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Two tanks, one external filter

2K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  DaveKS 
#1 ·
Hi,

I’ve currently got two tanks, a 60L Fluval Spec and a 30L Aquael. My plan for the future is to replace the Spec with another 30L Aquael or 35L Dennerle Aquascaper, then erect a cabinet which would hold a single external filter, in my case I’m thinking of a Oase BioMaster Thermo 200. My only fish are a single Betta per tank (plus shrimp, snails etc) so low bioload. As the BioMaster would generate too much flow I’d put a flow regulator on the inflow. I originally thought I could split the outflow between the two tanks so 300lph to each and then have lily pipes in each tank with both outlets feeding into a single hose back into the filter. It seems from looking online that this configuration isn’t possible and wondered if anyone had tried something similar? I know the BioMaster is overkill for 60L but I want the easy clean pre-filter and in future I may upgrade to a larger tank wink wink.

Cheers
 
#2 ·
Bad idea, very bad. Any imbalance in intake or return to either tank will eventually end in water on the floor and one tank drained. You can try to balance it out all you want but let a single leaf partially cover a input strainer or prefilter sponge in one tank become more clogged than the other and it will end very badly.
 
#4 ·
Assume if you have shrimp and betta that you have a prefilter sponge?

Find the right pore count sponge to put on the intake and just clean it weekly or whenever you do your water changes. Just about as effective as the biomaster pre sponge. I have a sponge on the intake of my biomaster 350. I clean it every week with water changes. I clean the actually filter housed "prefilter" about once every 3-4 weeks when I also check on the sponges in the filter itself.
 
#5 ·
I can only imagine using a single filter if the tanks are setup so that one tank has an overflow into the other tank, the bottom tank has the filter intake, and the top tank and the return. This only accounts for biological filtration and you'll need to figure out if you really want/need physical filtration for the top tank.

I run 3 container ponds off a single pump this way.
 
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