeguard pump (cost, ease of installation, performance etc) when you get them?

I hope you'll still let us know even if it turns out to be a negative experience as it'll be difficult (not to mention expensive) to draw conclusions on certain products if product reviews are only allowed to be published if they do not contain negative comments.

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Laurie, your setup is amazing.

I wish my missus would come to her senses and let me buy more tanks.

I can see a PVC pipe on the left corner of each tank but I can't see a weir anywhere. I am assuming that water from the sump goes through this pipe (??) but how does the excess water leave the tank? Do you have a hole drilled on the back of each tank for this purpose? If so, have you had any problems with water overflowing the tanks etc? To avoid flooding our living room with water, I am wondering if anyone out there is kind enough to share their experiences on their plumbing setup (close up pics and step-by-step instructions would be very nice).

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Lastly, is it possible to spend zero time cleaning tanks and more time enjoying our setup? I have read articles whereby people have actually automated their setup in such a way that they don't even have to do water changes!

Does anyone here actually have this setup? If so, do you mind sharing your experiences with us?

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My current pethate is siphoning out big poos from the bottom of my tanks as my filters (Fluval 404 & Eheim 2217 in a 4x2x2 tank) can't seem to clear these suckers out!

What's the trick in getting rid of this unsightly mess - without siphoning?

As you can see, I am really lazy and want to spent minimal time cleaning the tank if possible.

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Thanks again for your contributions.

<p></P></DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: c2105208</STRONG><BR><BR>Put it this way mate, if I have a positive experience with the new RL pumps, you'll definately hear about it. If I have a negative experience then I'm not likely to say much of course - remember "

" hahaha! However I can't imagine myself having problems - I've used many of RL products from their modular range, and have seen their mag drive pumps and their previous model quiet one pumps in action and heard nothing but positives about it all from other owners - Hard to imagine how an 'improved' model could be any worse!

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As far as limiting noise goes, I have just reconstructed my sump for my 5x2x2 as well as my weir design and am running around 3500 lph through it. The water sound is virtually non-existent. Very gently trickling sound that you have to be quite close to the sump (head next to it virtually) to hear. If you want photos/drawings then feel free to email me and I'll work something out for you. The drawings are in AutoCAD format but I could easily make a pdf version for you if you are interested. I spent a great deal of time in my design process - the main criteria was to create an extremely efficient design, ease of use and very easy to maintain, whilst being virtually noise-free. So far I seem to have achieved that!

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As far as spending zero time doing the cleaning - yeah, you can hire someone to do it for you

Seriously though, it is possible to automate such things as water changes and dosing and feeding - however regular siphoning there's little way of automating - at some stage you will have to clean the gravel (even if you have a way of agitating the surface with a powerhead as others have tried, it will build up in the bottom layers eventually), and you still have to clean out or replace the filter media. Zero-maintenance tanks are virtually impossible to create, however some aspects you can automate as I've said.

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Cheers,

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Adam

</DIV><DIV id=Atextbox><P><STRONG>Author: chorrylan</STRONG><BR><BR>hi approximate,

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the pvc pipes you can see at the left hand end of the tanks is the drain down to the sump. Water comes in at the top right hand corner and out through those pvc pipes. I have a 40mm hole in the base and a length of 32mm pvc up to where I want the water level.

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To quieten down a wier/return setup check out durso standpipes. You should find some pictures via google.

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I don't think you will ever get out of cleaning your tank but bristlenose and mystery snails help to keep the glass clean and sand sifters help to break up the crap and get it into suspension so it can get carted off to the filters.

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Cheers,

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Laurie

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