need help setting up a refugium!!!

[mitch303]

alright so i have a 55 gallon fowlr tank and i want to add a refugium to help out with my nitrates. my tank sits on a wall that is about the size of the tank itself, so no room on the sides to put it and my stand will not hold it either. I have a storage room right behind the wall my tank is on so i was thinking of drilling some holes in the wall to run my plumbing. my tank is not drilled and i dont plan on drilling it so i need to use a overflow box. Can i use plexi glass to build this whole thing or should i just buy a fish tank, If i build it how big should it be or if i buy a tank what size tank.

What size pump should i buy for the return and what kind of overflow box should i use. will it work runni9ng the plumbing from the refug in the storage room through the wall to the tank? here is a picture of how i want to set it up. i do plan on getting a skimmer a little bit after i build this so what should i put in the skimmer section until i get one? any help would be appreciated thanks.

 

[125mph]

I would separate out the sump and the fug. If you don't, you will but running too much flow into the refugium.

This is how mine is done:

You can make the baffles out of thick plexi but you shouldn't try to build the sump from plexi unless you've had experience. Chances are it will leak eventually if you diy.

 

[mitch303]

i will prbably just end up buying a 20 gallon long tank and using that what kind of overflow and return pump should i use and how many gph on both?

 

[mitch303]

was thinking of getting this overflow
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3579+3587+18358&pcatid=18358

I was going to use a mag drive 5 will this push the water up 6 feet or so and will these be ok together. I will probably place a ball valve on the return line, should i plump everything with pvc? I have read the return needs to be lower then the oveflow so how will i know how much to adjust the valve on the return?

like i said will probably be using 20 gallon long tank. what should be used for baffles and what should i use to place them silicone?

 

[allsps40]

Your lay out looks good to me pretty much hoe mine is set up.

 

[mitch303]

alright so im planning on getting the eshopps 800 gph overflow box and the mag 9.5 for return pump. i have another question what size heater will i need now? the heater i have in the 55 dt right now is the one that came with the starter setup so im assuming its a 200 watt will this be enough for my dt and my 20 gallon refugium. I also want to know how high i should make my baffles? the first baffle for the inlet i was planning on doing 9 inches then it will drop to the fuge then a over under over style i was going to make the under 11 inches so it would be 1 inch off the bottome then the 2 over baffles i was going to do 7inches tall. should i make them 8?

 

[allsps40]

That heater should still be fine as long as it does not get to cold where you are from. I am using a 20L tank for my fuge and my baffles stop about 4 inches from the top of the tank, this always for some head room if your power goes out or your return fails. I did need to make a stand for my skimmer as it was to deep in the water. Here is some pics of my sump. I only have 2 baffles and it works great,I get no bubbles in the tank. Skimmer and tank overflow area, fuge area and return pump area.

Just pretend that my mess of wiring is nice and clean lol. You will also see no fuge in the pics, it the center section I just had it off line at the time, it is now running again.

 

[mitch303]

i live in colorado so it does get pretty cold. very nice setup ill probably ust go with three baffles then so yourt saying yours are about 8 inches high. sounds good i was worried about the room on top if i would have enough room for im the power does go out or something thanks for the info!

 

[Rockys_Pride]

i live in colorado so it does get pretty cold. very nice setup ill probably ust go with three baffles then so yourt saying yours are about 8 inches high. sounds good i was worried about the room on top if i would have enough room for im the power does go out or something thanks for the info!

Where in colorado? Maybe I can help you build/plumb it.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[mitch303]

i live in franktown. where do you live at?

 

[Rockys_Pride]

I'm in greeley.

 

[co45co]

wait, a eshopps 800 (you won't get 800 gph though) and a mag 9.5 on a 20 long?? I have the same overflow and a mag 9.5 at a 6 ft head and its linked to an ATS, and I have to throttle the mag back.

Isn't that a lot of flow for a fuge anyways?

 

[allsps40]

I use a Mag 5 but my display tank is a 40B. I would use a Mag 7 for your setup.

 

[chuckdallas]

Splitter for fuge and slkimmer compartment

Splitter for fuge and slkimmer compartment

If you can't have a drilled tank, I would recommend an internal/external overflow box with 2 u-tubes because if one gets blocked, the other will continue to flow. I have two outlets leading out of the external portion of the overflow box, in case a snail somehow gets past the spongy material that surrounds the hole and blocks one. This means either both u-tubes would have to quit or both outlets from the external overlfow box would have to be blocked to cause a spill.

