[dick_nixon]

After I move in the summer I intend to set up a sump for all my tanks. I'm getting a heavy-duty shelf to put my two current tanks and a 40 on. I've got a fluvial 15, but I think I'm going to take the back compartment off of that as I feel it's a waste of space, and I'll add a DIY for the new intake and outtake. My other is a 5 gal running on a sponge filter. sump size for 60 fish gal of water? Filtration set ups (bio and mechanical).

 

[ZChalk]

Use the 60 gallon "sump" as your main tank and convert the 15 to a sump. It's easier to maintain one big tank than a whole bunch of smaller tanks. Less cleaning, more stable, etc. IMO you are asking for a plumbing nightmare to try and hook these tanks to a single system. What's the benefit? Lots of risk overflowing the tanks, disease, algae, etc. affecting all tanks.

 

[Freemananana]

Use the 60 gallon "sump" as your main tank and convert the 15 to a sump. It's easier to maintain one big tank than a whole bunch of smaller tanks. Less cleaning, more stable, etc. IMO you are asking for a plumbing nightmare to try and hook these tanks to a single system. What's the benefit? Lots of risk overflowing the tanks, disease, algae, etc. affecting all tanks.

I think the 60 gallons was for total tank volume. For me, sump size is just a physical need to work inside of. The bio and mechanical demands for freshwater is low. You could use a 10g tank for a sumo easily. Some foam and filter cloth for the mechanical and pumice for the bio needs. A cheap drawer system if you want a wet dry or just the tank for a typical submerged sump.

Unless you are overflowing from one tank to the next to the next to your sump, 3 pumps and overflows is a lot. The diy PVC overflows to replace boxes don't work that well IMO. A nice air pump and sponges seems more reliable to be honest.

 

[minorhero]

This can be done if a bit finicky. I would run a 20 gallon high as a sump. For ease of setup I would probably have 3 different pumps, one for each tank. Making an overflow for a 5 gallon and 15 gallon would be interesting but doable if you have some decent diy skills. Not sure if there are out of box overflows that will work for a 5 gallon or not. Also will want to make sure the sidewalls on the 5 and 15 are not tempered before drilling.

 

[dick_nixon]

Use the 60 gallon "sump" as your main tank and convert the 15 to a sump. It's easier to maintain one big tank than a whole bunch of smaller tanks. Less cleaning, more stable, etc. IMO you are asking for a plumbing nightmare to try and hook these tanks to a single system. What's the benefit? Lots of risk overflowing the tanks, disease, algae, etc. affecting all tanks.

I was just thinking it would be an interesting project. Maybe it's not worth the effort. Can't combine everything, I have fish that need to be kept separately.

 

[deeda]

I would just do individual filters for each tank either power filters (HOB) or sponge filters, simpler and it reduces the potential for one sick tank to infect the other tanks.