help with refugium design please

[bankspower]

I'm planning to make a refugium for my 55 gallon aquarium. I'm making it out of acrylic to fit in my existing aquarium stand. I'll be using a Coralife 65gal. skimmer and a 600 gph overflow box. The first question I have is regarding the overall refugium height. I arbitrarily picked 12", but have no idea what height it should be. Next, how tall should the dividers be, How high off the base should I put the raised baffle on the right side, and how far apart should I place the three baffles? How wide should the return chamber and the skimmer chamber be? How do you normally plumb your overflow water into the skimmer chamber? Do you put a 90 fitting on the side of the refugium, or just run a hose into the skimmer chamber? Lastly, what brand and size return pump should I use for 600 gph?

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I really appreciate the help, I have the general concept down, just need to put some definite numbers with it so I can start building and ordering hoses, pump, etc. this weekend

 

[EdKruzel]

I would shorten the inside baffle wall to just above (a couple of inches) your desired sand depth.

This way the water will fill the skimmer chamber and dump over the first baffle, with the second baffle directing the flow; the next baffle is what I'm referring too.
If this 3rd baffle is high the water will cascade over and cause the sand to move. Keep it lower and the flow will be slower and even so as not to disturb the sand bed.

Ed

 

[bankspower]

So I should leave the baffle next to the return chamber the full height, just the one entering the refugium chamber needs to be a bit shorter? What kind of measurements do you think for the baffles, height and seperation?

 

[Seajuice]

I just built a similar design. ( you can ck out my picture) I tried to take another pic but I can't seem to get the size of the pic low enough to be accepted on RC again. Anyways its up and running, cycling with LS and LR and Macro. I put a 90 return in my refugium and found out the hard way this is not the best place for the return. Too much turbulence in this area. I would save yourself some headaches and put the return in a different chamber.
I have a 90g tank and a 30 gal ref. using a Blue line 20HD pump, rated at 480gph for the return. Its very very quiet and doesn't seem to mind being choked down abit. I use a Blue Line 40 HD rated at 790 for my skimmer. This is a very powerful pump, which exits my skimmer then plumbed to two returns in the tank and one back to my sump. Hope this helps, good luck.

 

[Fast Fred]

Look here:

http://www.melevsreef.com/

 

[dlish89]

That is one serious sump in the link

 

[zukihara]

Mine is 36"x16"x16". Although I'm no expert it looks to me in your setup unless you have an autotopoff you have very little room for evaporation to reduce the water level before your return pump is shooting half air into the tank. Also, if you are doing macros in the middle chamber, unless I'm on crack, after you put sand in it, that leaves very little room for macro growth (3"?). Hopefully, someone smarter than me will come correct my thinking.

 

[bankspower]

This is great information, exactly why I posted here. So the recommendation is 16" tall instead of 12" to make room for macros? How tall should I make the baffles, which will dictate the useful water level in the fuge? It's no problem to make the return chamber larger, the drawing definitely isn't to scale, just a general idea of how I'll make it. How wide should I make the return then? How about a mag 7 for a return, would that do the trick, or too much flow?

Thanks again for all the replies, very very helpful.

Shawn

 

[dlish89]

Just alittle note I have been researching pumps and Mags are a good pump and less expensive, but noisy. Especially the mag 7 I have read alot of posts on it and people are upset how noisy it is. I haven't really sen too many complaints on the bigger mags, so I son't know if they are quietier or people just expect noise with the larger pumps. Eheim 1260 ( in the mag 7 flow range ) seems to be the popular favorite as far as an excellent pump and making no noise, but they come with a steep price tag. Get what you pay for I guess. Just wanted to throw that in if noise is a factor.