I am designing a 4 ft. sump tank (18" deep, 20" tall). Setting it up with 3 compartments, Is it best to put the refug. in the middle or at the end. PS in the remaining compartment. My return pumps are capable of about 3000 gal. an hour. Would this be to much flow for the refug. if it was in the middle ? Should I put the refug. at the end and divert about 25 percent of the total over flow to its compartment and have it overflow into the middle with the protein skimmer at the other end also overflowing to the middle. My main tank is 220g. Any comments would be appreciated.
Where to put the refugium?
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Epuerto
Aquarium Advice FINatic
mr_X
Aquarium Advice Addict
i would put the refugium after the skimmer and before the return. you want pods and such to make it back to the display. no sense in running them through the skimmer first.
you definitely don't need 3000gph running through the sump either. half that is plenty.
you definitely don't need 3000gph running through the sump either. half that is plenty.
David S
Aquarium Advice Addict
With Doug.
have skimmer,and heaters in first then baffles into return pump section and fuge in last section flowing back to return,fed with 25% from DT.Simple and effective.
have skimmer,and heaters in first then baffles into return pump section and fuge in last section flowing back to return,fed with 25% from DT.Simple and effective.
what do I do with all the extra flow? I was thinking of teeing off my pump discharge and controlling the flow to the refug. Intake and skimmer at one end, refug. at the other and return pump in the middle. The refug. will have a nice gentle flow going through it spilling over to the return pump section.
mr_X
Aquarium Advice Addict
i don't know why you need that kind of pump at all. i would put a ball valve on it and choke it down until i was satisfied. you don't need 2500 gph through the sump if all you have in there are some heaters and a skimmer that has a 500gph pump on it. any micro bubbles hitting the display?
Kind of new to this, please explain DT
figured it out, do you want skimmed, unfiltered water going to your refuge.
I guess what I am trying to do is to use the return pumps to create more water movement in my display tank. By doing this I won't need to clutter up the D.T with power heads or wave makers
mr_X
Aquarium Advice Addict
no matter where the skimmer is, it's not going to take everything out of the water before it passes. you could have it hanging on the tank, in the sump, or completely external and it (and the refugium) will still work. you are giving the skimmer too much credit.
think of this- if the skimmer worked that well, why would we even need macros?
as for flow, i would look into vortechs if you want a clean DT (display tank), but you aren't going to be able to achieve adequate flow with a return pump. you are better off saving that pump for use in a closed loop, and buy something smaller for the return. maybe even return that pump and get something larger for a CL. i used a reeflo barracuda (4300gph) for my 195 gallon DT.
think of this- if the skimmer worked that well, why would we even need macros?
as for flow, i would look into vortechs if you want a clean DT (display tank), but you aren't going to be able to achieve adequate flow with a return pump. you are better off saving that pump for use in a closed loop, and buy something smaller for the return. maybe even return that pump and get something larger for a CL. i used a reeflo barracuda (4300gph) for my 195 gallon DT.
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sdergar
Aquarium Advice Freak
I got a lot of my ideas for the sump/refugium from Melevsreef.com - What is a Sump?
It was a great resource for me.
Steve
It was a great resource for me.
Steve
David S
Aquarium Advice Addict
theres a couple of basic designs in my albums
How does one set up a closed loop system doug
mr_X
Aquarium Advice Addict
a closed loop is just an apparatus that takes tank water and pushes it back in with force and direction. the best way would be to drill a hole in the back of the tank for an intake. attach the pump to that, and then plumb a few returns off of it, to the tank. another way would be to use an over the top style closed loop. this would have to be primed though. there aren't many self priming pumps available to the hobby that would be good for this situation.
here are some pics to give you an idea. this was the set up of my 195 in wall. at the bottom you see the reeflo dart (later changed to a barracuda) and that pushed water via a 1.5" pipe, to the above "oceans motions 4 way", and then to four 1" pipes that headed back to 4 spots in the tank. i had the tank builder drill a ton of holes in the back of this tank. if i had to do it over again, i would have made a lot less holes and came over the top with the returns. anyway, in this situation, the pump ran constantly, and the OM 4 way diverted water to different parts of the tank at different times, making a random turbulence. it's not necessary, but it worked awesome.
in hindsight, not only would i have drilled less holes, i would also have used spa flex instead of hard pvc, to cut down on friction and head loss, and put more flow in the tank.
here are some pics to give you an idea. this was the set up of my 195 in wall. at the bottom you see the reeflo dart (later changed to a barracuda) and that pushed water via a 1.5" pipe, to the above "oceans motions 4 way", and then to four 1" pipes that headed back to 4 spots in the tank. i had the tank builder drill a ton of holes in the back of this tank. if i had to do it over again, i would have made a lot less holes and came over the top with the returns. anyway, in this situation, the pump ran constantly, and the OM 4 way diverted water to different parts of the tank at different times, making a random turbulence. it's not necessary, but it worked awesome.
in hindsight, not only would i have drilled less holes, i would also have used spa flex instead of hard pvc, to cut down on friction and head loss, and put more flow in the tank.
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