Sump/Refugium Help Please!!!!

[kails83]

We are just beginning setting up a 250gal (currently empty). We want to do a sump and a refugium but need some guidance. Can anyone give us some advice?
We know we want the sump under the tank inside the stand. The inside measurement are 13"W x 80"L x 20"H. We have plenty of room we just don't know exactly how to go about building one.
We have a 30gal tank that we were thinking to use as the refugium under the tank and are under the impression that it just need the pumps to take water from the main tank down to the fuge and back to the main tank. Then of course put in ls and plants etc. to help filter. Is this correct? It would also need lighting right? Also is there a specific size guideline for the refugium to tank ratio (meaning is 30gal fuge gonna be big enough for a 250gal tank)?
I guess we really need your opinions on what is the best way to build the sump and refugium? We also need some instructions. We can get a lot from the pics but want to be sure we are understanding and doing everything correctly. Some really good diagrams would be helpful.
Thank you ahead of time. If you need more info just ask.

 

[johnnysalt]

I have a 30g fugesump under my 100g....and sometimes think it's barely adequate. I don't think there's a hard and fast ratio to follow with these things, but the bigger the better, no doubt! Remember, you're only using PART of the 30g for the refugium, so it's now an even smaller %.
I bought plexiglass (for the sump dividers) at home depot...they will cut it to your specs for freelittle $$. Bubbles are created after overflow water spashes over the 1st baffledivider. The 2nd baffle sits up about an inch or so off the bottom of the sump to allow mostall of the bubbles to rise back to the surface and pop before going into the return area...so they're not sent back to the display tank.
I have my skimmer inside the 3rd pump return section.
sumprefugium pic
Pump is connected to return with flex vinyl tubing. On its way up there is a T valve that shoots some of the water in the refugium. (4th section) T valve: so I can regulate how muchlittle flow I want going through it. (I cut a hole in the plexiglass so the refug. would dump back into the pump's area. I had always heard of slow flow being recommended. I saw that my (highly respectedvery successful) lfs owner has some seriously HIGH flow going through all of his refugiums, so maybe the rate of flow through the refug. is just a matter of opinion.
Is it possible for you to get a bigger tank to use as the sump? Can you add a larger one later without a lot of hassle? If I had a 250 and had never done this before, I would DEFINITELY "leave room for error with this"! Since you only have 13" to work with from front to back, you could use a 30g long tank. If you wanted to go larger with your sump (which I would recommend since you have a 250g) I would guess you either need to build one or have one built for you, since I don't think larger tanks have 12" or 13" widths.
Email me if you want!
HTH
John

 

[slock]

Seems awful small, I would say good for a refugium only.
I've got a 75 display and its hooked to a 45 sump and a 45 refuge (both 55gal tanks).

 

[slock]

also hit search and type in "DYIlumbing 101 " an excellant thread that should explain an enormous amount about flow rates, constuction, design, etc.

 

[kails83]

Thank so much for the advice. We probably are going to get a bigger tank for the refugium. We were talking about that last night after posting and just didn't think a 30 would be big enough. We will check out the other thread that was suggested. Thanks!