Bridging Two Tanks, Need Advice

[Boulder_Betta]

So I'm helping my friend set up a 75G tank that'll likely be stocked with 5-6 discus and a couple dozen cardinals, as well as a 55G that we'll likely bridge with the 75 as to increase the water volume and swimming space (ever since the beginning, my friend has really wanted a bridge so I'm gonna use at least 6 inch diameter clear PVC to make it, if not 8 inch)- if bridging ends up being too complex, we'll probably divide the 55G into two or three quarantine tanks. But for this to work, I need to know: should I filter and heat each tank individually (one canister filter each, two sponges and maybe a HOB/internal, as well as two heaters) or do the previously mentioned setup but for both of them combined, just with a higher GPH? Same question for stocking, since there's extra water volume but I don't know if they'll prefer one tank over the other.

[Fish Folk]

Personally, I’d ditch the bridge idea unless you’re quite experienced drilling tanks.

I always run 2x sponge filters in all tanks. I’d do that here as well, and have a cannister return split between two HOB-style flowing returns, one on each tank. I’ve seen this done before. So one large cannister scheduled to handle 130 gal, plus 4x large sponge filters. Not everyone likes them, but in my opinion, they can be hidden behind plants, etc.

[Boulder_Betta]

On 12/10/2022 at 10:07 AM, Fish Folk said:

Personally, I’d ditch the bridge idea unless you’re quite experienced drilling tanks.

I always run 2x sponge filters in all tanks. I’d do that here as well, and have a cannister return split between two HOB-style flowing returns, one on each tank. I’ve seen this done before. So one large cannister scheduled to handle 130 gal, plus 4x large sponge filters. Not everyone likes them, but in my opinion, they can be hidden behind plants, etc.

Thank you so much! And the bridge won’t require any drilling into the glass; rather, it’ll be more like a long, upside down U that I feed in from the top and will only have to drill into the lid.

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 12/10/2022 at 6:19 PM, Boulder_Betta said:

Thank you so much! And the bridge won’t require any drilling into the glass; rather, it’ll be more like a long, upside down U that I feed in from the top and will only have to drill into the lid.

You mean like this?