Freshwater Sump/Refugium combo for 400+ gallon tank?

[Luananeko]

Right its the same with mine, but you'll still get some. Once the water level drops below the overflow box the water stops. The bigger the tank (witch has more surface area) the more water is going to come down. Believe me I know I've ran a few over before lol so you'll need something big enough that can still hold all that water plus whatever might come down. Make sure if you make a overflow box its big enough aswell the more water you push to the tank the more the box has got to get down. I screwed up there and had to put on another.

I compared the pond pumps to sump pumps and they was still cheaper and gave a lot more gph. Just a heads up

You sound like you have done a ton of research or have had them before. So ill stop giving you things to keep on/in mind, don't want to make ya mad.
Just thought you would like to see how I did it.

Nah, not making me mad in the slightest, I like double checking with real people that what I've read is accurate Research only goes so far compared to real experience, and this is my first sump so I want to make sure I do it right.

I'll check into sump pumps, I didn't realize they were actually cheaper! Thanks!

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Nah, not making me mad in the slightest, I like double checking with real people that what I've read is accurate Research only goes so far compared to real experience, and this is my first sump so I want to make sure I do it right.

I'll check into sump pumps, I didn't realize they were actually cheaper! Thanks!

Ok well I think that's all I have if I think of something ill repost or if you have a question just ask. If I'm not around I'm sure someone will be

 

[Luananeko]

One more question... Is there any reason not to do most of the mechanical filtration after the refugium, or possibly putting the refugium before all of the filtration? I just found out about Micro Spider Crabs (Limnopilos naiyanetri) and they sound like they'd be super cool to put into the refugium, but if the water has been too well polished first then they'd have nothing to eat unless I specially feed them myself. Putting the mechanical filtration after the refugium means that all the plant debris could be better filtered out before the return pump too. I guess the other alternative would be to put a T fork on the inlet pipe to send some water to the refugium directly and the rest through the regular filtration, which would also allow for lower flow rates to allow the plants to thrive.

Any idea which option would be better?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I don't know if I would even worry about that, with those guys. Even with the pad stuff, debris are going to get threw it from the force of the water pushing it. Imo all it really does is build up bacteria. The filter before the pump area is the one that really helps with the debris. This is going off of the refugium you posted on the first page.

 

[Terrance]

As for you tank I think it would be a good idea to black out the filter media section of the sump and return if you were to make it a show tank. It wouldn't be difficult to hide the wires and make it look nice.

Good idea. Black out the baffles so that algae doesn't start growing in the first and third chamber.


I did some research about using those pumps from the hardware store vs aquarium pumps (because I was drawn in from the price difference for similar performance). I remember on some forums, people were saying the pumps from the hardware store is not meant to be run continuously 24/7/365.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Good idea. Black out the baffles so that algae doesn't start growing in the first and third chamber.

I did some research about using those pumps from the hardware store vs aquarium pumps (because I was drawn in from the price difference for similar performance). I remember on some forums, people were saying the pumps from the hardware store is not meant to be run continuously 24/7/365.

True some say aquarium safe