Shared sump for Goldfish and Tropicals?

[Bill Stock]

I'm sure the answers will be negative, but I thought I would ask.

I've been planning an auto water changer for the GF for quite a while. This
is still a few months away, as I have to purchase a couple of tanks with
overflows (Tropical upgrade too), build a new stand, build a new light hood,
move the GF tank to a new location, install plumbing, etc. The primary
reason for the changer is to give the GF better water conditions and save me
a bit of time. The plan is to run the GF overflow into the bottom of a
large plastic barrel and suck the water off near the top through a filter
and back into the GF tank. Although I may reconsider this and use the barrel
as the filter. The filtered top-off water will flow into the top of the
barrel and the excess will flow out through a bulkhead and down the drain.

I'm wondering if sharing the sump with the Tropicals is a bad idea? I'm not
too worried about the temperature difference, the GF stay around 75°F all
summer anyway. Plus the plants in the Tropical tank will help with the
Nitrate reduction, although these will be much lower with the continuous
water changes in any event. My primary concern is the diseases that may be
transferred from one tank to another. Is this a real issue or will this
work?

[dc]

"Bill Stock" > wrote in
:

> I'm wondering if sharing the sump with the Tropicals is a bad idea?

Goldfish are very messy, cold and hard water fish. Tropicals are warm and
typically soft water fish and are potentially sensitive.

Yes there is a possibility of an infection spreading through the system,
but beyond that these are fish that do better is radically opposing water
types.

I say give the goldfish the sump (the more water you give them the better)
and stick to traditional filtration methods for your tropical fish.

A sump would give you the option of adding a trickle filter or some other
type of wet-dry filtration which would benefit your goldfish greatly, but
that type of filtration would likely remove CO2 from your tropical tanks
faster than your plants can make use of it.

[Bill Stock]

"dc" > wrote in message
...
> "Bill Stock" > wrote in
> :
>
>> I'm wondering if sharing the sump with the Tropicals is a bad idea?
>
> Goldfish are very messy, cold and hard water fish. Tropicals are warm and
> typically soft water fish and are potentially sensitive.
>
> Yes there is a possibility of an infection spreading through the system,
> but beyond that these are fish that do better is radically opposing water
> types.
>
> I say give the goldfish the sump (the more water you give them the better)
> and stick to traditional filtration methods for your tropical fish.
>
> A sump would give you the option of adding a trickle filter or some other
> type of wet-dry filtration which would benefit your goldfish greatly, but
> that type of filtration would likely remove CO2 from your tropical tanks
> faster than your plants can make use of it.

Yeah CO2 is likely the biggest killer. I currently add CO2 to the tropicals
(PH 6.8), so adding CO2 to another 150ish gallons with no plants is of
little benefit. I've tried various plants with the GF, but they just get
eaten/shredded. GF PH is probably 7.5ish BTW.

[swarvegorilla]

"Bill Stock" > wrote in message
...
> I'm sure the answers will be negative, but I thought I would ask.
>
> I've been planning an auto water changer for the GF for quite a while.
> This is still a few months away, as I have to purchase a couple of tanks
> with overflows (Tropical upgrade too), build a new stand, build a new
> light hood, move the GF tank to a new location, install plumbing, etc. The
> primary reason for the changer is to give the GF better water conditions
> and save me a bit of time. The plan is to run the GF overflow into the
> bottom of a large plastic barrel and suck the water off near the top
> through a filter and back into the GF tank. Although I may reconsider this
> and use the barrel as the filter. The filtered top-off water will flow
> into the top of the barrel and the excess will flow out through a bulkhead
> and down the drain.
>
> I'm wondering if sharing the sump with the Tropicals is a bad idea? I'm
> not too worried about the temperature difference, the GF stay around 75°F
> all summer anyway. Plus the plants in the Tropical tank will help with the
> Nitrate reduction, although these will be much lower with the continuous
> water changes in any event. My primary concern is the diseases that may be
> transferred from one tank to another. Is this a real issue or will this
> work?
>
>
>


disease is a non-issue
goldfish get less diseases out of their normal temp range as different
pathogens can be involved.
The downside is
goldfish are filthy dirty creatures and will stink up your tropicals water.
Don't get me wrong, luv me goldys.
but I keep me cardinals in better water frankly

[Bill Stock]

"swarvegorilla" > wrote in message
...
>
> disease is a non-issue
> goldfish get less diseases out of their normal temp range as different
> pathogens can be involved.
> The downside is
> goldfish are filthy dirty creatures and will stink up your tropicals
> water.
> Don't get me wrong, luv me goldys.
> but I keep me cardinals in better water frankly

Yeah they're big poopers, part of the reason for the big sump and auto water
changer. I probably won't go with the shared sump because of the CO2
requirements/PH differences. But I think with a 55 gallon sump, two 90s and
10% daily water changes the poopers might be less of an issue than you
imagine. My big nightmare is leaks.

[swarvegorilla]

"Bill Stock" > wrote in message
...
>
> "swarvegorilla" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> disease is a non-issue
>> goldfish get less diseases out of their normal temp range as different
>> pathogens can be involved.
>> The downside is
>> goldfish are filthy dirty creatures and will stink up your tropicals
>> water.
>> Don't get me wrong, luv me goldys.
>> but I keep me cardinals in better water frankly
>
> Yeah they're big poopers, part of the reason for the big sump and auto
> water changer. I probably won't go with the shared sump because of the CO2
> requirements/PH differences. But I think with a 55 gallon sump, two 90s
> and 10% daily water changes the poopers might be less of an issue than you
> imagine. My big nightmare is leaks.
>
>
>

Yea leaks are nasty.
But then I routinely stuff up and flood area's with water.......
its just part of the job.
heh
I meant no disrespect there btw, just that when you keep goldys in optimal
conditions.... they grow BIG fast and their poo..... it's a different
smell and the filters slime up well.
in fish shops everywhere theirs tropicals are in the same water as their
goldys
stability as always is the key
co2 may be a point but really KISS is where it is at. Espec when as ya say
235g is sitting in the room wit ya!