Refugium question...

[runway1]

Obviously there's an inlet, and outlet and a pump involved. With only one pump, how does the water get back in the tank?

I.e. if the one single pump is pulling water out and the return is 1-2 feet on the other side, how is the water pumped back in? Similarly, if the pump is doing the return work, how is the inlet side moving water in? Is it a siphon, like a wet/dry pick up? TIA

 

[klam]

If the fuge is above the main tank the pump(in main tank) will push water into the fuge, the fuge will use gravity to return the water back down to main tank.

If fuge is below main tank the pump(in fuge) will push the water into the main tank, main tank will probably use an overflow and gravity will return the water back down to the fuge.

 

[seaham358]

you need to have the tank drilled for a bulk head over flow or get a overflow box.

 

[foma2000]

i have my fuge at the same level as the tank (actualy right next to it) and i just have the hob filter outflow to the fuge then just a u tube conecting the two tanks to gether. it works well, but looks like s*%t. ok for my room only cause thats the way i like it.

 

[cmor1701d]

Depends on where you place your fuge and if you have a sump or not.

Check out http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html and this three parter...

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/gt/

I made part of my sump a fuge area. It's a temporary fuge until I re-plumb my overflow and returns. Then I'll put the fuge along side my sump, pump (at a low flow rate) into the fuge and gravity feed back to the sump.