Plumbing a remote accessory tank

[fatoldsun]

Has anyone tried plumbing 2 tanks together without relying on gravity to feed the return? Currently my tank is in the basement and my sump is gravity fed in the stand. I have a remote closet about 10-12' away that will hold water making, ATO reservoir and QT setup. I have room for a frag tank and I'd rather take advantage of water volume and not have an isolated frag system. The only way to plumb them together is to pump up to the drop ceiling and over to the closet. There are doorways in the path so I can't go through the walls without going around the perimeter and that would be like 30-40+ linear feet.
I guess I'd like to find a way to synchronize the push and pull. Has anyone ever come across a pump that will push and pull in sync? Any other ideas? Is this possible?

 

[PaulM]

I think you will be asking for a lot of issues with pumps pushing and pulling water to and from the tank which would outweigh any benefit of the added water volume. Gravity is the only way to go without headaches.


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[dppitone]

Go the 30 or 40 feet. That's the correct way to do it. Folks do it like that all the time - we have lines setup like that in our system. If you need help LMK. If I understand what you're suggesting as an alternative, that's a no go. IMO and $.02.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I think it can be done…..but I don’t think it’s worth it, or the headaches it will cause.

Trying to balance two pumps is out of the question.


My thought is an ejection pump on the return to the sump…..more or less like a sump pump with a float switch. This would require some type of sump or container below the frag tank.

You pump water over to the frag tank from the DT/sump. The water enters the frag tank and exits through an overflow to a sump/holding tank below. This contains a pump with float switch (a sump pump) that turns on when the sump is full, and off when it’s empty. Now it will constantly be turning on and off, but that’s the price you pay.


But again, I wouldn’t do it. If you have a closet in the way, I have hole saws….go right through it. You could always cover the two pipes with a boxed out cover.

 

[fatoldsun]

Here's a rough sketch of the layout

I think it may have to wait for the basement re-do and upgrade. Maybe then I'll factor it in to my design. Right now there's paneling so I'd have to take all of that off carefully and put it back up to run through the walls. At least if I do that they're not load bearing so I can bore through the studs to my hearts content since they used 1x3s to frame it. Ah, the 70s.

 

[TanksNStuff]

I think the only manageable way to do this would be as Paul suggested... float activated sump pump in sump under the frag tank. Still, I agree this method likely will cause headaches.

Is there any way you can just setup a frag tank next to the sump tank? Might be easier to plumb it if it's next to it. Looks like you might have some room on either side per your sketch.