<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7555949#post7555949 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by HEADCHEF1971
but i think splitting from the drain would be benificial. it will be really hard to have water flow into the fuge from the drain (in) if yo udont have a ball valve in place at the T fitting.if the drain runs in with out a valve water wont flow through the T in the fuge. it will be a little trickie but it can be done. with a little inginuity.
now if you tee off the return , you must use a smaller pipe to reduce to keep the head flow up there. if you use a 3/4 in return pipe in to a 3/4 in T fitting then you reduce the head flow. but if you use the same 3/4 in pipe return into a 3/4 in into a 1/2 in T fitting and feed the 1/2 in pipe into the fuge you dont loose much head. i think that made sence. i hope everyonne understood that LoL!!!!!!!!!
I didn't understand what you just said!
What I would recommend is getting a fairly strong pump, use the calc. on the RC front page and calculate all the turns, bends, etc and see what type of pump u need that will supply the proper GPH.
Remember, a ballvalve from the return going to the refugium is less overhead. So that means it needs less strengh to put out a certain amount of GPH.
I would stay with the same diameter piping. I don't believe in going with smaller pipes so you can achive more flow, that means its more stress on the pump. that can lead to pump malfucntion, running warmer, etc.
Just remember the refugium does not require a lot of flow through it because it needs time to sit in there and soak up nutrients and so on. The sump should ONLY be around 3-5 times the flow of the display tank volume.
Can you list:
1)How many gallons your display tank it
2)What pumps you are considering for the return
Oh yeah, 1 baffles is enough for the refugium due to the low flow. As long as the flow in the sump is 3-5 times, it should keep down the microbubbles.