AdamHorton
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Hello.
First, here's a picture of my current setup. It's kind of an old picture, but the plumbing is still the same.
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/newrefugium.jpg
Water comes down from the overflow and in through the top on the left. It then goes through that ugly U-tube into the 20G-High tank on the right, and the pump in there sends it back off to the display tank. Relatively simple and cheap, which is the way I like it because I'm a guy.
Here's my thinking, though. I want to get a protein skimmer at some point, and I want to put it down there, which means that the water level of at least one of the tanks needs to remain constant, which isn't the case right now. I'm thinking of making an adjustment, but I want to run it by the geniuses on this forum first because I don't really know what I'm getting into here...
Define: "sump" = the tank on the left; "refugium" = the tank on the right
I want to drill a hole in the sump towards the top, and stick a short piece of PVC going from there into the refugium. I imagine I could use PVC between 1" - 1.5" in diameter for this. This should make the water level constant in the sump, and also the PVC setup there would be less likely to fail than the ugly U-tube thing that's in there right now. Also, I think I might end up being able to keep more total water in there than I have now.
I do have some constraints, though. I realize that I could be doing a lot better by making some relatively major changes. Though I'm not opposed to making major plumbing changes at this point, the time for that will be in about a year when I move, and I will more than likely create another thread when that time comes. I'm not willing to take the display tank off the stand at this point (it's 150G), so basically that means I'm stuck with the sump and refugium that I have under there, and they can't be taken out from underneath the stand.
So my first question is: is this idea sound, or should I scrap it and/or try something else?
Next a few logistical questions:
-What can I drill the sump with that would make a nice round hole like I need? I'm assuming it's made of acrylic (it's part of an Eshopps wet/dry filter). I'm guessing I need a special drill bit for this, but I have no idea what to look for.
-Is there some type of PVC joint or something that would go over the hole and make it water-tight? How do people attach pipes to drilled holes so that they don't leak water?
If I'm missing anything or if maybe there's something I haven't thought of (or something you think I might not have thought of), please let me know. I think this is simple enough for me to do, but I don't want to screw it up.
Thanks for your help. :butt:
First, here's a picture of my current setup. It's kind of an old picture, but the plumbing is still the same.
http://www.adamhorton.com/files/flog/newrefugium.jpg
Water comes down from the overflow and in through the top on the left. It then goes through that ugly U-tube into the 20G-High tank on the right, and the pump in there sends it back off to the display tank. Relatively simple and cheap, which is the way I like it because I'm a guy.
Here's my thinking, though. I want to get a protein skimmer at some point, and I want to put it down there, which means that the water level of at least one of the tanks needs to remain constant, which isn't the case right now. I'm thinking of making an adjustment, but I want to run it by the geniuses on this forum first because I don't really know what I'm getting into here...
Define: "sump" = the tank on the left; "refugium" = the tank on the right
I want to drill a hole in the sump towards the top, and stick a short piece of PVC going from there into the refugium. I imagine I could use PVC between 1" - 1.5" in diameter for this. This should make the water level constant in the sump, and also the PVC setup there would be less likely to fail than the ugly U-tube thing that's in there right now. Also, I think I might end up being able to keep more total water in there than I have now.
I do have some constraints, though. I realize that I could be doing a lot better by making some relatively major changes. Though I'm not opposed to making major plumbing changes at this point, the time for that will be in about a year when I move, and I will more than likely create another thread when that time comes. I'm not willing to take the display tank off the stand at this point (it's 150G), so basically that means I'm stuck with the sump and refugium that I have under there, and they can't be taken out from underneath the stand.
So my first question is: is this idea sound, or should I scrap it and/or try something else?
Next a few logistical questions:
-What can I drill the sump with that would make a nice round hole like I need? I'm assuming it's made of acrylic (it's part of an Eshopps wet/dry filter). I'm guessing I need a special drill bit for this, but I have no idea what to look for.
-Is there some type of PVC joint or something that would go over the hole and make it water-tight? How do people attach pipes to drilled holes so that they don't leak water?
If I'm missing anything or if maybe there's something I haven't thought of (or something you think I might not have thought of), please let me know. I think this is simple enough for me to do, but I don't want to screw it up.
Thanks for your help. :butt: