75Gal and a 100 Gal Rubbermaid

[bowfront]

I am interested in using a 75Gal and a 100 Gal Rubbermaid troughs as a refugium and a sump. I currently have a 46Gal bow front reef tank with a Sea Life 60 Sump and a Sea Life 75 skimmer in the sump. The drain is a hang on siphon drain with clear U tube all stored under the tank in the stand. Lighting is 4x36 JBL PC’s 10000K. The tank has aprox 60 lbs of live rock and about two inches of sand. Corals are star polyps, leathers, torch, frogspawn and xenia.
What I would like to do is put a 75G and 100G Rubbermaid troughs in the room behind my tank and then hard plumb the drain and return though the wall between the tank and sump/refugium . The refugium will contain a DSB and plants for nutrient export. The sump will contain skimmer and have an external return pump.
Several questions:
The Tank is sitting at an angle in the corner of the adjancent wall. What size PVC would I use and how close to the floor should go before going through to wall and can I then go right into the troughs at that height with a bulkhead?
What size return pump should I use?
How soon would I cut over the refugium to the system after I fill the trough and sand, plants and live rock?
What’s the best method of connecting the refugium and the sump? I plan on two overflow drains one to refugium and one to the sump.
Any thoughts would be appreciated…Thanks, Roger.

 

[jester]

Don't you think that is a little overkill? just pick up a 18 ga container, it will do the job just fine.

 

[bowfront]

Thanks Jester, looking through the messages and home pages
I see where your advice for the 18gal tube came from.
Boomer has done a great job with a 18gal and 14 gal under
his tank.
The space under my tank doesnt lend itself to using that large of
a tub. I though as long as I was going to have to relocate to an ajoining room I might as well take full advantage of the larger water volume.
Boomer ... I noticed from your web page that you had been using two larger tubs.. How did that work out for you..How did you connect the two tubs....
Thanks again, Roger

 

[broomer5]

It works just fine Roger - thanks for asking.
I tee'd off the return line(s) from the pumps in the sump, and feed the 18 refugium with these two lines.
The 18 gallon just spills water back over to the 14 through two 1" bulkheads w/PVC piping that are both connected on the high side of the 18 facing the 14 sump.
Ball valves on both feed lines allow me to regulate how much each feed line flows to the 18.
If I had a room behind my tank as you do - I would love to use a larger refugium/sump setup, and plumb it all through the wall.
That's sounds ideal to me.
You could have your current 46 gallon bowfront overflow to the new 75 gallon sump. Wow what a nice sump you could make with a 75 !!!!
You could use the 100 gallon plastic Rubbermaid type container with a plywood and 2x4 box around it for support as the refugium. A 100 plastic container full of saltwater will tend to bow out a lot ..... some wooded supports would keep it secure.
Wherever you want to keep the water level in this monster refugium at, must be HIGHER than the sump's top edge for the water to flow down to ( or fall down to actually ).
Cut a couple holes in the side of the big fuge that faces towards the sump, install some large bulkhead fittings in these holes, and use PVC pipe as spillway overflows to the sump.
Tee off the return pump(s) that are flowing saltwater back to your 46 bowfront. Place ball valve(s) in these feeder lines and run them to your killer fuge.
Most of the water from the sump will be pumped up to the 46 display tank. Some of the water from the sump will flow over to the refugium. The water in the display tank falls back to the sump via the hang on overflow.
The water that flows into the refugium will fall back to the sump through the two side spillway overlfows.
Since you are stealing some of the water that would normally flow back to your display tank, you may want to upsize your return pump, making sure this new pump selection does not exceed your existing hang on siphon drain with clear U tube.
Or if you want to increase water circulation withing the 46, and possibly reduce or eliminate the need for in-tank powerheads, you buy a new/larger overflow and really move some water.
One last note:
Adding this much "new" saltwater to your 46 gallon system may stress out any fish/inverts you currently have in there.
I'd strongly suggest filling the sump and refugium up with new saltwater - and cutting this flow into the existing 46 tank slowly.
Make sure it's as close to perfectly matched to your 46's tankwater chemistry as possible.
Temperature, salinity, pH, alk and calcium if possible.
Once all this new water's matched to the 46's, slowly start introducing some of it into the 46. Let a little in - then stop.
Let it circulate. Let a little more in - stop again. Let it circulate.
Continue doing this for a long time. But do not let the 46 tank be without enough circualation/filtration either.
In other words - go slow introducing all this new saltwater, but don't allow the 46 to sit ideal without any supplementary water movement/filtration.
Some additional powerheads in the 46 may help during this cutover stage.
Up to you - sure sounds like fun