Sump/refugium

[scubachris]

OK I have decided to go with a refugium for my 30g as opposed to a wet/dry filter. My question is why do they overflow? I may be completly wrong, but I have read on this forum about these things overflowing and flooding someones house. Is there a way to avoid this?

 

[lsu]

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/sum...mpoverflow.htm

 

[scubachris]

Ok now I have a dumb question. Is a sump and a refugium the same thing?

 

[natclanwy]

No, a sump is only a reservoir that holds an extra volume of water and some of you equipment. A refugium is basically an area that houses macro algae and creates a safe place for pods to breed without predation.

 

[deejeff442]

the sumps will overflow on the floor if you put too much water in it.when you shut off the main pump water will syphon backward to the sump.i have a 150 gallon tank and about 4-5 gallons comes down into the sump so just make the sump/fuge large eneough to hold this water.also make sure you have an anti syphon tube at the top of the return pump line or the tank will keep gravity pumping water till it gets under the return pipe in the tank.
if you nee a pic i could get one up today since i have the day off.

 

[scubachris]

A pic would be great. Thanks

 

[deejeff442]

here is a pic of the syphon tube .i got rid of the big overflow .for two reasons ,they make a ton of noise and they eat up 10 gallons of tank space.i replaced them with a 1 -1/4 inch pvc and have two 3/4 pvc return tubes from the pump

 

[deejeff442]

here is my fuge/sump

 

[deejeff442]

here is my fuge
leftside 18 gallon fuge has sand and chato i am going to put some lr in soon with a 26 watt energy bulb.
two drains into the sump left side with the skimmer,heaters and the phosphate reactor hanging on the back which you cant see.
then the three baffles going into the return pump section on the right the little grey plastic is the float for the auto top off system.

 

[deejeff442]

here is the syphon tube set up.
i had two big overflows in the tank which i got rid of .fort two reasons one they take up 10 gallons of space and they are loud.
i replaced the overflows with two 1-1/4 inch pvc and two 3/4 inch return pvc pipes .
the black pipe is the return and i drilled a hole and put a piece of old air pump tube in it for the syphon.once the main pump is shut off it will suck air and stop the water from going into the sump.