Hello Canreef.
It has been a long while since I last posted/visited Canreef.
Many years ago I had a 30g cube tank with a sump I built myself.
At the time I was living in a fairly large apartment I had enough room to fit this already somewhat small tank setup. This tank lasted a few years when my (future) wife and I bought a townhouse. Due to the design of the condo my original tank would no longer fit, so I down graded my setup to a 10g (I think) Nano cube. We soon realized even this small nano cube did not fit into our lives in the town house. This system was sold off with absolutely every piece of aquarium related gear I owned.
Fast forward five or six years, and we are now in a new house with lots of space and now its time to think of aquariums again.
I would like everyone's opinion of the following idea.
On my main floor on either side of the half bathroom door are these two art niches.
(this picture is actually from the show home, they are identical to mine expect mine is full of baby stuffed animals at the moment)
My plan is to get two custom built cubish shaped tanks, one in each art niche. The art niches are like four foot tall from the shelf to the top. My tanks would be 18-20 inches tall. These tank would have rear overflows with drains heading down into the basement to a good sized sump placed in my mechanical room which conveniently is located directly below the art niches. I would then have individual returns pumping back up to the tanks.
I am pretty sure I will need one large return pump or maybe two slightly smaller pumps.
I was thinking of possibly using pex piping with the plastic fittings as my return lines because I can virtually eliminate any 90 degree bends.
I will be cutting access hatches in the walls beside and below the display tanks. The structure supporting the tanks will need minor beefing up but this will be fairly easy.
I have alot of planning to do but would really appreciate your opinions now, to help guide me in the right direction.
Thank you in advance.