Couple questions?

Uber Nuber · 06-27-2005, 10:28 PM

i have a 70gal tank that i am setting up. with it i have a 10 gal tub to use as a sump/skimmer/heater/calc reactor tub. i also have a 50 gal acrylic tank that is setup for a refugium. my question is if i drain water from the display tank to the 10 gallon tub, which will be located under the stand, what is the best way to get water from there to the refugium and back? or should it go straight back to the display?

i want the ability to take the refuge off line, i just want to know if i should get submersable pumps and pump the water from the 10gal tub to the refuge and back or what, since the option to drain it wont be there since they will be either same height or the refuge will be higher.

Lowman · 06-28-2005, 12:43 AM

Can you put the sump and fuge close together in your setup. If so I would drill them and put then together with bulkheads. With a small piece of pipe between them you could put a ball valve inline and sut off the refugium that way.

jennmac415 · 06-28-2005, 02:42 AM

This is exactly what I did, my fuge and sump are right next to each other and they are plumbed together with a bulkhead. I have 2 drains coming from my overflow,, 1 goes into the sump and 1 goes into the fuge and then the water flows from the fuge to the sump through the bulkhead between them and back up to the tank from the sump.

On a side note, Chris you have PM from me.

Jenni

Gaidin · 06-28-2005, 06:13 AM

Wow Jenni... you are starting to sound like a reef plumbing genius.... and to think you were so clueless as to how to make any of this stuff work just a few short months ago....You also said that you didnt know what the big deal was with all these people buying colored sticks, but now you have some and you are getting better lights and everything... I am impressed... you are becoming one of us, very nicely... =)

fattoni · 06-28-2005, 07:23 AM

Jenni is this how you have your system set up? I wasnt exactly sure but I drew how I thought it might look with less returns. Also what was the Bulkhead fitting inbetween the sump and fuge? 3/4? 1in? 1 1/2? ect, thanks

Kris

Gaidin · 06-28-2005, 01:15 PM

yes that is exactly the way that Jenni's tank is setup... the proportions of the sump and fuge are off but that really doesnt matter... the setup is the same... the bulkhead i believe is 1 inch between the sump and fuge.

Uber Nuber · 06-28-2005, 06:46 PM

hrm, and how do you gurantee that the flow will flow from the refuge to the sump? because the pump is sucking out of the sump? and just for kicks what if there was only one overflow from the tank, any suggestions, other then getting another overflow?i could drain straight to the refuge? let that drain into the sump connected to the pump? i think that is right....

kris you thinking about setting up a refuge?

Krux · 06-28-2005, 08:07 PM

when i had a fuge, i had it elevated about 6" above the sump, had a pump that fed it, and then had bulkheads with standpipes to overflow back into the sump. you take it offline by turning off the feed pump, or closing the ball valve to it if you decide to feed it with your return pump... let me dig for pictures...

Krux · 06-28-2005, 08:15 PM

ok here is a pic of the old setup, you can see to the left is the fuge mostly obscured by the skimmer, it is elevated up and has 2 returns to the sump, in case algae blockes one, the other is up another 1/2" to prevent an overflow. it drains into the sump where it is sent to the main display.

Uber Nuber · 06-29-2005, 12:09 AM

nice, thx for the pics, hey where is the pump that feeds to refuge and where is the water from the refuge returned too? all before the skimmer? or does there need to be another chamber inbetween the main intake from the display ( which i am imagining holds the pump that feeds the refuge ) and the skimmer compartment? so basically there would be three compartments, the first holds the pump that feeds the refuge and also is the intake from the main tank overflow, second compartment would be skimmer and also the overflows from the refuge, and third would be where the overflow from skimmer and bulkhead is drilled to connect to return pump(btw my skimmer in in sump model, i can have it not be, but i just figured for it would be easiest, its the Aqua c EV 120, maybe keeping outa the sump would make a difference, or make it easier?)

fattoni · 06-29-2005, 01:41 AM

yeah I have a very small section for a refuge...its got a lot of macro but i still need some rubble rock for it.

Gaidin · 06-29-2005, 03:03 AM

water seeks its own level... so if you have two containers side by side with a bulkhead connecting them, the water will flow between the two containers so that they are always of equal height... up to the point of the flow rate and the height of the bulkheads... if the water level is lower than the bulkheads of course no water will flow and if you are trying to flow more water than the bulkhead can handle then you could be in trouble... now if you have one overflow you can always split the flow from the single overflow and divert a partial amount of water to the refugium...since your pump will be in the sump (external/submersible doesnt matter) you are pulling water out of this container, causing the water level to drop in the sump and the water from the fuge will want to flow to the sump to equalize the water level (as long as you have water flowing from the overflow, and water level is high enough to flow through the bulkheads, you want to be wary of the pump pulling too much water from the sump to the point of running dry if your sump and fuges are of small size, like Jenni's ...so you need enough water so that when you turn the pump, its not using all the water from the sump by the time the water flows to the tank and over the overflow and into the sump and fuge ... so you shouldnt have to worry too much about trying to move water from the fuge to the sump, it should do it for you... hope that help....

jennmac415 · 06-29-2005, 03:11 AM

Mine works like a charm... of course i can't take credit for it. that has to go to JR(gaidin) he was a big help in getting my tank up and running. You are welcome to come and have a look at my set up if you want. We can discuss the trading of our light systems then too.

Jenni

liquidfunk · 06-29-2005, 09:49 AM

i wouldnt run all the flow through the fuge either like you mentioned. IMO its best to have pretty slow flow through the fuge so you give you water a chance to be cleaned by the algae. Ive got about a 20-25g fuge, and I run about 200gph.

You dont want to have so much flow your washing you pods and macro algae right out the pipe.

Two over flows, or one that is split off into two makes sense to me. I would probably run a sideways "T" type of connection to head to the fuge.

Krux · 06-29-2005, 06:54 PM

i am not a huge believer in all the chambers people are building into their sumps. on that setup, the overflows, skimmer output, and fuge output all went into the main section of the sump, and then went through a few baffles to dissipate bubbles.

i fed it off of my return line, just put in a tee and a ball valve so i could crank it back and get a slow flow through it.