# 2 Tanks one filter?



## Kevtheirish (Jun 12, 2005)

I have 2 55G tanks, one is active the other is empty. I orig. planned to run one as FO and the other either as a reef or an agressive tank. I have issues w/ the live tank right now, but thats a different story. I was wondering if it is possible to run both tanks off one large filter to speed up cycling and ease and maintaince/cost of set up. :help:


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Sure, it's doable. 
The trick is making sure you have it plumbed just right so that you don't wind up with water spilled all over the floor if something gets kinked or clogged or whatever. If possible, you want only one pump running everything, since it's nigh impossible to get two pumps to work together correctly even when things are normal.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

You also risk infection and disease spreading to both tanks. Just something to think about anytime you use the same equipment on more than one tank.


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## MiSo (May 3, 2005)

you'd need a custom setup but i dont see why not.
here's my crappy drawing of an idea
http://gallery.thevboard.com/showpic.php?dispsize=Original&album=MiSo/TEMP&pic=tankidea.bmp

i added the water bridge so that incase one intake filter clogged up, water from one tank would not fill up the other tank causing it to overflow.
in theory, gravity would keep water levels balanced in the event one intake filter got clogged, but i've never tested it so i wouldn't know for sure.


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## Kevtheirish (Jun 12, 2005)

pic no work.. but that was the basic idea, drill a hole in the top tank run plumbing to the lower, filter pickup in the lower, and filter output in the upper tank. just a lil worried about the whole "crap rolls down hill idea" wondering if the lower tank would be harder to keep clean. Am aware of disease/crashing aspects... just a thought though, thought the levels would be easier to maintain this way in each tank.


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