Refugium flow question: top only?

[highergroove]

I am working on a design for my refugium for my 300 gallon. It will be 24" wide by 24" deep by 18" tall (or is it wiser to go 16"?).

Anyway, I will have one overflow go through the skimmer then to the refugium. The pump is an ampmaster 3000 which is about 1500gph (minus loss from plumbing and going through chiller too - so maybe more like 1200) going to the refugium. Do I want to have the refugium flow run horizontally across the top or should I cut holes in each side so it flows some through the middle as well? (this is what I had in the past but not sure I had the best design).

Is the 1200 gph too much flow?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[slief]

Perhaps this can give you some good ideas. This is my refugium design. The sump feeds my refugium. The design creates an even horizontal flow across the entire refugium. I'm feeding this with about 3500GPH but because the flow is spread across the entire width of the tank, it's a very calm environment. Water comes in from one side from the main sump and is channeled through slots that start 5" off the bottom and run the enire length of the front wall. The water travels straight across the refugium and is channeled into another wall at the back side that is slotted all the way across too. The slots help spread the flow evenly while preventing critters and macro algae from passing through them. From there it goes through a bubble trap in the back corner and into the return pump.

I grow chaeto and mangroves like crazy with four 10 watt 6500K led flood lights. I use grow the chaeto so it runs across the entire front edge of the refugium creating a barrier of sorts that all the water passes through. The mangroves do grow funky because of the lids if I keep them in there too long. I've been moving those to my display refugium. In addition to the macro's, I run a 4" deep sand bad with fiji mud at the bottom and live rock rubble mixed into the sand bed on the top.

Here is the sump and fuge. I have a bypass line that is bypasses the refugium and directs water directly to the return pump. You can see that line in the front of the fuge. If I close a valve at the end of the refugium, water is drawn directly from the sump by the return pump. This is very useful if I want to do maintenance on the refugium.

You can see how the bypass line connects to the return pump here. Close the valve closest to the fuge and the water is diverted.

 

[uncleof6]

I am working on a design for my refugium for my 300 gallon. It will be 24" wide by 24" deep by 18" tall (or is it wiser to go 16"?).

Anyway, I will have one overflow go through the skimmer then to the refugium. The pump is an ampmaster 3000 which is about 1500gph (minus loss from plumbing and going through chiller too - so maybe more like 1200) going to the refugium. Do I want to have the refugium flow run horizontally across the top or should I cut holes in each side so it flows some through the middle as well? (this is what I had in the past but not sure I had the best design).

Is the 1200 gph too much flow?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

1200gph is not near enough for a 300 gallon tank. You should be thinking in terms of 3000gph...

As far as flow through the refugium, it depends on the specific task you intend it to perform. If you intend it to do more than one specific task, using more than one method, it is not going to do anything particularly well, as what is required for this particular method is bad for this other particular method.

Generally speaking you are not going to provide better flow through the 'fuge' with holes below the water surface, and most flow will go over the baffles regardless. Also, it should not be inline with the main flow of the system, though it is only a disadvantage if it is. (Can't do anything with it, without interrupting the main flow.)

Growing a wad of cheato, will not require any special flow pattern, and a DSB will only need a strong flow across the surface @ ~3" water depth. The two however, are mutually exclusiv.

Going beyond that, to rock, and critters, requires flow patterns exactly as they are in the DT, and this sort of thing has no place in a "sump" type setup, as it is production rather than export, and should be on a seperate loop from the main tank flow, plumbed to a common sump just as a DT.