Advice on plumbing in a frag tank into main tank and sump

Legonch

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
Ive got a new frag tank sitting here, and Id love to plumb it into the dt. My sump is in the basement, dt is upstairs. The frag tank where it sits, is below the sump. Ive got a water supply for the frag tank, but am stumped on how to plumb the drain from the frag tank into my sump (its a 75 gallon tank) without having the frag tank 5 feet off the floor.

I thought about using a pump to pump the frag tank water back into the sump, but if that pump would fail, id have water everywhere.

Thoughts and ideas anyone?
 

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#2
Can you put the frag tank next to your display, then run a drain from the frag to the sump, and finally add a tee on your display return line that goes to the frag. If you had a ball valve in there you could shut off water to the frag tank or fine tune it as needed. Then maybe use a wavemaker for your frag tank flow...
 

Legonch

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#3
I could, but then the frag tank is upstairs.....and I dont think I want that. Good idea, and that would work!
 

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#4
You should come see how I plumbed Edwardo's tank then. All gravity fed, no pumps. Just has to be about 2 inches taller than the sump.
 

halmus

Registered Users
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#5
If the top of the frag tank was at the same height as the top of the sump, you could plumb a single feed line from the sump into frag. Then, a smallish pump on the other end of the frag pumping back into the sump would pull water from the sump, across the frag, and then return to the sump. If the pump failed, you would just loose that circulation so you might need supplimental circulation in the frag. No water on the floor. (I think this is probably similar to what Chris is suggesting)

If the sump top is 5’ off of the floor, I would personally be looking for a way to lower it for easier access if space allowed.
 
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