sump/refugium help

[swbeginner]

I got this amazing stand and canopy (pics later) today for 50 bucks. It was a tremendous deal truly. Anyway, now I have room for a sump/refugium. Before I rant, let me tell you about my current setup. It is a 29 gallon with 2 clownfish and 1 royal gramma about 20-25 pounds of lr, argonite, an internal protein skimmer, emperor 400 filter, 150 watt heater, 1*65 pc lighting, 2 small powerheads (need more flow) and a thing with cheato in it. Quite a mess, I know. So basically I want to get rid of the clutter. I want more flow with less room taken up, I want a good sized sump and refugium, and I don't know where to start. Any help on what I should do or how to plumb a sump would be appreciated. I was thinking that I could use an overflow to go to a sump/refugium and then use the koralia 4 to pump the water back into the tank and provide efficient flow? Is one koralia 4 enough? Thanks

 

[calli]

Koralia 4? pump? sorry just a little lost.. I was of the understanding that was a power head.

 

[swbeginner]

I'm lost too, but it isn't it a pump/powerhead? I thought that it may possibly be used to pump water from the refugium and then blow that water around. I may and probably am wrong. So this is why I ask these questions.

 

[calli]

no that is cool.. I am new too.. lol.. I looked at a couple of sites before I posted and they had descriptions of them being called pumps.. ??

well I would say check out tswiftys setup he has good sump info in there.. you have to go back past all the splits.. lol good job tswifty..
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1310919&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

VERY GOOD READ.. BTW

 

[saltee dood]

they call them pump/powerhead, but they are not intended to be used as return pumps.

look into the Mag series of pumps if you want internal or any number of good external pumps.

 

[swbeginner]

alright cool. So will a koralia 4 do the trick anyhow?

 

[swbeginner]

also, would a 10 gallon sump/refugium be good, or do I need to go higher? Would 20 be better?

 

[calli]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13018128#post13018128 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by swbeginner
alright cool. So will a koralia 4 do the trick anyhow?

nono the koralia only moves water around your tank.. you need a pump to pump it up into the tank...

 

[calli]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13018135#post13018135 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by swbeginner
also, would a 10 gallon sump/refugium be good, or do I need to go higher? Would 20 be better?

10 would work for you but if you can fit a 20 under the tank you have more options for filtration and other add ons

 

[Tswifty]

The Koralia Pumps are for supplemental water movement within the tank.

Here's why:

I mean you can try to hook up a hose to that, but I think you can see why it wouldn't work.

Anyway, here is a good thread with some good ideas on how to setup a simple sump/refugium out of either a 20g long or 30g long aquarium.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1417422

I think there are even a few parts list in there somewhere. Return pumps are also briefly discussed.

 

[Tswifty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13018045#post13018045 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by calli
no that is cool.. I am new too.. lol.. I looked at a couple of sites before I posted and they had descriptions of them being called pumps.. ??

well I would say check out tswiftys setup he has good sump info in there.. you have to go back past all the splits.. lol good job tswifty..
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1310919&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

VERY GOOD READ.. BTW

Thanks :thumbsup:

 

[swbeginner]

What I meant be "will it do the trick" is will it alone be enough for sufficient water movement?

 

[Gold Stripe]

A Korilla 4 in a 29 will definitely give you movement. It will move water, sand, and probably rocks too. LOL

Seriously though, a 4 is way to big for a 29 in my opinion. If you want a powerhead in your 29 just to move water I would go with a couple 1s (more flow, less force using 2). Maybe 2s if you go bare bottom.

 

[swbeginner]

okay, thanks. So I should do 2 koralia ones. One for each side of the tank. That would give me 800 gph, right. That should be excellent.

 

[swbeginner]

would one koralia 2 do the trick?

 

[Gold Stripe]

If you're running a return pump (say a Mag 5) from your sump/refugium then the combined flow from that and a Koralia 2 should be sufficient.

However, if it were me I would go with 2 Koralia 1s on either side of the tank to create cross flow with less force. Then the return would just be added bonus. But everyone has their own way of doing it.

 

[Gold Stripe]

The key is to have decent flow but not so much force that it stirs up sand or knocks stuff over, and to eliminate any dead spots in the tank so that waste stays stirred up in your water column and has a chance to get filtered out. If you have dead spots where waste can settle to the bottom or behind rocks then it sits there and decays and that causes water quality problems. Whatever way you go about it, that is the goal.