After the external overflow box, there are 2 flexible pipes that look like the piping used around pools to lead the water down to the sump. I wanted a way to control the water flow into the fuge, so after studying the DIY designs on the website "www.melevsreef.com", I made my own PVC pipe to control the water to the skimmer compartment and the fuge compartment. It cost about $15, not incluing the primer and glue, which I had from previous household projects BTA (no, not Bubble Tip Anemone this time....Before The Aquarium). He recommends 3/4th of the water going to the skimmer and 1/4 into the fuge. If you look at the attached picture, I made a PVC T-junction on the top end to mate the flex-pipe from the external overflow. I used curved hose clamps to mate the flexpipe to the PVC pipe. After the water joins to one pipe, a portion of the water drops down into the skimmer and then there's a ball gate valve before the second pipe, which drops the water into the fuge. That's represented in my attached picture by the red parts of the diagram. By closing the ball gate valve down about 1/4th of the way, I am able to limit the amount of water that enters the fuge and the rest is forced into the skimmer.

 

[mitch303]

i already bought the over flow box and it is only a 1 u tube overflow. should i still split it like that going into the sump though a ball valve to direct some water to the fuge and the rest of the water into the drain area. i would also like to know i do not have a skimmer and dont know when i will be getting one, so my question is can i buy a external skimmer of some sort the i wont have to set in the sump. if so how big should my compartment be where the water drains for the tank i am using a 20 gallon long so kinda limited on space i was thinking about 5 inches. also how big should i make the area for the return pipe i got a mag9.5 that i will have a ball valve on to dial down the flow. but how big should i make this compartment so my return pump doesnt run dry by the way i made my baffles 8inches high that is 4 inches from the top.

 

[mitch303]

well there is no eshopps overflow in between the 300 and 800 and 300 im told would not be enough. and if i added a mag 7 it would only be pushing like 500 or something like that at 3ft head wich wouldnt that be way to low for a 800gph overflow box? and cant i just dial back the flow on the return pump?

 

[Rockys_Pride]

You can put a valve on the drain and return side, that way you can dial whatever you need down. I'd let the return go full blast and turn down the drain as needed. If your return is too much, you can dial that down, split the return pipe and have more return outlets, or split the return pipe back into your sump/fuge. Just some things I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[Birdmanbrian]

Mitch, there are a lot of good opinions on this site. Something that always comes back to me from multiple build recommendations is matching your gph to your skimmer, return, and overflow. You will buy the return pump that will at least supply the flow you can push. A 1" overflow can support 600gph, purchase a pump that can supply close to that at the given head height. Your skimmer should pump approximately the same rate. Note, the depth of your skimmer chamber baffle is dictated by the depth the manufacturer recommends for the skimmer to operate best at, or place on something to obtain the right depth. A lot of skimmers have a dial built in to allow for adjusting the back pressure for a wetter or dryer skim and allow for a variable depth.

You will be dealing with snails passing through your overflow when they are in your display. No way around this my friend, or mod some kind of cap to go on top the internal to keep them out. I returned nine back to my display in less than two months, lol. Occasionally my attention noticed my DT volume a little higher than normal. My suspicions went right to my U-tube cause I knew my flow to sump was decreased and sure enough a stinker snail found some golden algae in my tube.

Something I've done to help with the snail problem is I cleaned out my U-tube of algae building up and wrapped my U-tube with black electrical tape to prevent algae re-growth. I have noticed a big drop in number of snails passing to the other side. You can paint your tube black with Krylon Fusion Black spray paint as it's reef safe. Not sure which will do better against the UV from lighting, anyway hope this helps you out. You have a lot of information to sort out and a lot of opinions to weed through, and so many options to go with.

If you want a controlled flow through your fuge, then consider a central return chamber and place the fuge on either end of your sump. Feed your fuge with tee in return line or tee off your overflow line going to your sump to provide water to the fuge chamber; then you can dial in the flow you want vs. trying to deal with 600gph busting through your fuge on the way to the return chamber.

Hindsight has shown me and I will not setup another tank with just one overflow. In fact I obtained another 55 and drilled it and I'm close to setting it up. Overflows work, but you'd be better of with two, if one fails you have one to back you up until you fix the issue with the other. I think someone may have already mentioned that. I've been running a overflow for 4+ years now and have had a couple near misses, but I've been fortunate so far. I think typically people get overflows to add to system already up and running and want to add a sump to their existing system. If you upgrade, I recommend you do a drilled system and scrap the overflow.