Want to setup a refugium

[kentlighting]

So I want to put a refugium in my set up, i dont have any extra room in my sump to do this, nor do i want to do a HOB set up so this is my thought, tell me what you think

my tank is a 60 gallon drilled tank with about 60 lbs of live rock and a acrylic 15-20 gallon sump with protein skimmer, small uv filter and a filter sock.

I want to place a 10 gallon tank up higher in the stand and attempt to drill a 3/4" hole in the top of one of the sides to place a bulkhead cause i already have that size bit.

I want to use a tom aquatics lifter pump to pull water from the sump and dump it into the refugium

I plan to light it with a cheap home depot grow lamp.

i wanna grow cheto in there maybe some live rock rubble.... what else?

[Brando457]

Basically what I am doing except instead of using a pump to pump water to the refuge T off one of the overflows and let it drain naturally into the fuge then down into the sump.

Hope this helps.

[kentlighting]

what kind of flow should i be shooting for

[salteebox]

what kind of flow should i be shooting for

just enough to roll a ball of chaeto around. For light, get a 15W daylight bulb from HD. Get one with internal reflector. I have good result with mine.

[kentlighting]

can i see a picture of some one that has t-ed off the overflow line? im trying to picture how this works..... do i need to run this thew a separate filter sock or should i run the overflow line from this into the filter sock of the sump?

[Rybren]

The Toms Aqualifter won't provide you with enough water for the fuge. It maxes out at about 32" of lift and will only be a trickle. Even level, it won't provide enough flow for the fuge.

If you don't want to "T" off the return line, you could use a Maxi-Jet to supply the water. It will depend on how much "head" you have.

I use a MJ-1200 to supply my fuge from my DT. The fuge is only a few inches higher than the DT and gravity flows back to the DT. I don't have a sump.

[Brando457]

can i see a picture of some one that has t-ed off the overflow line? im trying to picture how this works..... do i need to run this thew a separate filter sock or should i run the overflow line from this into the filter sock of the sump?



Basically you're t-ing off the ovrflow section so part of the water goes to sump amd then a small amount, controlle by a ball valve flows to fuge. You do not need a filter sock on the fuge. I will post a pic later of what I mean and designed for my 135

[kentlighting]

where does the ball valve go on the sump side or the fuge side of the t?

[kentlighting]

well it looks like im suffering from to-small-of-a-stand-itis this may have to be put on hold

[reefscape15]

It would be much better to have just a seperate small pump in your sump to supply water to your fuge. You want to clean the water, if possible, before you run it through a fuge to help keep the fuge clean. You dont need any filter socks in your system if you don't want any, but that is up to you. Also, deffinately dont have your fuge drain into your sump. Anything that comes out of the fuge, (detritus, pods, other wastes) will be feeding your skimmer instead of feeding the display. Never filter your water coming from your fuge.

[aquatics junkie]

live rock and cheaato and a sand bed that is nice and deep

[Brando457]

This is how mine is designed and will function:

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/3910/fugep.th.jpg (http://img683.imageshack.us/i/fugep.jpg/)

[lordofthereef]

I think your idea is great, but I have heard that drilling tanks the size you plan to drill can be difficult. That said, you can probably afford to mess up one or two since they are relatively cheap, even new. I would have the overflow dumping stright into the fuge, and if the flow is too high, I would simply split the flow to have a portion go into the fuge and the rest flowing directly into the sump. I am personally a fan of just rolling some chaeto and maybe some liverock, but plenty like to do a DSB in there as well.

[lordofthereef]

This is how mine is designed and will function:

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/3910/fugep.th.jpg (http://img683.imageshack.us/i/fugep.jpg/)

The only thing that worries me about this setup is that it looks like the fuge will completely empty in the event of a power failure. That might not be how you have it set up, but the picture would suggest it that way. I would put the bulkhead about midway between the top and the bottom of the tank (right where you want the water level to be) rather than the very bottom.

[Brando457]

lordofthereef, you're 100% correct on that, the bulkhead would be towards the upper top/middle of the tank probably a 15 or 20 gallon.

In the event of powerloss the overflow would drain some water into the fuge, which would flow over into the bulkhead down to the sump. It is a bit complex working out the safe level for powerfailure, but I think the design will work:).

Only issue is building a stand to elevate the tank above teh sump, but other than that should be fine.