new refuge

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amoroso6

Guest
Hi all,
I just thought I would send a few pic's of the fuge i set up this weekend. Not large, 10 gal with 50lbs LS and a few rocks. I'll be adding a 55 PC light this week with some plants. From what I've heard it really helps to keep the water stable even though I havent had any problems, I'd rather be proactive than reactive:)
Alex
 

broomer5

Active Member
Looks real nice Alex
Very clean install.
How are you moving water into the 10 gallon fuge ? If I may ask.
 
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amoroso6

Guest
sure bommer5
I have a maxijet 600 feeding the fuge from the sump and a CA1000 for the return with a ball valve to equalize the flow rates
 

bang guy

Moderator
Nice! I wish I had the talent to make stuff look professionally installed. That's beautiful, thank you for sharing.
 

wamp

Active Member
How are you keeping the 10 from overflowing?
I like the setup but can't quite figure out how your feedig the tank water without overflowing it.
 
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amoroso6

Guest
That right,
I use two pumps one to bring water in (600 Maxi) and one to bring it out to the sump (CA1000) the out bound pump is stronger than the inbound so I've installed a ball valve on the outbound CA to controll the flow and keep it from overflowing. It took about 3 hours of checking and tweaking to get the flow just right. I just set the fuge up this weekend and am going to add lighting and plants this week.
Alex
 

wamp

Active Member
So, what would happen the return pump fails?
Man, I hate to be the bad thoughts guy... Perhaps an overflow on the main sump and a pump back into the other sump would be safer?
Like I said, I am not trying to be critical, just worried about the floor if one pump fails.
 

broomer5

Active Member
my thoughts exactly wamp
Using two pumps opens up several "what-if" scenerios.
What if either of the refugium pumps fail to start ?
Even after spending 3 hours working to "balance" the flow in and flow out - it will eventually begin to creep on you.
The levels in either the sump or the fuge will rise/fall.
 

richard rendos

Active Member
I agree with wamp and broomer...you need a way to gravity feed water into the refugium and pump it out. You have the water level really high in the refugium. If the pump that pumps water out of the fuge goes out, and the pump that pumps water in still keeps going, you will have water all over the floor. Just trying to advise you now before it happens. Be proactive, not reactive.
 
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amoroso6

Guest
I see your point but the question is still the same with a gravity feed. If the return pump fails the gravity feed will continue and you have the same problem:eek: well its to the drawing board. How do you feed and retrieve water through a fuge and have protection against overflow?
any thougths?
alex
 
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amoroso6

Guest
the only positive I have in my favor is that My mother-in-law lives with us and is retired so there is always someone here to keep any eye on things.....
I think this poses some good questions I'll be in bed unable to sleep thinking of a solution. Thanks :D
Alex
 

bdhough

Active Member
Hey amoroso do you shop at Aquamanes? I'm from Gboro sorta and my brother used to work there....
BTW whats the purpose of a refugium and what would you do with it?
 

hairtrigger

Active Member
That's an awesome set up. If you don't mind... would you explain how you use that valve to equalize the water levels in two seperate tanks? I can never get it right... something always starts to overflow when I use two tanks. Now... could I just avoid the problem by starting the refugium in my 55 sump? But, I also have my skimmer, sterilizer, and pumps in there. It's a tough call. Where do you find a valve-thingy like that? Notice my technical plumbing lingo. :D
 

javatech

Member
use a gravity return to the sump not a gravity feed refugium pump it in and let it fall out. i guess you would have drill your refugium and sump
IMO. looks good other wise:)
 
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amoroso6

Guest
bdhough ,
I dont buy alot from them I usually go to the aquarium shop
www.aquaescapes.com
The guys there really know their stuff and practice a chemcial free system running berlin. A refugium is used to help in the natural filtration of the water it helps to keeo things stable even if you have a slight spike ever now and then, it helps to control it. Since I dont really have any filtration other than my rock I wanted to add the fuge to be ahead of the game, most people I talk to highly recommend either a fuge with LS or some use the Miricale mudd. E-mail me sometime at alexjr@triad.rr.com maybe we can trade a frag or two since your in the area.
Alex
 
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amoroso6

Guest
HairTrigger,
If you have the room I would definatly do the fuge in your 55 sump if you need to seperate it from you equipment use some plexiglass and silicone to create a divider and you wont have the concerns you see being brought up here, I dont have the room for a 55 so I have do something different. The ball valve is being used on the return pump controlling the flow back into the sump, after a good amount of time I finally got the levels working fine but now the concerns others here have brought up have started me thinking on a better way. I may move the fuge into the sump and place my turbo skimmer into the 10 tank, I can plum the skimmer pump from the sump tank into the 10 gla tank and then feed the return lines back into the sump so if my skimmer pump fails there will be no overflow of anything the water just stops flowing
;) I'll work on it this weeked and let you all know how it turned out, actually I'll send more pic's. The one good thing about doing that is I will have a 30 gallon fuge instead of a 10 :D
Alex
 

broomer5

Active Member
If you've ever looked at how engineers build earthen or concrete dams - they always allow for an area called a "spillway".
It's an area that allows high water to flow around the top edge of the dam, preventing the dam from overflowing due to huge increases in rain / run off of the watershed.
If your refugium is acrylic or rubbermaid - it's pretty easy to drill a couple holes up near the top of the fuge, use a couple of bulkhead fittings and some fitings/pipe ~ and create a "spillway" yourself.
It keeps the fuge from overflowing.
It keeps the fuge at a constant level.
It only requires one pump source.
It gravity feeds back to the sump.
The spillway must be higher than the point where it discharges back to the sump.
It's by far the easiest more reliable way to control water.
Water is very predictable in how it behaves.
Pump it up - let it fall down.
 
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