Splitting of cannister filter?

[aquanatix]

Recently planning to set up some tanks with assorted flora etc...Due to maybe space constraints,the idea of "splitting" the cannister filter came upon me. Lets just say i have a total of 3 2footers running concurrently on a 3tiered stand,i'm looking at about 300L/hr MAX flowrate for each tank without chillers or anything that might affect flowrate. Assuming i have a cannister with at least 2000L/hr flowrate,would splitting be even possible?Probably not even 3 tanks,maybe shared between 2 with the idea of 2 inlets and 2 outlets.Not sure if its done before or if its even viable,any thoughts regarding the matter?Availability of parts,practical aspects etc...

[jacian]

Not exactly splitting but you may customised your tanks with a overflow system, all the tanks on the 3 tier can be run by 1 cannister filter.

[aquanatix]

Thanks for input jacian,not very familiar with the overflow system.
Any ideas or guides to how this could work?

[bossteck]

Hi,

You probably need to drill holes on your top 2 tanks, insert a PVC pipe into the holes. Once the water level in the top tank is above the height of the pipe, water will flow (hence the term overflow), via the pipe into the tank below it. This would also be done for the second tier tank. Your bottom most tank will be where you place your filter inlet, water will flow into your canister filter, and your outlet will be at the top tank so the cycle will continue.

You will need to do some calculation on the length of PVC pipes to use (this will impact the water level) in each tank so that in the case of power failure, your bottom tank would not overflow and your house will not be flooded.

There are ways to DIY overflow systems without having to drill holes in any of your tanks, I can try to dig out the DIY write up on this, saw it in one of the other forums long time ago.

But, are you sure this is what you want? Sharing of a single filter for multiple tank poses higher risks of dieases spreading across all the tanks.

Cheers

[aquanatix]

Ahhh...thanks for the detailed info bossteck!
I understand what you're talking about,its basically what i use on my discus tanks to facilitate water change? Mine goes straight too the mains with various valves to regulate water flow,didn't realize i could apply it the same as well! The thing is with this system the PVC pipes are quite ugly and drilling it will be quite a pain in the a$$! Hence instead i was planning of going literally manual on the inlet and outlet by splitting them up. The risk of disease is always an issue,but i believe my choice of flora or fauna will be ok. Do share with me more on the various DIY setups if its not too much trouble! Thanks alot

[bossteck]

Hi there,

I tried searching for the page I saw way back in another forum, but can't seemed to find it anymore, sorry.

But I came across this, it is a commercially available overflow box, so no drilling required. So that's one option to consider if splitting the inlets/outlets doesn't work.

I think with splitting the inlet/outlet, you need to be able to tweak the system so that none of the tanks will have it's content overdrawn or overfill, personally I think it would be a nightmare!

[David Moses Heng]

i did post something like this before but can't seems to find it ....

[derk]

Actually if you go to Biotope, they have a similar system with 2 of their tanks (centre of shop, the plants only one)..

That one doesn't require drilling of tanks, just "hooking" pvc tubes on the back.. it's quite an ingenious system actually..

maybe I'll draw a schematic to later on how it works.. it has a tupperware hanging outside the top tank to ensure that even during power failure, the bottom tank will not overflow..

[derk]

Alright.. this is what I could come up with in 5 mins on my laptop in the train..



Basically the red box is the tupperware, and the "n" shaped pvc pipe is initially filled with water.. It wil continuously "pipe" water out of the top tank once it is over the limit. the limit is set by the height of the other pvc pipe going out of the tupperware..

The 1/2/3 arrows show the steps of the water from the outlet of the filter causing the water to rise and thus pipe out of the top tank and then flowing into the bottom tank..

Hope this helps..

[aquanatix]

Thanks for the drawing derk, everything looks better when illustrated!
Eventually this is the same overflow box that bossteck was referring to?
Is splitting a cannister not possible?

[derk]

Heh, I missed that link that last time..I think it works the same way as that commercial product..


With regards to splitting, i suppose in theory it should be feasible, but then if you're on a 2 tier, the water pressure oult be different from the 2 inlets.. Thus, if u use a "T-joint" to combine into the canister inlet, it may end up that instead of the water from top & bottom tank going into the filter, it may end up that from the water pressure of the top tank being too high, the water flows into the bottom tank instead..

Hope you understand the problem that I was describing..

[aquanatix]

Hi derk,i understand your points. Technically my 3tier would be a weird mixture of water pressure to work properly? Have not really went to search for appropriate 3way T-joints either so till then... Oh well,it was worth the thought!

[ankank]

You forgot a VERY important part: The filter inlet must not go directly out of the bottom tank, but also from an overflow from the bottom tank. This way, if one of the overflow boxes malfunctions (e.g. due to dissolved air collecting on top of the "n" tube, or because the tube gets clogged), the inlet will not be able to draw water anymore, and the top tank will not overflow.

Splitting the canister via T-joints is not feasible because it is virtually impossible to make both inlets and outlets deliver exactly the same water flow. As soon as the water flow is only slightly different between both inlets and outlets, one of the tanks will overflow.

[aquanatix]

Thanks for the useful information ankank.Have read up more since my last post and have realized this issue. Personally i did try the system out with just 2 tanks and the water margins were already fluctuating. Though it did not overflow due to the fact that i only tried it for about 24hrs,i did not feel like taking futher risks after the info i got from browsing online.Currently thinking of the PVC pipe overflow system,trying to modify it so that it could accomodate smaller setups.Anyone here has a similar plan for multi tiered tanks?