Just wanted to know the best method for this maddness!! I have a 30x12x22 sump that was set up as a trickle filter with bio balls. I took the bio balls out. (it's running now with lots of microbubbles!) It has room for a small refuge in the middle or I could add another baffle and make the first part skimmer second part return, then add a higher x gallon refuge that drains into the return part?? or just buy a 50 or 55 and convert to a refuge sump?? What's a good design?
hello i have a 75 gal i turned into a sump. i put the skimmer/drain on one end, and the fuge on the other, the center section is where i put the return, i like this so far because i have ball valves to regulate how much water drains into the fuge. all the rest goes to the side with the skimmer. I dont realy know if this is best, but is is nice to be able to completely regulate the fuge and not effect the return or skimmer at all. good luck Greg
JMO but I would run the 2 seperatly. I wouldn't dump tank water directly into the fuge as you are going to get alot of detrius. Also the water usally runs through the sump pretty fast for turn over rate, so the skimmer gets a look at a high turn over rate of water. The fuge on the other hand should have a slow current so the bugs and such can live where there is not high current flow, and the water going into the fuge from the sump has already been skimmed, which still leaves plenty of food for the fuge but not so much to get algae issues going down the roadin the fuge and then sent into the DT. cheers
this is great info my fuge is fed directly from the tank, but regulated with a ball valve. and the rest of the water goes to the side with the skimmer, now your briinging up another issue that im haveing, now im have a prob with lots of algae in the fuge, i was thinking this may be do to new tank sendrone. now like i said im new at this and learning myself. I was thinking that if i put my fuge in the center i would have too much flow through it and would not have the means to regulate the flow this was my thoughts early on greg
Greg IMO I would have the fuge seperate and fed from the sump in a chamber after it has been skimmed and back to the sump in the discharge end back up to the tank as this keeps the current slow in the fuge. Also in my opinion you need a large fuge, say like Ibassfsh runs on his system. The trouble with small fuges is they get overloaded easily and become algae havens, that is why I don't run one and skim big and use felt socks and feed my corals manually. My experience has been that unless you can run one like Ralph does, which is atleast close to the DT in size or bigger that they get polluted easily, and since my wife won't let me put a big rubbermaid tub, or tubs, since I have 240 gals of DT, in the living room LOL, and I don't have a room to go through the wall to behind, I do it the other way. cheers
Thanks guys!!! This is some good info!! Lots to think about. Both ways has it's pros and cons. My biggest thing is flooding with 2 seperate tanks?? and how to connect. Does anyone have pictures of the set ups?
I had my fuge on a stand, a little higher then the sump. I had a submergable pump, can't remember but I think it was a small mag drive, [5] I think, because I didn't like the smaller ones for some reason, in the sump end that returns to the tank, which means the water had been skimmed. I used some hose with a pcv inline valve, to contol flow rate since you can put back presure on the mag dr. and not hurt them, and the hose landed in the fuge. For the return line I then istalled a bulkhead fitting towards the top of the side of the fuge facing the sump with a hose that SLOPED down into the same end of the sump as the pump was in. So the pump put water in the fuge and it flowed out at whatever level you put the bulkhead fitting at in the fuge, that way only one pump was needed and when the water level in the fuge went below the fitting water quit flowing into the sump and the fuge couldn't over flow because when it reached that fitting it would flow out and wasn't relying on a pump, which could fail. I have seen the same thing done a little different in that say your'e lucky enough to have a sump and fuge room, people well build a stand above the sump with 1 or 2 shelves and run sometimes more then one fuge, and they pump up to them and let it run out the same way back down to the sump, that is the way we setup my friends 700 gal tank. cheers
One more thing, the fuge has to be just high enough so as the bulkhead fitting is higher then the high water level in the sump when your circulation pump to the DT is turned off, so water does not syphon into the fuge. I hope this makes sense as it is very easy to do and very full proof for nothing flooding, but you well either have to set the fuge at one end of the tank cabinet, most likely outside, or in a back room, as there probably won't be room underneath for a big enough fuge volume to work like you want a fuge to work, UNLESS I should have mentioned above if you are going to have mainly corals and VERY few fish, you can get by with a smaller fuge, your choice, can't have it bothways though IMO. cheers
