Fuge Only

[recoiljpr]

All, I have a biocube 29 that is not pre-drilled. I am going to build the pipe overflows (designs are on reef central, etc) (the overflow will be 3/4" pipe). Since my skimmer, heater, etc are already fitting in the cube I don't see the need for a sump. But, I do see and agree that a fuge would be a welcome addition to my tank.

My plan is to take a 10 gallon aquarium and make it into a fuge with 2 compartements. The first compartment will be where the fuge is (3/4 of the tank) and the second compartment will just contain the pump (MJ 1200) to return the water back to the tank. I will be testing everything out for a few days outside on a 29 gallon empty container I have to dial in the flow, etc. I do have ball valves that I will use to control the MJ1200 flow into the aquarium (It's plumbed with a t to return the unused flow back to the pump chamber to ensure pump life).

My questions are -

1. Would yall reccomend putting a DSB in the fuge (at least 3")?
2. Considering i'm only using 3/4" pipe, do you think the flow will be too great for a fuge?
3. If the flow is too great, then do you reccomend I 3 chamber it and have the fuge in the middle?
4. In order to ensure I don't push too much water back into the aquarium if a fish/snail crawls into my overflow I will place the MJ1200 higher up on the return portion. That way, if something does happen to the overflow, the pump will only put a a few gallons of water into the tank before running dry. I'd rather be out a $20 pump, then have 5 or 6 gallons of water on the floor. Anyone see any issues with that?

I will post pictures as I work on it for anyone who wants to reference or critique it.