# My new crystal triplex



## getochkn (Jul 10, 2011)

So having enough room for 3x10gallon tanks sideways, I setup them up. Liking a bigger tank for water stability, put me in a bind of a big tank or 3 smaller tanks. I wanted to keep my lower grade CBS, CRS and goldens separate so I went for 3 10gals connected together. If you look in the pic below, you will see PVC upside down "U" pipes. You put a piece of airline tubing into the U and suck out the air, this fill the U full of water and creates a siphon and any drop in water on 1 side will equalize on the other side. I then have a small internal fluval filter that I siliconed a piece of tubing to. This filter will go in tank 1 and output water into tank 3. Tank 1 will drop water level as water is pumped out and draw water from tank 2. Tank 2 will drop and draw the water from tank 3. Tank 3 will refill with water from the filter and the cycle of water is complete, 3 10gal tanks sharing all the same water, much more stable params and the tanks can stay separate. Going to get some course foam to cover the pvc so shrimp don't use it as a tunnel.


----------



## olvap377 (Aug 27, 2011)

That's an awesome setup

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk


----------



## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

Looking good. You are really quick, you were just talking about it and it's now done not like me taking weeks to get my tanks ready ;-)


----------



## splur (May 11, 2011)

What are the PVC pipes in the middle for?


----------



## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

splur said:


> What are the PVC pipes in the middle for?


GTCK mentioned that's the U shape tube to connect all three tanks together to create a bigger water body.


----------



## razoredge (Dec 31, 2011)

Great setup!


----------



## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

Cant wait to see more updates on this setup


----------



## getochkn (Jul 10, 2011)

splur said:


> What are the PVC pipes in the middle for?


When you suck the air out of them it creates a siphon so any drop in the water level of 1 tank will draw water from the other one connected to it to equalize water levels due to gravity.

Now if I put a pump in tank 1 and pump water into tank 3, tank 1 will drop and pull water from tank 2 to equalize the water level, tank 2 will drop and pull from tank 3, tank 3 is being refilled from the pump from tank 1, so it's a cycle and all the water is shared between the 3 tanks, so it's like having a 30gal tank. Put some mesh or sponge over the pvc so shrimp don't swim from tank to tank and I can have 3 different shrimp that can't mix with the stability of a 30gal.

I did 2 pipes per tank in case 1 clogs, and may do 3 when I get more PVC. I just had enough PVC to do this exactly and enough elbows laying around. I have about 3" of PVC left, so it worked perfect.

The pump is a internal Fluval plus 2 and I attached a piece of hose to it, so it will pump the water into tank 1 (rated at 185gph, I'll stuff it with purigen so it can filter the water) and if I get a 100gph with it full of purigen and doing a 30" of tubing, then it will be turning over the water 10x an hour from one tank to another so it should keep the params stable, temp, pH, etc. If I ever get an infection or shrimp dying, I can pull the PVC and it becomes a 20g and a 10g in about 5seconds.


----------



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

That is a totally amazing setup you've got there. What a great way to take advantage of the larger water volume without having to mix up your livestock. I wish I had room for something like this !


----------



## getochkn (Jul 10, 2011)

thanks. I may put the pump in the 2nd tank, and split it to pump water to tank 1 and 3, then i'm getting more water mixed up. Hmmm. I should test with some of the green fish medication stuff that dyes your water bright green. Put some near the pump and see how fast it takes to color the other 2 tanks. lol. Only thing is I don't the meds to be in the tank at all in case they are copper based. Maybe paraguard. lol.


----------



## splur (May 11, 2011)

randy said:


> GTCK mentioned that's the U shape tube to connect all three tanks together to create a bigger water body.


*smacks forehead* lol totally distracted by the picture.

Interesting concept.


----------



## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Too much words. Just say, it keeps the water leveled across all three tanks and it works the same way your gravel vac does.

*Never pay again for live sex! | Hot girls doing naughty stuff for free! | Chat for free!*


----------



## splur (May 11, 2011)

Is there any chance of leaks? I know it's pretty failsafe with two U tubes, I'm assuming that you have a lower flow from tank 1 to 3.

(I'm crazy nervous about leaks all the time which is why I ask lol)


----------



## getochkn (Jul 10, 2011)

splur said:


> Is there any chance of leaks? I know it's pretty failsafe with two U tubes, I'm assuming that you have a lower flow from tank 1 to 3.
> 
> (I'm crazy nervous about leaks all the time which is why I ask lol)


I don't see how, it only keeps the water levels equal, after that it won't siphon anymore. 2 tubes to make sure even if 1 clogged, the other would go. I was told a 1" U would give about 265gph flow rate, so 3/4" should give me around 200gph even, times two, so that gives 400gph and my filter should put out about 50-80gph to each tank, so lots of overkill.


----------



## PerryW (Feb 20, 2012)

you know just an idea but if you took the u tubes and drilled some holes near the ends like 8 or ten all over bottom 2 inches you could slide sponges over them and they would act as a double filter. i have done this with a 2 part 125 before were you pump water from 1 to the other...it was different where the sponges were actually stacks in the larger part that went into a corner part were the water pump was. the water pump ran the water into the far side of the sump were the water went through filter media and then the u tube draw brought the water back into the main tank. quantity of water flow would be the only thing i would be concerned about you dont want too strong of a pump maybe some kind of valves to slightly restrict water flow maybe, but i dont want to over complicate things for your project. just trying to help you with considerations, not hijacking lol GL Looks great


----------



## Riceburner (Mar 14, 2008)

Great idea. I know of someone dividing a larger tank into 3 with glass panes.

If you are going to use one filter to do 3 tanks, the larger the diameter the connecting "U"s, the better. Since you are going to set up a second set, go as big as you can.


----------



## getochkn (Jul 10, 2011)

Riceburner said:


> Great idea. I know of someone dividing a larger tank into 3 with glass panes.
> 
> If you are going to use one filter to do 3 tanks, the larger the diameter the connecting "U"s, the better. Since you are going to set up a second set, go as big as you can.


There is 3 filters, one on each tank. Then there is an internal fluval filter filled with purigen in tank 2 that is pumping water to tank 1 and 3 to keep it all mixed together.


----------



## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

Is it possible to have 2 tanks side by side, running 1 filter (lets say, eheim 2213) on 2, 10Gal tanks and use the utubes that getochkn has above?
The intake will be in tank 1, the outtake will be in tank 2. and use the utubes to lvl the water?


----------



## getochkn (Jul 10, 2011)

Jaysan said:


> Is it possible to have 2 tanks side by side, running 1 filter (lets say, eheim 2213) on 2, 10Gal tanks and use the utubes that getochkn has above?
> The intake will be in tank 1, the outtake will be in tank 2. and use the utubes to lvl the water?


Sure. Or even use a DIY spraybar across the back of both tanks and put holes so the outflow flows into both tanks. I do that with mine. I have 3 10g's connected now and have an internal fluval filter full of purigen that has a tube that dumps water from it into all 3 tanks. I just put 1 hole into the tube over each tank and it drips down. Going to setup 2x20g's this way soon as well. Redoing all my tanks so I'll have some pics up soon. Now with the flow of a 2213, I would probably go bigger PVC tubing to handle the flow of that. Mine is only a Fluval Plus 2, so the 2 3/4" tubes handle it fine but more flow means needing bigger tubing or else the 2nd tank would overflow if the PVC can't handle the volume leveling between the tanks.


----------

