hawaiifavo
New member
Hey guys,
I had a 150G FOWLR tank but then we moved and had to sell it but I kept my custom made sump and skimmer and bunch of other equipment. My plan is to do a 65G tank (first reef tank, smaller place for now - will turn into a QT tank down the road) but utilize my current sump and skimmer plus with the addition of a refugium as well. The 65G tank has a footprint of 36"x18" but the stand is 60"x18"x30" to accommodate the filtration system underneath (I'm a big believer in overkill). My custom sump has a footprint of 28"x16" so that leaves me plenty of room for a refugium. See pics attached for the sump (made of acrylic).
Where I'm struggling is how the hell do I incorporate the refugium? I really want to work with an eshopps R100 2nd gen but not sure if that is practical at this point. I have two HOB over flows to utilize as well (but they are going in the DT). I would like to avoid drilling if possible and would like to use the eshopps R100 too but I'm not 100% committed to it. A large reason for the eshopps R100 is I can get one from a friend for about $75 so if I can take advantage of that then all the better really.
Initial thoughts are having one HOB overflow going to the sump and another to HOB overflow going to the refugium. The refugium (sitting higher that the sump) then empties its water via a HOB overflow into the return chamber of the main sump where a return pump feeds the water back into the DT. That setup seemed too vulnerable to potential flooding.
Another thought was to have both overflows entering the main sump, the return pump then splits off into two directions. One directions takes water to the DT and the other direction takes water to the refugium where again a HOB overflow feeds the water back into the sump. This is my preferred method but because of the design of the eshopps R100 its not really possible to utilize a HOB overflow box. How about a custom u-tube?
I'm open to any suggestions at this point - but I just want to keep it as simple and as clean as possible - if that means spending more money then so be it, I just really want to avoid drilling, unless someone else wants to do the honors for me : )
Thanks
PS - my apologies for not doing any diagrams, hopefully I was descriptive enough.... : s
I had a 150G FOWLR tank but then we moved and had to sell it but I kept my custom made sump and skimmer and bunch of other equipment. My plan is to do a 65G tank (first reef tank, smaller place for now - will turn into a QT tank down the road) but utilize my current sump and skimmer plus with the addition of a refugium as well. The 65G tank has a footprint of 36"x18" but the stand is 60"x18"x30" to accommodate the filtration system underneath (I'm a big believer in overkill). My custom sump has a footprint of 28"x16" so that leaves me plenty of room for a refugium. See pics attached for the sump (made of acrylic).
Where I'm struggling is how the hell do I incorporate the refugium? I really want to work with an eshopps R100 2nd gen but not sure if that is practical at this point. I have two HOB over flows to utilize as well (but they are going in the DT). I would like to avoid drilling if possible and would like to use the eshopps R100 too but I'm not 100% committed to it. A large reason for the eshopps R100 is I can get one from a friend for about $75 so if I can take advantage of that then all the better really.
Initial thoughts are having one HOB overflow going to the sump and another to HOB overflow going to the refugium. The refugium (sitting higher that the sump) then empties its water via a HOB overflow into the return chamber of the main sump where a return pump feeds the water back into the DT. That setup seemed too vulnerable to potential flooding.
Another thought was to have both overflows entering the main sump, the return pump then splits off into two directions. One directions takes water to the DT and the other direction takes water to the refugium where again a HOB overflow feeds the water back into the sump. This is my preferred method but because of the design of the eshopps R100 its not really possible to utilize a HOB overflow box. How about a custom u-tube?
I'm open to any suggestions at this point - but I just want to keep it as simple and as clean as possible - if that means spending more money then so be it, I just really want to avoid drilling, unless someone else wants to do the honors for me : )
Thanks
PS - my apologies for not doing any diagrams, hopefully I was descriptive enough.... : s
