roo Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 If you were to have three tanks in a rack stacked on top of each other, can you have holes drilled in each of the tanks ( one each in the top and bottom, and two in the middle one) and connect them with pvc pipe so that the overflow from top one goes to the next on and so on. Then have one large canister filter with the outlet in the top tank and inlet in the bottom tank. ( so as the water is pulled from the bottom tank it fills up the top tank, then the overflow just goes through the plumbing.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaZ Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 Yes. However, your bottom tank will need to be empty enough at all times to be able to hold any water which runs down from the 2 tanks above it if the power goes off. This is how I would do it(there may be other ways of course) 1 hole in the top tank, high up on the back or side of the tank. This will determine the water level of this tank, because any water above this hole will simply flow out to the tank below. 1 hole in this tank, exactly as with the top tank. The difference with this tank is that you will have plumbing bringing water from the hole in the top tank and dumping it in the top of this tank. Again, any water dumped in which brings the water level above the hole will drain away. No hole needed in the bottom tank. Run plumbing from the hole in the middle tank and have it dump in the top of this tank. As I said, the level of the water in the bottom tank is important. To set the level, fill the top and middle tanks until they begin to overflow. Then fill the bottom tank. As long as you ALWAYS set your water level in this tank with the filter off, you should be right. The main problem I see is finding a canister filter which will pump enough water to the height you need. I think you'll be spending a lot on a filter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roo Posted February 19, 2005 Author Share Posted February 19, 2005 Thanks Baz, Yeah thats how I saw it happening. The main problem I see is finding a canister filter which will pump enough water to the height you need. I think you'll be spending a lot on a filter In regards to getting the filter to pump that high, is this a common problem? My tank at the moment is quite high and the filter seems to pump ok. I anticipate that the height of the rack would only be slightly higher than my set up now as I built the cabinet and made it quite tall I am now starting to think that maybe I am overworking my filter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaZ Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 Most good canister filters will have a graph on the box showing how many L/hr they will pump at certain heads (heights). I'm not suggesting you are overworking your filter now, but simply noting that you will need a filter capable of filtering 3x the volume (one filter is now doing 3 tanks) and I imagine the head will be quite high at the top of a rack? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ged Posted February 19, 2005 Share Posted February 19, 2005 What size tanks were you thinking of using. It will then give us an idea of the type of filtration volume that is required. Gerard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roo Posted February 20, 2005 Author Share Posted February 20, 2005 I was thinking of two or three standard three footers. ( this is only a very new thought) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ged Posted February 20, 2005 Share Posted February 20, 2005 That will give you an overall water volume of 450 litres that will need to be filtered. As Baz said the good quality canisters will give you an idea of the flow rate. If you go to the Eheim site they provide a fair bit of information on their filters. For example http://www.eheim.com/faq.html#question5 The Eheim 2260 canister will circulate the volume of water you have approximately four times an hour and should have the head height that you require for the top tank. There are others filters on the market just do a bit of research first. Gerard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nannat Posted February 20, 2005 Share Posted February 20, 2005 the water from the top tank will take food and waste particles with it to the second tank making the second tank potentially twice as dirty .and second tank to third tank also .this shouldnt be a problem on higher water turnover systems and is common enough to be the normal.the lower flowrate youd get from a cannister could be a different story.this could limit the choice of fish you can choose from.then again,a a lower flow could be the fequirement for which fish your choosing alternatively you could go wider-back on the basesize on the tanks and make the tanksides shorter and the measurement between bottom and top tank would be less.this would give more filter flow or accomodate a cheaper filter,also lowering the height of the rack too. youd have tyo make sure of sitting the cannisterbase at level or at least as high as the bottom tank. also once a cannister becomes dirty it begins to slow down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roo Posted February 20, 2005 Author Share Posted February 20, 2005 the more I think about this idea, the more I am thinking of an individual HOB for each tank. Simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTR73 Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 And the more I read down this thread the more I think the same Roo - 3 HOBs or 3 internal canisters, 1000L/Hr each would be good. Yep, simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j.s Posted February 23, 2005 Share Posted February 23, 2005 Instead of a canister filter just use a sump with a submersible water pump and in my opinion you will be fine (but ive never tried it so I may be wrong). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 I would go to sump direction too. It would end up better in the long run and would be about the same price as the ehiem. Plus each tank could drain straight to the sump. It might be a bit harder to set up but well worth it IMO Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkmuncan Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 im leaning towards the sump idea as well GL Roo let us know how it comes out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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