Separate Refugium

[Bruce Spiegelman]

I just cleaned out a bunch of space under my SPS tank's stand by moving all the dosing equipment and ATO to a separate cabinet. The plan is to utilize an unused 10 Gallon Trigger reservoir as a separate and additional refugium.

So -- umm -- now what? How do I plumb this thing into my existing sump (go easy on me -- plumbing's not my thing.) How do I pump in and out and keep it from overflowing?

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Dedicated pump
Return bulkhead for the refugium must be higher than the sump
Simple, easy

 

[ashburn2k]

Wait... you have a sps tank now??


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[Bruce Spiegelman]

Dedicated pump
Return bulkhead for the refugium must be higher than the sump
Simple, easy

Am I better off drilling the reservoir or just using an in and an out tube?

 

[Apon]

I have a new aquafuge 2 for sale. capscuba didn't buy it - new in box

 

[Bruce Spiegelman]

I have a new aquafuge 2 for sale. capscuba didn't buy it - new in box

Not large enough unfortunately.

 

[xcaret]

I used to have a separate fuge in the frag tank; was fed from the drain and had a bulkhead drain into the sump for return.
I made a stand where the fuge sat few inches higher than the sump. A ball valve regulated the flow to the fuge.

 

[Bruce Spiegelman]

I used to have a separate fuge in the frag tank; was fed from the drain and had a bulkhead drain into the sump for return.
I made a stand where the fuge sat few inches higher than the sump. A ball valve regulated the flow to the fuge.

Does all of the fuge have to sit higher than the sump water level of just part of it?

 

[Coral reefer]

Just where the bulkhead is above the water level in sump. Also, you'll want a really large bulkhead (2") to flow a decent amount of water sideways.

 

[Bruce Spiegelman]

Just where the bulkhead is above the water level in sump. Also, you'll want a really large bulkhead (2") to flow a decent amount of water sideways.

So I should drill the reservoir for a two inch bulkhead? When you installed my plumbing you added one 'T' off the drain. Is that what I should use to feed the refugium? That's a smaller pipe. And if the outflow pipe is higher than the sump then I don't need a pump I assume? Gravity fed?

 

[Coral reefer]

I thought you have a t off the return from the pump? You could use that for sure. I'd have to look at it.

 

[Bruce Spiegelman]

I thought you have a t off the return from the pump? You could use that for sure. I'd have to look at it.

Yes! That's where it is. So all I need is that going into Regugium. A 2" pipe (bulkhead) coming out that's taller than the sump? No other pump, correct?

 

[Gablami]

That’s probably the easiest, if you can T off your return. To keep junk from the fuge from spilling into your sump, you could put a filter cap on your bulkhead, or separate it with a baffle if you have the room.

You could also have your overflow drain into the fuge, and then connect into the rest of your sump, but I would build more redundancy into that to make sure things don’t clog up, like maybe two bulkheads between the fuge and the sump. Then you don’t have to change your manifold or add any pumps.


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[Bruce Spiegelman]

Also if I use the 'T' off the return do I care where the water goes into the refugium? Do I want to plump it neat the top of the container of to the bottom so water bubbles up and keeps the Chaeto moving?

 

[Bruce Spiegelman]

That’s probably the easiest, if you can T off your return. To keep junk from the fuge from spilling into your sump, you could put a filter cap on your bulkhead, or separate it with a baffle if you have the room.


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My sump currently has about a 5-7 gallon refugium in it. I kind of thought I'd have this second one dump into that chamber so I wouldn't care if stuff spilled in.

 

[Gablami]

Also if I use the 'T' off the return do I care where the water goes into the refugium? Do I want to plump it neat the top of the container of to the bottom so water bubbles up and keeps the Chaeto moving?

I’ve tried to have my chaeto spin with different flow with no luck. I just flip my chaeto periodically. Plus a 10g is not that big. Once it fills up even halfway, there is no room to spin.


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[Bruce Spiegelman]

I didn't mean spinning -- just keeping some movement from underneath to flush it out. Not necessary?

 

[Bruce Spiegelman]

I’ve tried to have my chaeto spin with different flow with no luck. I just flip my chaeto periodically. Plus a 10g is not that big. Once it fills up even halfway, there is no room to spin.


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But you bring up a good point. As long as I'm doing this maybe I should go with an even bigger container. I had the 10 gallon reservoir just sitting around, but frankly it's an expensive reservoir. Maybe I should go with a 20 gallon tank in there instead.

 

[Bruce Spiegelman]

I can fit a 20 high easily.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Well whatever you do, do not try to match flow with 2 pumps, it won't work unless you make it extremely complicated (float switches connected to on/off... yeah not worth the mess you WILL experience from this).

If you have vertical height you can just put the small tank on a stand, drill it for a large bulkhead (as Mike said), and I'd also have a secondary one too as an emergency, work a tee off your return pump connected to a gate valve so you can control the flow in there.

Or option C, bulkhead (large ones again) to your existing sump right where the return is, and the soon to be fuge, hard connect the tanks, then move your return pump to the fuge so there's no "filling" of a separate container nor risk over overflow. If acrylic, this is super easy, if glass... a little more difficult. You could even potentially move where your refugium will be too.