refugium setup questions.
- Thread starter rotorhead
- Start date
rotorhead
Member
If my pic did not work here are my questions. The refugium is going to be for a 180 rr dt. The size of the sump/refug is a 55g tank 48Lx13Wx20H the skimmer footprint is 11.5x16 the return pump is 7.5x3.8x5.9. My plans was tp have the skimmer area to be 17" long the refug section was going to be 17" long also then have a total of six baffles three on each side leaving roughly 10" of space in the middle for the return pump.
Now I need to know:
1:is the skimmer area big enough?
2:how far apart from one another and how tall should my baffles be?
3:what size plumbing do I need for the return and the drains 1"?
4:is the pump overkill thinking of going with 3600gph due to head loss from plumbing?
5:how high should the water be in the sump/refug?
The DT will be a 180g RR AGA so one corner will drain on the skimmer side and the other on the refug side with the return in the middle. I appreciate any help please. I know it's a little late so I'll check back in the morning for any reply's thanks again.
Now I need to know:
1:is the skimmer area big enough?
2:how far apart from one another and how tall should my baffles be?
3:what size plumbing do I need for the return and the drains 1"?
4:is the pump overkill thinking of going with 3600gph due to head loss from plumbing?
5:how high should the water be in the sump/refug?
The DT will be a 180g RR AGA so one corner will drain on the skimmer side and the other on the refug side with the return in the middle. I appreciate any help please. I know it's a little late so I'll check back in the morning for any reply's thanks again.
ameno
Active Member
Originally Posted by Rotorhead
If my pic did not work here are my questions. The refugium is going to be for a 180 rr dt. The size of the sump/refug is a 55g tank 48Lx13Wx20H the skimmer footprint is 11.5x16 the return pump is 7.5x3.8x5.9. My plans was tp have the skimmer area to be 17" long the refug section was going to be 17" long also then have a total of six baffles three on each side leaving roughly 10" of space in the middle for the return pump.
Now I need to know:
1:is the skimmer area big enough?
2:how far apart from one another and how tall should my baffles be?
3:what size plumbing do I need for the return and the drains 1"?
4:is the pump overkill thinking of going with 3600gph due to head loss from plumbing?
5:how high should the water be in the sump/refug?
The DT will be a 180g RR AGA so one corner will drain on the skimmer side and the other on the refug side with the return in the middle. I appreciate any help please. I know it's a little late so I'll check back in the morning for any reply's thanks again.
maybe I can help with some of this.
1. that is a big foot print for the skimmer, is there any way to set it up outside the tank or some way to get less area in the skimmer compartment?
the bigger the fuge the better, and just having 17" for the fuge is pretty small for that size tank.
2. I usually space baffles between 1 to 1.5" apart. as far as how tall I usually set the fuge level a couple inches below the top, and for the skimmer you can set them up higher then needed and build a stand to set the skimmer on to set your height. having these baffles higher will give you more level in the sump.
3. for 1" drains you will get around 600gph depending on your piping arrangement. so for (1) return line I would go with probably 1.5".
4.I think the pump is probably an overkill, but then I don't know what the pump is or the head loss for the pump, or the distance it will have to travel up.
If my pic did not work here are my questions. The refugium is going to be for a 180 rr dt. The size of the sump/refug is a 55g tank 48Lx13Wx20H the skimmer footprint is 11.5x16 the return pump is 7.5x3.8x5.9. My plans was tp have the skimmer area to be 17" long the refug section was going to be 17" long also then have a total of six baffles three on each side leaving roughly 10" of space in the middle for the return pump.
Now I need to know:
1:is the skimmer area big enough?
2:how far apart from one another and how tall should my baffles be?
3:what size plumbing do I need for the return and the drains 1"?
4:is the pump overkill thinking of going with 3600gph due to head loss from plumbing?
5:how high should the water be in the sump/refug?
