[edmondspl]

OK I have a 55 gal reef setup tank tha has been running for about one year now next month. I am thinking about getting a new tank here soon. the question I have is two fold.
one if i get another 55 gal tank is it posssible to have both of them connected somehow so i can keep different stuff in each tank and have a larger water volume so my water quality stays better?
and do you guys think it would just be better to get a larger tank altogether?
Like i said I am pretty new at this only like one year so I would appreciate all the input I can get because I want to enjoy whatever I purchse as much as I can.

thanx a lot

[BubbaWPB]

Yes, you can plumb them to run together and increase your total water volume.

The size of the tank you want to add is entriely up to your personal preference and price range. The advantages to a smaller tank is not only less intial setup cost, but less maintenance cost. The advantages to the larger tank is being able to get animals that do not do well in a smaller tank. Your choice... the good news is, you can't make a bad choice on this!

[edmondspl]

just another quick question i forgot to post how would i go about plumbing them together?

[BubbaWPB]

There are two simple ways that I have seen two tanks "plumbed" together:

1. One way is with one sump with one pump that pumps water from the sump to two different tanks; both tanks drain back into the same sump.

2. The other setup is for the sump to pump to tank A which drains to tank B, which drains to the sump (gravity driven - one would have a hard time balancing the flow with pumps between the tanks).

I use option #1 for my main tank (75 gallons) and my refugium (12 gallons). One of the local LFS's uses option #2 - the tanks are in a shelf where Tank A is above Tank B which is above the sump.

Either of these would be optimal for smaller tanks, and option #2 is only feasible if the tanks are stacked. The larger the tanks, the larger the sump needs to be to handle the overflow capacity during power failures. With larger tanks, one doesn't worry about stability due to small water volume and independent circulations are usually used.

I'm sure other people on this forum have plumbed more than one tank together and can chime in on this thread...