Help me with sump/refugium

[stacyt]

I have a 300 gallon tank coming in a few weeks. It has built in corner overflows. I plan on putting the livestock from my 55 gallon tank into the new tank. I'm thinking that I will use the 55 as a sump/refugium. My 1st question is where/how do I divide the tank? 2nd question what should I use for a protein skimmer? 3rd do I need anything further for filtration? What size pump will I need for the return if the tank is sitting directly under the main display? I plan on starting with a 5-6" DSB, and about 150 lbs. of cured LR.

 

[smalltimer]

Nice set up....
I would put the 2 return with acrylic hangers with filter bags at one end of the 55 gallon, I would seperate with foam. I would use a reef concepts skimmer, i will post below. I would also put this with the incoming water and the black foam pad that you can buy from the lfs, between the incoming h2o and the skimmer so to break up any bubbles. As far as return, of a reef you want 6 times the tank volume per hour. So 3600 gallons per hr. move ment. that is where you may have a problem. I assume that the 55 gallon is tempered glass ie. an allglass aquarium. You cannot drill tempered glass. So you will have to have enough in sump pumps to push that amount of water......like 3 huge mag drives or something, with 1" supplies up the back of the tank, not bad water movement thoughout the tank with 3 returns though. Ask the builder of the tank how much the returns of the overflows can handle and what size is the bulkheads the overflows will have, maybe 1 1/2 inch, you will need to know that as to not over fill the tank as it cannot drain as fast as you fill it. I would recommend a sump you can drill and use an external drive pump. I used to use an Iwaki and I loved it, it was in the living room and couldn't hear a thing from it, and the heat is not in the water, adding to the heat load, I assume a chiller will be removing.
hope i helped some,
I have not done tank of 300 gal, but have done 150

 

[david s]

find out what your overflows gph is and go a little less for gph for a pump as far as dividers get some plexi or glass and make some dividers then silicone them in leve the bottom open for water so the bubles float up and water goes thru the bottom. there is a post right now on the type of silicone. you may have a problem setting up the tank with new rock and putting fish right in. unless you buy it local the problem with any cured rock is die off when it gets shiped and needs recuring time

 

[stacyt]

Thanks for your replies. 1st stupid question is what is an acrylic hanger? The 55 is an all glass so it cannot be drilled. I was thinking that I somehow need to hookup an external pump outside the refugium/sump to push the water back into the tank. I'll find out what the GPH of the overflows are. The LR that I'll be using is coming out of my existing tanks, as well as some from my LFS. They just tore down their reef setup and kept all the LR that was in there as well.

 

[david s]

great getting local rock I like submercible pumps they are easy to setup just put the hose on the discharge and drop it in the right divider then connect the discharge to a return fitting make sure you buy a regular return fitting or make something if the return line sticks under water to far it will siphon and overflow sump when power goes out

 

[stacyt]

I was planning to have the return as close to the top of the tank as possible so in case of power failure it would not drain much back into the sump. Also should I do a DSB in the refugium portion. I'm thinking that I will divide the tank into 3 sections. The 1st section will be for the incoming line and skimmer. The middle section will be for a refugium, and the 3rd section will have the submersable pump for the return. Does this sound right?

 

[david s]

you might want fuge on one end because you want a slow water flow thru it so if you put it on one side and ret pump in the middle you could t off and regulate the flow in the fuge

 

[stacyt]

David S
Thats a good idea. I hadn't thought of that.

 

[johnny.d.s]

Originally posted by smalltimer
Nice set up....
I would put the 2 return with acrylic hangers with filter bags at one end of the 55 gallon, I would seperate with foam. I would use a reef concepts skimmer, i will post below. I would also put this with the incoming water and the black foam pad that you can buy from the lfs, between the incoming h2o and the skimmer so to break up any bubbles. As far as return, of a reef you want 6 times the tank volume per hour. So 3600 gallons per hr. move ment. that is where you may have a problem. I assume that the 55 gallon is tempered glass ie. an allglass aquarium. You cannot drill tempered glass. So you will have to have enough in sump pumps to push that amount of water......like 3 huge mag drives or something, with 1" supplies up the back of the tank, not bad water movement thoughout the tank with 3 returns though. Ask the builder of the tank how much the returns of the overflows can handle and what size is the bulkheads the overflows will have, maybe 1 1/2 inch, you will need to know that as to not over fill the tank as it cannot drain as fast as you fill it. I would recommend a sump you can drill and use an external drive pump. I used to use an Iwaki and I loved it, it was in the living room and couldn't hear a thing from it, and the heat is not in the water, adding to the heat load, I assume a chiller will be removing.
hope i helped some,
I have not done tank of 300 gal, but have done 150

((((6 times the tank volume per hour on a 300g =1800g

)