Topic says it all, i have an empty 6.6g ( 24"x6"x6") tank, and i would like that to be the display and maybe a 5.5g fuge, and i want them to be on my dresser on the same level, and i want to have the 2 tanks plumbed together. I cannot drill the tanks, so what would be the easiest/cheapest way to do this?


I was thinking 2 small power heads ( same size ) that both have tubes/pvc, that continuesly pump water around, it has to be simple because this will be my first plumbing experience.

thanks in advance

I have a somewhat "ghetto" version of exactly what you are describing.
It's intended as a temporary setup, so I haven't tried to make it look nice.
The setup includes 2 standard 10g tanks back to back on a counter.
There is U-tube between them, and a MJ600 in one that pumps water through flexible tubing into the other.
It's simple but effective.
The one thing you have to keep an eye on is that the U-tube gradually accumulates an air bubble in it that has to be removed via simple airline tubing approx once every 2 weeks.
The front tank is a Mixed Reef, the rear tank is a Macroalgae dominated tank with a few Mushrooms.
They are on a reverse light cycle.
Here's a pic from the side:

thank you!
i think i uderstand, the MJ600 pumps the water into 1 tank. But how does the water get back? is the two utubes?
or is ther a way to do this with pvc? like have 2 MJ600s and have the both hooked up to 2 90 degree pvc pieces?
( im really bad with plumbing! )

i was thinking now, 2 5.5gs side by side, im not really looking for nice looking, just working

this would be very "ghetto" but, could i run 2 of the exact same HOBs on either side, so there is the same amount of flow?
thanks again

You create a siphon with the U-Tube. Water is siphoned from the main tank to the fuge, then pumped back into the main tank from the fuge. This simple setup only works if the tanks are the same height, if they're not, you want an overflow box on the display side of the siphon tube.

See http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/overflow.htm

In your case, you can modify the external box on his page into your fuge tank. The internal wall still needs to be higher than the bottom of both ends of the U-tube (u-tube being equal length on both sides). You can see on the main diagram pic how the water level in all overflow sections is equal with the height of that one wall.

I built a 1.5" ABS non-breaking siphon overflow to move water from my 10 gallon display to a 5.5 gallon 'sump' area (where the heater, a hermit crab, and a fair amount of live rock rubble live). I'll get a picture for you in a few minutes.

EDIT: JUST realized that my camera is at my parent's house, I can get a pic for you tonight...

While this overflow system will work for any reservoir at or below the water level in the display, my original plan was to move water to this 'sump' tank (which really was just a place to put stuff like extra rock and the heater, and the filter floss that is the only filtration that I use) and from there to a second 10 gallon which would be U-tubed with the original display. Now that I'm moving, plans have changed... though what the plan is now, I'm not quite sure. The tank is running well as a 10 gallon with a 5.5 gallon sump (the total capacity is probably still only about 10 gallons, between the rock, sand, and the sump only 40% full).

Hmm, hard to get a good pic now that I have my camera back


Here you can see the 5.5 gallon beside the 10 gallon display.



Excuse the dirty glass, it's time for a cleaning But anyhow, you can see what I did but you could easily DIY yourself something similar to the CPR overflow boxes, they use the same principle as this design.