Sump+Refug all help appreciated

[jerryc]

I plain to build a sump for my tank in the next few weeks maybe you all can help me out hear is the plain so far 10" wide 16" deep 32" long not to big i no but its all the room i have. in it will go my skimmer pump and a small Refugium i thank i can fit my pump and
Skimmer in about 12" on one end with water inlet on the other witch can be small
and put the Refug in center.
But I'm afraid i will have to much water flow in the refug. how about some ideals to improve my plain. :sign7:

[dakar]

Here is a pic of the sump I built for our 55g, holds about 40 gals, but should give you an idea of how I keep flow through the fuge to about 100g/hr. Left to right, fuge, return, and sump. Fuge is now fed using a spray bar, that is working out well.
A few notes about the mistakes I made, that I'll either fix or just redo later.
The fuge should have been on the right side, since that is where the whole thing is fed from, only one valve going to the fuge to control the flow, this way all the rest of the water is sent to the sump side, worried about the valve becoming clogged one day and flodding the tank, to compensate I added a second overflow box to the tank that is wide open to cover should that valve become clogged, also allows me to run the return pump at full bore (Mag9.5), I used 3/4" pvc, next time everything will be 1". Just can't get enough water through 3/4", i think it max's out at 300gph, so I run two and it works out well for now. Return area is too big, could have been smaller allowing for larger fuge.
Sure is nice having the 55 in a place where I could drill the floor to sump it downstairs, lots of room to work. The 180g has no such luxury, setting on a 6" concrete slab.

Anyhows if you can overlook the mess here is a pic of what we're running now. BTW dimensions are 48Lx16Wx12H for reference. Maybe it'll give you some ideas.

[Reptoreef]

Looks super!!!

[dakar]

I would have widened out the picture to show the bench I built to support it, but way too messy around there. :LOL:

[davejnz]

But I'm afraid i will have to much water flow in the refug. how about some ideals to improve my plain. :sign7:

Jerry,although many oppose high-flow fuge's,I believe they can be more effective.The fuge i plan on constructing will receive all the water thats overflowed from the display.It all comes down to what you are trying to achieve with your fuge?macro export,pod refuge,etc... Mine will consist of LR rubble to provide shelter for pods and chaeto/macro growth for export.I plan on directing alot of the flow over the top of fuge and into the return pump chamber,by doing this the flow in the bottom half wont be as strong.

BTW,Dakar that is an awsome sump/fuge.Did you do all the acrylic work yourself?

[jerryc]

daker looks good thanks for the pic.

Dave you cloud be right i wont to have some macro and a place to grow Pods
i have mostly read you don't wont a lot of flow for macro

[dakar]

BTW,Dakar that is an awsome sump/fuge.Did you do all the acrylic work yourself?

Thanks for the kind words, and yes, it was a quick weekend project, nothing too fancy, lots of small imperfections, but it works and all seams have been holding up since May with no leaks.

And I tend to goof with the flow through the fuge every now and again, at least with the spray bar nothing gets blasted too badly in there, its the air bubbles from the overflow that drive me nuts, when the flow is opened up the refuge starts to look like my skimmer, thinking I may need to whip together an "H" to put inline before the spray bar to see if i can stop some of that, might do that when I get around to upgrading everything to 1" pipe.

[davejnz]

I feel that the original popular opinion was low-flow but lately there seems an increase in high-flow refuges mainly From some experienced aquarists in the SPS forum on RC.seems to keep nuisance cyano and some micro's from proliferating while maintaining chaeto export and pod refuge,basically directing alot of the flow over the surface and skimmed over the top into a separate chamber.I don't plan on adding a DSB(trying not to store nutrients) to my fuge and just small LR rubble which detritus can easily be vacuumed out of.Eventually,my goal is to not have macroalgae grow at all from the low-nutrient system i'm trying to create for my SPS

[JustDavidP]

I too play with the flow rate through my sump and refugium. I was running it low, while I had baby bangai cardinals in there, but increased the flow after I got the babies into a grow out tank. A picture of my sump and fuge is below.

Overflow from the 75G display is diverted into two chambers by a ball valve. This way, I'm able to adjust the flow rate to fit my needs for the day 1/2 of the water flows down and through the skimmer and some baffles before entering the chamber with the Mag7 return pump. The other 1/2 is directed via that valve and a spray bar, into the fuge.

I built the sump/fuge and plumbing with some friends. I posted a DIY with photos at other sites. I'll get some of that and post here too.

Dave