# Three tank breeding rack



## padlock 08 (Jul 31, 2008)

hello, im thinking of setting up a multiple tank breeding set-up in my shed for a pair of angels and maybe something else. the only thing is, i have never set up multiple tanks before and dont know that much about sumps. my plan is to have a three row rack made out of cinder blocks and 2x4's. i am thinking of putting two 4 foot tanks on the top two rows and a 36x12x15" sump on the bottom row. i was going to have largish holes drilled in the side panes of the tanks as i am going to make one myself hopefully and the other has a cracked side that will have to be replaced. my idea is to have a piece of pvc piping coming out of the left side of each tank with a 90 degree elbow on the top tank and a T joiner on the middle tank, thus having the water coming from both tanks down one piece of pipe into the sump. i will then put the same kind of thing on the other side of the rack for water return from the sump to the tanks, i will put a tap in the pvc on either side so i can cut off the flow, kind of like in external filters. this would hopefully allow me to just empty and refill the sump for water changes? could this idea work and if so what kind of pump should i use for water return? could a heater be placed in the sump? also on the tank building thing, which type of glass is the type thats only cracks, not shatters? and how thick should it be for a 48x12x15" tank, i am going to just do it floating floor with no braces, just a lot of silicone, will this still work with a 55g tank?

thanks for all your replies,
padlock


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## Rick_Lindsey (Aug 26, 2002)

Your heater can certainly live in your sump (just be sure it has enough oomph for the total amount of water in your system... I'd be tempted to run two heaters for redundancy). If it were me I'd leave the overflow lines from the two tanks separate, but just dump them into the same trickle filter in the sump, and run a return pump for each tank.

I think you'll find that if you try to use a single return line to both tanks that the bottom tank will get most (if not all) of the water! If you really wanted just one pump, I would lean towards having the pump return to the top tank, have the top tank overflow into the middle tank, and having the middle tank overflow into the sump.

You can certainly do your water changes in your sump alone (many auto-water-change systems seem to do this), presumably you're planning some sort of ugj or other water-movement system in each tank to prevent gunk from accumulating in the substrate?

The type of glass that cracks and not shatters is often called "plate glass", the other variety being tempered (which is much stronger than the same thickness of plate glass, but shatters as you described).

-Rick (the armchair aquarist, who as usual offers a grain of salt with his advice since he hasn't actually built a beast like you describe)


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

I don't think it makes money sense to build a 55 gallon tank or one similar to 75, since it's much cheaper to buy them ready made. If you enjoy building tanks for its own sake, go for it, but it's no money saver. For breeding angels, I'd house the pairs in 29's, separated into two compartments by a "Mattenfilter" used as a divider. Plastic 50 and 100 gallon Rubbermaid livestock tanks make good growout containers for the fry and for growing up and pairing off fish for your future breeders. It may be best to keep tanks separate rather than on a system, since water changes for adults and fry have different requirements, and a combined system leaves you relying on your UV filter to reduce the transfer of pathogens from one tank to another.


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## padlock 08 (Jul 31, 2008)

At the moment i only have the first tank and it will be a while before i have the second one, ready made tanks over here retail about 350 euro (they only really come with lights, filter and heater) for a 55g compared to only 175 euro diy including glass and silicone. I forgot to mention i also have a 2 footer for the pair to lay their eggs and care for their eggs for the first 2 weeks and then the fry will be moved to one side of the 55g (which will have a removable divider) so the parents can recuperate in the 2 footer before laying again. how about having the one pvc line coming out of the one then two tanks as originally planned and, as i only have access to one pump, have one pipe coming out of the pump and use a Y-splitter to have two lines going to the seperate tanks. I am going to drill the tanks 3/4 way up the tank so if the pump fails all the water wont be taken out of the tanks. Im just going to siphon the tank floor daily as its going to be bare-bottom

thanks, padlock


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

It's the height of the stand pipe or the boxing that determines the water level in the tank during power-off mode, not the location of the drilled hole. many tanks are drilled in the bottom, but the water does not all run out.


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## padlock 08 (Jul 31, 2008)

Mcdaphnia said:


> It's the height of the stand pipe or the boxing that determines the water level in the tank during power-off mode, not the location of the drilled hole. many tanks are drilled in the bottom, but the water does not all run out.


sorry, i dont fully understand that, i dont know much about drilling tanks 

p.s i dont have a uv sterilizer but if im only using the one pair there should be no disease and all fry will be in the 2 footer which is isolated until they are two weeks old

thatnks for all replies,
padlock


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## Rick_Lindsey (Aug 26, 2002)

This isn't the best image to demonstrate what McDaphnia is talking about, but it's all I've got within easy reach.










This is a standpipe where the hole is drilled in the bottom of the tank. The top of the standpipe is what determines the depth of the water when the power goes out, since the water will stop draining once it drops below the level of the "T" fitting. Similarly you could have a hole in the back of the tank with an elbow to a pipe going up vertically, and it's the top of that pipe that will determine how much water stays in the tank when the pump stops.

Of course if you did something more like this










then of course the water will drain down to the level of the hole you drilled, but if you were to flip that elbow to face up instead of down, now the top of the elbow (or the top of the pipe attached to the elbow) will determine the water level.

Hope that horse isn't too dead!!

-Rick (the armchair aquarist)


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## padlock 08 (Jul 31, 2008)

i was just looking at drilling the holes in the tank side and having the pvc coming out, no bends or anything like that inside the tank, i will put a piece of dense foam in the holes to prevent fish going down to the sump. i already have this sump and cant afford to go for any other system type (high-school student funds skint, what with the big R and all  )


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## Rick_Lindsey (Aug 26, 2002)

PVC is cheap... You're going to need bulkhead fittings for the holes regardless of how you do it, and those are the most expensive part.

-Rick


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## padlock 08 (Jul 31, 2008)

ok, i guess il have to go looking for bilk heads, i thaught i could just kinda modify the pvc elbow so it is a tight fit to the hole and then load on the silicone.... as you can tell, i dont have much experience in this field but hopefully ill learn with this project


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