The DT will be a 180g RR AGA so one corner will drain on the skimmer side and the other on the refug side with the return in the middle. I appreciate any help please. I know it's a little late so I'll check back in the morning for any reply's thanks again.
maybe I can help with some of this.
1. that is a big foot print for the skimmer, is there any way to set it up outside the tank or some way to get less area in the skimmer compartment?
the bigger the fuge the better, and just having 17" for the fuge is pretty small for that size tank.
2. I usually space baffles between 1 to 1.5" apart. as far as how tall I usually set the fuge level a couple inches below the top, and for the skimmer you can set them up higher then needed and build a stand to set the skimmer on to set your height. having these baffles higher will give you more level in the sump.
3. for 1" drains you will get around 600gph depending on your piping arrangement. so for (1) return line I would go with probably 1.5".
4.I think the pump is probably an overkill, but then I don't know what the pump is or the head loss for the pump, or the distance it will have to travel up.
rotorhead
Member
Sorry it took me so long to get back ameno I work second shift so I go to bed late and get up late. To answer so of you questions I really would like to keep the skimmer in sump what I could do is go with a smaller skimmer like the asm g3 which has a 11x12 footprint, cause the g4 could be overkill. As for the pump I gave measurements for was a mag-drive 36, but can also used a mag24.
al mc
Active Member
Roto...Personally if you are going with the in sump skimmer I would go with the ASM4x..you have about 200+ total water volume that it will be cleaning and it is near impossible to skim too much. I suugest that you always get a skimmer rated for at least 50% more than your water volume.
I also would go for the mag 36. you can always put in a couple valves
and shunt water back into the skimmer area or refugium if you find the flow to the DT is too much for the overflow. I had a similar set up at one time and put the valves in and was able to 'tweak' the amount of water going into the DT just right by shunting off water back to the skimmer and/or refugium.
i agree with Ameno about the baffles/water heights.
I also would go for the mag 36. you can always put in a couple valves
and shunt water back into the skimmer area or refugium if you find the flow to the DT is too much for the overflow. I had a similar set up at one time and put the valves in and was able to 'tweak' the amount of water going into the DT just right by shunting off water back to the skimmer and/or refugium.
i agree with Ameno about the baffles/water heights.
ameno
Active Member
how high will the pump have to lift? what is the gph on the skimmer pump? what you want to shoot for as a rule of thumb is around 1.5x of the skimmer pump for flow in that area, so for a 500gph your shooting for around 750 gph flow in the skimmer compartment, this is just a guide not set in concrete but a good range area to compenstate for blow by on the skimmer. and on your fuge I usually run around 10X turn over rate. some algae likes more flow and some like less so at 10x that seems to work out. what I have set up on mine is for my 125 I used a 65 gal tank, half is fuge. and for that system I used a mag.12. 700 gph for the skimmer and 300 gph for the fuge. with head loss
al mc
Active Member
Roto..I have not used, but have heard great things about, the Octopus brand skimmers as bkvreef mentioned. Since you mentioned the ASMs in your post my comment was intended to indicate that 'go bigger'..if you do go with ASM brand (I have used and am happy with them) then go 4X.
rotorhead
Member
for the rest of the flow I was going to supplement with two seio powerheads. I don't know how much headloss I will have as th tank is not in my possession yet and won't for at least a month. The only thing I have is the light system that I picked up thanksgiving day(current outer orbit 72" metal hailide and pc fixture). I'm just anxious and trying to get something done while I wait for the DT.
ameno
Active Member
well here's a few ideas for what it's worth, I would go with a smaller mag pump for the sump, if you are using (2) 1" lines for supply your only getting in around 1200 gph so your going to have to valve back quite a bit on the mag.s. because unless your pumping from a basement your probably not going to have that much head loss. You could have a 1.5" bulkhead installed in the back of the tank and run something like a sequence pump for a closed loop, these pumps produce a lot of flow and pull low wattage. then you can place nozzles in the tank were you want to direct flow, or what I'm doing with mine is installing a OM to redirrect current.
Just a few ideas
Just a few ideas