Buffering drain line

[kaholic]

I have an undrilled tank with an overflow box and I put a ball valve on my return line this weekend, but the flow from the drain line which goes into the refuge is still too strong. What's best way to restrict it somewhat where it's not kicking up sand in there? Was thinking of capping a piece of 1" pvc and putting it on the end of the drain and drilling some small holes in it, kind of like a spraybar. Would that do the job or would it hurt the pump at all? I was also thinking of draining into another part of the sump and get a small hob filter for the refuge side to have some flow in there. Any thoughts? :notsure:

 

[fixed]

Can you install a divider, so that the overflow goes in one section, then spills over the divider?

 

[kaholic]

Well, the baffles are setup as one short one from the bottom, and one long right next to it coming down from the very top of tank stopping just short of the bottom. Both sides are like this to have 3 separate chambers. So, there's really no way to put another divider in there to overflow into the refuge. I'm thinkiing I may try the spraybar type idea first but was hoping to get a plumbing pros suggestion. Like, ok, do this and your probelm is solved. :joy:

 

[marty]

Not an expert at this, but wouldn't capping it and having it act like a spray bar increase the flow rate (i.e. condense the stream and therefore it goes faster)?