sump to refugium

[jody]

hey i just got a sump " thank you panda" and i also already have a 10 gal setup with full growth of macro algea and lots of critters, i was wondering if their are any ideas on connecting my 10 gal refugium tank to the actual sump it's self ?



I know my sump has an in and an out for an external skimmer, maybe I could use those? But my 10 gal is just a reg tank no drill holes or anything, just would be great to have it connected, and the sump and 10 gal are all on the same ground level.

:blob: any help would be awsome!

[tcharger67]

hey Jody is the regugium drilled at all?
if so you can take the sump pump that you have and use it to your advantage.
What i did is i inserted a t joint about 6 inches outside the sump pump return line. then off the top ran it straight to the tank as if it was the return line
but on the t joint that heads in a horizontal direction, run the line directly to the refugium. raise the regugium about 6 inches higher than the sum so that the line is perfect and can rest on the side of the regugium, then attach a ball-valve and then insert a 90* angle to dump water into the refugium, then drill the side of the regugium short to overflow back into the sump. you might want to take a piece of acrilic and glue it so that the water flows over it down into the sump. so you dont get any moisture slipping in between the sides of the sump and then you wont have any noise either.
the bonus behind this is that when you want to feed your fish you can just crank the valve open and all the water will flow into the regugium then back into the pump reducing the need to stop the pump so the overflow doesnt take you food away as well as not starting and restarting your sump 2 or 3 times a day. heres a good picture of a sump with a refugium built in. but same idea. http://www.melevsreef.com/55g/mag9_5__plumbed.jpg

[sphelps]

simply place the refugium at the same level as the sump and connect the two tanks with a siphon tube constructed out of PVC. Simply rig up a siphon tube from 2 90 degree PVC elbows and some PCV pipe, hang it over both tanks and remove all the air from the tube. Pump water into the fuge at a slow rate and it will be siphoned back into the sump.


For even better results install an internal overflow box (don't drill) in the fuge, mount the fuge a little higher than the sump and use the same siphon tube idea except place the fuge in the overflow box. This will allow you to pump more water through the refugium.