Ok. I need help creating an overflow system

[kidafius]

I just moved my 55 gallon over to be my fuge. It is about 3" taller than my display tank, and about 15" to the right of the display tank. I need ideas on how to get water from my display tank, to the 55 gallon, and back without flooding worries. Any takers?

[biotoxin]

a 55gal fuge? Seems a little overkill for a refugium. How i would do it is have a siphon out from the main tank and have it pumped back to the display tank and just make sure there's a siphon break on the overflow. Just make sure its slightly lower than the main tank to keep the siphon going.

[loganj]

Assuming this will be a fuge only...you're not running an in sump skimmer and other equipment in there...here's how I'd set it up. I'm basing this on the assumption that drilling the side of the 55 is not an option. Use an overflow (int/ext) on the 55 and pump water from the display to the 55 with a [acronym:57058020dc="Powerhead"]PH[/acronym:57058020dc] or a small pump. This will work since the 55 is higher than the display and should be a fairly safe setup. It will also keep the critters from the fuge from making the trip through a pump impeller although I don't think this kills as many of them as some folks think.

[fishfreek]

a 55gal fuge? Seems a little overkill for a refugium.

Acutally I think thats a fine size. Way to often people undersize their fuges to a point that they loose their effectivness. It would be like having a 10 [acronym:17eb014a54="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:17eb014a54] sump on a 100 [acronym:17eb014a54="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:17eb014a54] tank. What would teh purpose of such a small sump on a tank that size? It would surve no real benifit. Same holds for a small fuge.

[BillyZ]

I see nothing wrong with a 55 fuge. I say this because i'm in the process of setting one up for my system as well. Guess what, my display tank is only 55 as well and I see nothing wrong with having that size fuge as part of the system. I'm literally doubling the water capacity of my system. If you take a look at some nano set ups, they often have larger fuge/sumps than they do display tanks.

[kidafius]

Shoot. I love the look of the big fuge next to my 120. Plus, I've always wanted a planted tand, so I'm just using chaetomorpha, racemosa, and some feather caulerpa right now. It looks really sweet, and the shrimp love it! It's already crawling with critters, and a hundreds of baby cerith snails. I need to catch me peppermint shrimp and put them in there, they keep brooding, so I'd like them to do it the fuge so as there might be a better chance at keeping some young.

Ok, I aggree with the a pump to the fuge, and gravity draining back. BUT....How can I get a fast enough siphon to keep up with a mighty [acronym:0db50c7a8d="Powerhead"]PH[/acronym:0db50c7a8d]. The smallest I have is a RIO 800. Think I should get a peewee 100gph or less?

[loganj]

I really don't know how much flow you'll get. A 3" height differential isn't much. I suspect you'd have to have several drains going back to the tank...maybe a couple of 1" lines. It would be best if you could raise the 55 up some more. Possibly drain it partially and, with a couple of strong friends, slide some cap blocks under the legs of the stand? Raising it another 4-6" should make a big difference.