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940 views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  Bsbarton 
#1 ·
well, i am cramped for space under my 29gal.. was going to make a 10 gallon fuge, but every way i designed it, the return side was tiny, and i didnt want to be adding water every day. I only have about 24" from side to side in my stand, also, my doors are only 11" x 27", so you can see my dilemma. However, i made my stand about 38" tall, so i have plenty of room there. my proposed plan is to stack 2 10 gallon tanks on top of eachother, overhanging the top one half way, so the whole assembly is still only 20" wide. top, fuge/skimmer/intake area will be set up like in the pic, with the last chamber being drilled on the bottom with a bulkhead fitting. coming up from this will bea piece of pvc with what will probably be a durso type overflow, to help dcut down noise, and to prevent macro algae from just flowing over. under this bulkhead in the lower tank will be a 6" round piece of PVC with large teeth cut into the bottom. inside the PVC will be a bag of activated carbon.

what do you guys think? do i need to change anything? feel free to crytique, and offer any info.

Oh, drain will either be 1" or 1 1/4". both from display to fuge, and top 10 gallon to bottom 10 gallon.

Oh, and please don say, why dont you just make 1 tank, believe me, i thought about it, and this will cost less, be easier to set-up, plus im on this space thing, remember? :D

 
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#2 ·
You may want to add water everyday no matter what. Since you have such a small system the salinity will go up very fast. I add about 1 Gallon to my 32 Gal tank everyday, it has a total water volume of about... 45 Gallons though.

Other than that, I like it.

You could however divide the lower tank and have your algae growing down there instead of the top tank, this way you can have more room for your lights.
 
#3 ·
I think one problume your going to have rigt off the bat is there will be no water movementat the bottom of your top over flow. And the more you move that pipe down the louder it will get.. you may need to build a cascade to help keep the nose down.....one other thing to think about is what if you have a main return pump shut down???? will you have anough reserve to hold your main tank over flow????
 
#4 ·
If he were planning on partitioning the lower tank into sections I think it may work better. unless he planned on keeping the bottom tank 1/2 full instead of completely full...

I was just thinkin' of ways to adjust this.

You could put a skimmer in the top fuge with a Remote Deep Sand Bed.

Tank A
Water Entry/Skimmer Area --- Remote Sand Bed --- Water drops to other tank

Tank B
Water Entry/Through Carbon --- Chaeto area --- Return Pump.
 
#5 ·
wiz1500 said:
I think one problume your going to have rigt off the bat is there will be no water movementat the bottom of your top over flow. And the more you move that pipe down the louder it will get.. you may need to build a cascade to help keep the nose down.....one other thing to think about is what if you have a main return pump shut down???? will you have anough reserve to hold your main tank over flow????
im figuring about 3 gallon total overflow, and thats at the high side. I'll fill it up just enough, shut the power down, see how much play i have when it drains, start it back up, and add water to make up the difference.
 
#6 ·
Johnos said:
You could however divide the lower tank and have your algae growing down there instead of the top tank, this way you can have more room for your lights.
thought about that, 2. reasons im not gonna,
1) macro algae grows fast, and i dont want to risk it getting into my pump (could use a sock on the pump i guess).
2) im only planning on lighting the top tank so by keeping them both up there, i can go with a smaller light.
 
#7 ·
wiz1500 said:
I think one problume your going to have rigt off the bat is there will be no water movementat the bottom of your top over flow. And the more you move that pipe down the louder it will get.. you may need to build a cascade to help keep the nose down.....
thought about that as well, looking at pats fuge, as the water comes over the baffle, it does still cascade down it, even though it is into a pool of water. his actually moves the sand at the bottom of his baffle, and the baffle is 12" high. I dont think that will be a problem.
also, i plan on doing a durso set-up on that pipe as well, so i dont think it will be to loud, more worried about the noise it will make hitting the bottom tank.
 
#8 · (Edited)
wiz1500 said:
I think one problume your going to have rigt off the bat is there will be no water movementat the bottom of your top over flow. And the more you move that pipe down the louder it will get
Sorry but I do not agree. I have a algae tumbler with a similar baffle arrangement. I added some macro to that section and it also tumbles. You are right with the noise. I added a silencer to the stand pipe and don't hear it anymore.

Here is a picture to see the similarity



The least flow is on the intake side.

Something I see is a potential noise splash issue. As the water level reduces in the lower tank. The overflow feeding it will leave the water and splash and be noisy. Perhaps a small baffle on the right side of the lower for a drop area would be an improvement.
 
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