2nd DT

Currently I have a 55g with a remote 35g sump. In my DT I have 2 clownfish, a lawnmower blenny and a cleaner shrimp.

The problem I am afraid i am going to run into is the female clown I have is just as mean as can be and I think this is going to be a factor when I decide to add fish which I am hoping I can do soon.

So I am thinking if the clownfish is too aggressive with the new additions then I might set up a 10gish nano tank and tie it into my existing system with its own drain line and a tee off of the existing return line to the nano.

My questions are 1) is this a good idea or a bad idea? 2) does it sound like it would work teeing off the existing return and dialing it back to a desired flow?

The advantages I am seeing to doing it this way is the "nano" will actually be a system of about 70-80 gallons WV therefore reducing fluctuations in parameters, and also not having the cost of all new equipment (filtration, skimmer, return pump, nutrient extraction) and only lighting, rock and sand.

Anyone have any experience with something like this? I imagine this is not something that has never been tried before but don't know if there is a good reason for this or not, so I would love to hear people's thoughts on this.

Thanks in advance.

 

Ive actually thought about doing the same thing. I would like to setup a more agressive tank that doesnt have corals in it. maybe some angels or triggers.

 

I have thought about doing something like this down the line, with the aggressive fish only. I am hoping there wouldn't be any problem with merging another DT into the already established system but I am hoping that someone has done it before or at least knows if this is an awful idea or not. I am willing to experiment with it but if it is known this doesn't work then it isn't worth the experimentation.

 

As long as you cycle the rock before merging the systems I see no reason that it would be an issue.

 

And in reality depending on the size of your second tank you really almost wouldn't need any more filtration at all. Just add New dry rock to the new tank slowly to build up your bacterial filtration to support the new livestock. Like anything else if you take it slow I think it would work with no issues

 

Yes, it will work. The only issue would be with the aggressive/predator tank. Many, such as triggers, are very messy eaters. As most are larger fish, they all eat and poop A LOT, and can easily overburden your system without additional filtration. For a nano however, I see no problems.