Refugium Idea

[mattheyn]

Hey guys just wanted to run an idea by you to see if ya'll see a potential problem with my sump plans. I am planning on putting a 2.5 gallon refugium on my 10 gallon. I don't like the idea of drilling a hole in the back of my tank so this is my plan: :lol: I have a small emporer power filter hanging on the back of my tank. The slots for filters, etc have been removed and I have modified a Lee's skimmer to fit in the back. Anyway, my plans are to remove the skimmer and drill a hole in the bottom of the filter, silicone some fittings in and attach a piece of flex that would run from the bottom of the "hang on back" filter down to the 2.5 gallon refugium. From here I am planning on using a pump to pump the water back up to my tank. So what do you think? Will it work? My only concern would be regulating the water flow from the emperor to the refugium. I was thinking that maybe I could put some sort of valve on it. :? Some input would be great.

[witecap4u]

Unless im reading it wrong, I dont think it will work. Basically you are pumping water into the powerfilter, draining it into the sump, and pumping it back.

I think you will either
A) Flood the sump
B) Run the sump dry and possibly burn up your pump

If your power filter pumps 200gph, and drains the same, but your return pump only pumps 150, you will flood your sump, unless you have a way to shut off the drain to the sump at a certain level. On the other hand, if your return pump flows 250gph, you will pump out more than your putttin in, and run the sump dry. It will be hard to match the pumps either way, and I think it would require constant adjusting, which IMO isnt worth it.

I think you would be better off, getting a small over flow box, or getting your tank drilled with an internal overflow box for more reliabiltiy.

cs

[matt]

Mattheyn;

You might consider checking out my drilled 10 gal. I'm going to sell it when I move; maybe I could let it go sooner. Trying to keep some sort of external overflow going with the limited flow in a 10 gal sounds like a nightmare to me, although I can't really picture what you're trying to do.

School really slows down for me this week; classes end, and i only have one day of exams to give next week. Why don't you come over at some point to check out my set-up? It'll give you good ideas, I think, even if you're not interested in buying. It is tough to drill a 10 gal; I just got lucky, or rather, Mike at Aquarium Sales and Service got lucky. But, it's been trouble free for almost 2 years, since I set it up. The overflow area is tiny, but I push a solid 200 gph through it.

Another thing, I'd be pretty skeptical about the 2 1/2 capacity refugium, unless you're really going to trickle water through it. Mine is 5 1/2 gallons, and if I could have figured out a way to get another 10 on that part of the stand, I would have used it. The thing is, if you have a decent flow, it will be tough to keep sand and crap out of the pump in such a small space; water moves a lot faster through a smaller space.

I'm not trying to diss your idea, only share my experience with a similar set up.

Matt

[mattheyn]

matt

I would love to check out your tank. Let me know when a good time would be.