Question About Building a Seperate Refugium

Well I've got a 125g DT with a 40g breeder sump. The sump sits on a very short DIY stand to the side of the DT, simply BC I wouldn't have been able to fit any decent sized tank in my stand. The sump has a section I built for a fuge, but just hasn't worked up to my expectations. I wnt to build a seperate 20g or so fuge to put in the stand.

I use an Eshopp overflow box to feed the sump, should I buy another overflow box to feed the fuge I'm planning to build? Or should I cut a line off the PVC on the way to the sump and feed it to the fuge? And when i make my section for the return pump from the fuge, will I have to top off in the fuge as well, or still just the sump?

One last question lol... should i feed the return from the fuge back into the DT, or into the sump?

Thanks in advance for any advice on this!,

 

bump for ya.. interested in others thought.

 

Unfortunately, there's no way to balance the overflow water from the DT into two isolated systems in exact proportions that the isolated system's pumps are returning it to the DT. In order to get your new refugium connected, you would either have to plumb the sumps together to share return compartment volume or connect them so that one is overflowing directly into the other.

 

Sump for a 340g reef

this might be something you were looking at doing i think.

 

Yea that definitely did give me some helpful ideas! Here's my new plan, tell me wat u guys think... I'll install a ball valve into one of the overflows drain pipes, run it into the fuge in the stand, then drill a hole in the top of the fuge, and run it out into the sumps return area. Now, since the sump is sitting next to the tank, and not next to the fuge inside the stand, I'll have to drill a hole just big enough to fit a piece of PVC in to run from the fuge to the sump... Will this cause any damage to the strength of the stand? It'd only be probably a 1" hole, but that is a lot of weight supported by every inch of that skinny stand, and I don't want it to collapse in simply cuz I drilled a small hole lol. What's your thoughts?

And thanks for the info and link guys! Much appreciated!

 

That should work perfectly. Can you post a picture of your stand? Most stands are little more than a skeleton that supports most of the weight and skins that make it look good and hold the skeleton square. If yours is like this, you should be able to drill through the skin no problem without taking away from the structure.

 

Well, actually after looking at it some more, because of the heighth of the sump next to the tank (40g breeder on a 6" or so stand) the top of the fuge inside would have to be damn near the bottom of the tank, actually about 5" or so from the bottom of the DT to be able to have it overflow into the top of the sump....

So next idea... How about still putting a T and ball valve into the overflow drain, then sectioning off a small area of the fuge, and putting a very small pump in it (maybe a small maxi-jet) and just running a hose into the sump return? I could put a ball valve on the return pump as well, and tone it down to match whatever flow I have coming into the fuge... Good or bad idea?

 

Good idea, but unfortunately it won't work. It's impossible to match a flow rate with a pump and valve. Your refugium will end up either slowly emptying back into the sump or overflowing.

 

That's what I was afraid of... Kinda figured if I did match them, then eventually I'm sure something would end up blocking the pump or slowing it down in the slightest bit, and if have a mess on my hands... If I did do the fuge overflowing into the sump, I'd either have to buy a real tall tank, or build a stand for the fuge inside the stand for the DT... Well hell...

Lol ok guys... One more idea... Swear it's the last one!!

How about... Next to the sump I could build a stand a little bit higher then the sump, put a tank on that and drill it with an overflow leading down into the sump, then have a pump in the sump pushing water up to the fuge... So basically the water would go from the DT to the sump, either go in the return to the tank, or the pump to the fuge, and the fuge would overflow back into the sump...

Better idea then the last? And once again, thank you tons and tons for the help!! I really do appreciate it!!

 

yea that's better if you have the fuge higher and split the drain lines and have it overflow into the sump.