fuge question

[txstateunivreefer]

ok so i have water leaving my RR tank going thru spa hose and ennd some way of getting the water to enter the tank the fuge is a 20 high seperated like so ive thought of a filter sock as one idea any other diy ideas?

[jroescher]

Look here for some ideas: http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

I see two problems right away. Using your sump as a the fuge also like you have it pictured is probably going to have more flow than you want. At least everything I've read says you want low flow in the fuge. Of course that depends on what you are using for a return pump.

Also, your baffles need to be reconsidered. Look at what's pictured on the link above for what they should look like. You need another baffle in there so that water flows over-under-over.

[caferacermike]

One other quick consideration is to leave enough space at the top to allow for power outages. You don't want to come up short.

[txstateunivreefer]

mike- i did consider that right now during a pwr outage my tank drains .333 cuft of h2o so i did figure that in i have allowed for .6cuft overflow

jroescher- as for flow i have thought of doing some sort of a 2 way input w/ a ball valve restricting flow to the fuge similar to the top picture

so here is how i went about building it this way i have a 72 gal bowfront wich has about enough room to use a film canister for a sump the largest item i can fit under there must fit a 28x10 footprint however a 20 high fits perfect also i needed to make my sump area as large a possible my skimmer can be placed outside of the sump so i can have both the return ato switch and skimmer pump in one place my heater is hidden w/in my overflow box and therefore i dont need room for it now to max out fuge room i made the fuge tank 12x17x13 that second piece of glass it to catch the water and let it trickle down 1 " to the 7 " res. h20 level the only other idea i can come up with would be to stack my current sump on top of the 20 high

below are three options i could come up with

Option A

same design solves flow problem ?

Option B increases volume solves flow problem best idea i suppose gives 1" or less clearance from bottom of stand :)

option C

not the greatest idea

[txstateunivreefer]

nm it wont fit unless someone has a sump shrinking ray or a stand elarging ray

[edawgm]

I am looking at the same project. and the same basic plan but as mintioned above I was looking at haveing the 3 baffles (over-under-over) next to the pump and 2 baffles (under-over) at the inlet area to slow the flow of water. but please let me know how yours turns out I have only had my SW tank up for 2 months now and have never done it before.

Tried to add a drawing of it but cant sorry

[txstateunivreefer]

tablet pc :)

[hobogato]

keep in mind that the chamber with your return pump is where you will see ALL of the evaporation of your tank. the way you have it drawn, you
will have a hard time keeping up and not having your pump suck in air.

[txstateunivreefer]

even with an ATO hooked up to a 18 gal res?

[edawgm]

nm it wont fit unless someone has a sump shrinking ray or a stand elarging ray

same here but luckly for me when my wife and i first set it up the couch was covering part of the wall it was on and now that my wife has moved the furniture around she wants me to move the tank over so that it is centered on the wall. so i get to have to easy task :wacko of draining and taking it apart to move it 1.5' lucky me. but at lest when i do that i will be able to have to fuge made and just drop it in from the top :skeezy

[hobogato]

even with an ATO hooked up to a 18 gal res?

sorry, you will be fine with an auto top off :)

[txstateunivreefer]

i think this is how im gonna do it for now i got the 20 gal for cheap at a garage sale so all i had to do was add the baffles i think this is what im gonna end up doing any advise before i start construction

[hobogato]

the drain that empties into the same chamber as the return pump will more than likely create a micro bubble issue in the tank.

[txstateunivreefer]

even if it was under the surface of the h20?

[jroescher]

Now you know why I don't do graphics for a living!

Here's my suggestion. I added a baffle and moved the middle one up (red lines). You'll need to adjust to make room, probably take up a little of your fuge space. You only want one valve on your drain AFTER the Tee to give a slow flow into your fuge, the rest free flows into the drain just after the fuge baffle.

The higher the water in the return chamber, the less problems with top-off, but more likely to cause a flood. I understand your wanting as big a fuge area as you can get, but seriously consider that the larger the area where your pump is the less problems you will have with bubbles, floods, and top-off. It's going to be a big trade off that you'll have to decide on.

[hobogato]

even if it was under the surface of the h20?

yes

[txstateunivreefer]

ok if i follow jroshers idea would that help?

[jroescher]

In your last drawing, pulling water from your return chamber to feed your skimmer is going make the problems with that small chamber a lot worse. That's two pumps pulling water from that area. They can drain it dry in seconds.

And you DO NOT WANT A VALVE between the Tee and the drain on the side you have feeding your return pump. Use two Tee's, one under the other. The lower one feeding your fuge with a valve on it, and the upper Tee feeding your return. That way you can limit the amount of water into the fuge and let the overflow run into the return. LEAVE AN UNOBSTRUCTED DRAIN that can drain water faster than your pumps could ever think about pumping.

You will have a LOT of air in your drain lines. That's why it's not a good idea to drain into the same area that your pump is in. Putting the drain under the surface of the water won't affect the amount of air that is put out. I put elbows on the end of my drains and try to let the water flow out across the top of the water surface to lessen the amount of air I put down into the water.

[txstateunivreefer]

new revised design
dimesions from left to right 6 in skimmer+2in baff. + 6in return+ 2 in baff. +10 in fuge

LMK what you think

[jroescher]

Perfect!

Actually that's the way mine is set up. If I were going to build me another one, I wouldn't change anything.

[txstateunivreefer]

im happy with this design because my current sump where my chateo and all is right now is around the same size so that will be plenty of space