Sump/Refugium

[manny]

Alright, this is the final plan for my sump/refugium that I'm gonna get made out of acrylic. Does anybody see anything wrong with what I have planned? My tank will be draining through a 1 1/4" durso standpipe which goes to a 1" bulkhead and will split off into two seperate ball-valve controlled drains. One will go to the refugium and the other to the skimmer. The o/p of the sump/refug will go to a 450 GPH Iwaki external pump. It's ok that I'm gonna have a 90° elbow going to the pump???
By the way, I got the idea for this sump from Matt's. It's pretty much the same but smaller.

[dan]

is all the water from the tank going to the skimmer and the fuge? the only problem is if you have the ball valves closed to much you could flood the tank, bacause your going to want to control water going to the skimmer and control water in the fuge. ????? the pump is still putting out at its rate which will cause backup and suck your sump dry. not good! or you could say '' i hate when that happens''

[dan]

water going in the tank has to be the same coming out . you could use one ball valve on the skimmer and the other side of the tee leave open freely. that way you have no back up on your tank. the only sump you have is the center section. what your calling sump/skimmer section will always be full of water.your evaporation will be from the center section, really small. i'll pm you

[manny]

ok, I had thought that would be a problem. i'll give you a call.

[matt]

I think you'll be okay, given the tank volume (30gal, right?) and the return pump size, 450gph. But, only put a ball valve on the water going to the refugium; this will avoid the problem that I think Dan was talking about. You control the flow to the fuge, all the rest goes to the skimmer section. Make the skimmer section smaller if you can and leave a larger area for evaporation, or, just make a really small section on the right for the tank drain, and put the skimmer in the center section where the evaporation will take place, or, if you leave a small evaporation area, have a reliable top off set up. Because you have a small main tank and fairly slow pump, I don't think evaporation will be that big a deal. No problem with the elbow to the return pump; mine has two elbows. You might use a 1" bulkhead instead, 1" PVC to the pump, and a bushing to match the pump intake. You'll need a ball valve on the output to the return pump; otherwise you have to drain the sump to remove the pump. You could even put this ball valve inside the sump, on the inside of the bulkhead, if you need to.

[manny]

Wow, thanks for the tips Matt. This is gonna go on a 38. Same footprint as my 30 but a little taller. I talked to Dan yesterday and the problem he was talking about is what you are thinkin. Also, I think I will go with an inch bulkead instead of the 3/4". I have some other ideas too so I'll take them all to the meeting with me and decide on one there. You're an Iwaki user, right? Is there a difference between the Iwakis with the American-made motors and the Iwakis with the Japanese-made ones?