Possible problem with fuge (pic included)

[Shnabbles]

Ok this is a picture of my fuge, it is in one of those 100 gallon rubbermaid poly tanks. The box in the middle is something i made out of 8x10 plexi glass, i used aquarium sealent and glued it to the bottom and all 4 sides.. there are whole drilled in the plexi glass to allow water to be sucked into return.

The pump is not shown but is basically sucking the water through the plexi glass box.

There is roughly a 4-5 inch sand bed in fuge..

Now here is my possible problem... over time if the aquarium sealant goes bad and that box crumbles all that sand is likely going to get sucked into my return probally distroying my pump and through sand all over my display.

For people with set ups like this how do you pull the water out of your fuge and into your sump?

 

[vegaskid11]

If avoidable, you do not want your return from your refugium to pass through a pump. The pump will likely kill some or all of the pods that you are trying to get into the display. I have always had my refugiums gravity drain into my display. If you can raise the height of your refugium then you could simply put a bulkhead with a screen at your water line and return that way. This would also ensure that if something happens your refugium stays put. I would imagine that your fuge has hundreds if not thousands of bristle worms and other things that you probably dont want in your display.

If you have this draining into a return and then again into the display, that is two pumps. maybe you can elevate the fuge and use gravity drain into return. This would take away one pump and also give you peace of mind from fuge disaster.