Help me plumb my Aqueon 210

[KempDesign]

Hey guys, first post here. I keep a 20 gallon nano reef as my first venture into saltwater, but this question is for an African Cichlid tank. Hope you don't mind! I just couldn't find anyone on the freshwater side who could talk about durso vs herbie drains.

I am using a 40 gallon sump and a 20 gallon refugium connected by a 1.5" pvc pipe and bulkheads. The return pump sits in the last chamber of the 40 and will pump probably about 1200 gph after head loss back to the main tank. What I want to do is send 2/3 of my flow to the 40 gallon sump and 1/3 to my 20 gallon refugium. I was originally going to install dual durso's into each overflow and direct 2 directly to the sump while splitting the other two, sending half to the sump and half to the refugium. Then I read that dual durso's aren't recommended.

Herbie's design looks like it could work but then I read that I can't use a T on a Herbie drain. So, how do I split the drain so my sump gets 2/3 and my refugium gets 1/3 of the flow?

Thanks!

 

[Mustang67]

Can you add another pump to the sump? One that could direct the flow for you?
Or how about buying a new 60 or 75 gallon tank and build your own sump with a refugium in it. They are easy to build, & tons of info on DIY sumps here.

 

[KempDesign]

Buying another pump is exactly what I did. I'm pumping 300 gph into the refugium that returns to the return chamber of the sump.

 

[Mrramsey]

Tee your return line to send flow to the refugium.

 

[KempDesign]

Tee your return line to send flow to the refugium.

I read that adding a Tee to the return line can interfere with Herbie drains, though I'm not sure why.

 

[Mrramsey]

Hmm I'm not sure how that would affect the drain at all. I know you don't want to add a tee to the Herbie drain at all.

 

[pascal32]

the herbie uses a siphon which requires you get it dialed in to match the rate of supply by the return pump. Once set no adjustment should be needed. The problem with a T is that it could add variability to the supply into the tank with a siphon, hence why it is not recomended.

Second using a second pump for the refugium

 

[KempDesign]

Thanks everyone. Does anyone know how long of a horizontal run is ok with a Herbie drain? My sump is set up so the drains come in on the far left. The left overflow should be no big deal but I'm guessing I'll have a 3 to 4 foot horizontal run from the right overflow.