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How would you plumb a seperate fuge

Vhuang168

Vhuang168

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I'm planning out the layout for my new tank and was wondering how I can plumb a seperate refugeium to the sump.

Sump will be the standard layout. Drain into socks, leading to a skimmer section then to the return. How would you plumb a refugeium that is going to sit next to the sump, and which chamber would the intake, outflow be?
 
Three ways.

Separate small pump in sump return area pumps water up to slightly raised fuge.
Fuge has a small overflow, like display tank.
That overflow returns to sump in same area as display tank.
You get maximum flexibility that way.

You can also put fuge in between display tank and sump
Display tank overflow -> into fuge -> fuge overflow -> into sump -> pump to display
No need for an extra pump.
But larger flow can be tricky.
Plus you get DT water in fuge before skimmer. Good/Bad.

Or even put fuge above display tank.
Fuge -> DT -> sump
A bonus there is the pods do not go through a pump when going to DT.
But that means a fuge way up in the air. Rare.
 
Can you have top of fuge higher than the sump? If so t off from return pump and push some water through the fuge and gravity drain back to sump
 
I think I can have it higher but do I drain it back to return? And do I also pull from return or from skimmer section?


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Don't T the drain if you want a quiet drain. Bean animal and herbie overflow drains need a full siphon and a trick flow pipes that do not merge and usually it is best they go straight down to sump.

I would run an extra pump to the fuge. The pump should be in the initial drain section where your skimmer and other "high water" level equipment sit (i.e. Heaters and such).

Putting a pump in your return section is problematic. It can cause your return water section to fluctuate. Often, this is where the top-off sensors are located to make sure you add topoff water. If you put your pump and/or return in this section, you may have a "bouncy" topoff. Not a big problem usually because you are adding small "chunks" of topoff water. But usually I also keep this the "lowest water level". This way, during power outage, I have that much more room for my main tank to drain safely into sump.

The other reason to run a separate pump is you can always "disconnect" your fuge section and use it as a coral treatment tank, or quarantine tank, or isolation/medication tank.


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That is what I would do. You can pump from any where in your sump and return it anywhere, but I prefer keeping my return area minimal.

If you are just doing a macro algae tank to grow chaeto, and NOT pods, then leering your "fuge" drain back to skimmer area is fine. You don't worry about pods getting too much micro bubbles, etc.

If you are also growing pods to feed your tank, then you could drain into the return pump area so they get immediately pumped back into tank quicker. (But really, pods will eventually migrate through the your system, so not a big deal where you drain to.

My solutions for that is more just to have a pair of cleaner shrimp that "spawn" periodically and feed the tank with shrimp spawn.


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Yes, that is what I would do.

Every reefer has their preferred way of doing things.

For me, yes, pump from skimmer to fuge/macro growler and then drain back to skimmer area.


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Why a separate pump? Waste of electricity and extra point of failure/need for spare parts. T off main return pump and use a ball valve to control flow. Can still be shut off.
 
Herbie and bean animal silent overflow drain designs rely on "tuned" drain flow rate.


They use at minimum, two drain pipes, one is a siphon and the other runs a trickle flow (and/or as a backup safety drain).

The siphon drain is throttle down to the nominal return pump flow rate.

Note: a pipe under siphon can drain 2-3 times more water than an drain pipe that has air.


If you T off the return, and you have it divert some water to the fuge tank, you can tune your drain system.

The problem is the next time you do it, you may not divert the same amount. This means you will need to retune the drain system.

It is doable, but just you are tweaking two knobs that are "interlinked".

For me, it is simpler to decouple the two flow rate adjustments.

(Reef keeping is a lot about personal preferences and philosophy, this "design/style" just happens to be my preference.)


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My previous tank setup I did not build the correct drain system. Since then, I have built it correctly on my new system. And I will say... It is quiet!

I used herbie overflow drain.
My MP40s were the loudest thing and so I took those out and put Jebao pumps. They help "heat" my water, provide great flow, and now my tank is super quiet.


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I have a remote fuge that is plumbed into my system, sits on a separate stand and runs super low flow rate. I have a separate pump feeding the fuge, I've placed it in the overflow chamber of my sump so it picks up "dirty" water then the fuge has an overflow that drains back into the sump, into the last chamber where the return pump is.

Works well and while I wish I could drain it directly into DT, having a fuge sitting so high on a wall is a bit awkward.

On my new system which will have its own closet as a dedicated "equipment room" I am toying with the idea of putting the fuge on a shelf a few inches above DT (inside equipment room) and draining it directly to DT.
 
I need to take a look at how Royal Exclusive plumbs their Dreambox sump with the external fuge. All I know is that it sits next to the drain chamber and I think it's pumped from the drain chamber and returned into skimmer chamber.

But I think that having it sitting elevated and being fed by a pump from the drain chamber makes sense. The overflow back into the sump also makes sense from a failure standpoint. If the pump fails then all that happens is the fuge drains down a little. The ATO will fill a little more when the fuge stops draining since the amount of water incoming is less.


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