180g Plumbing/setup Help!

this is a really rough draft of what I would like to do on my next upgrade, and what I described earlier.



~Will.

 

You just have the one 2" hole in the overflow? If so, are you planning on drilling more holes or are you plumbing your return over the side of the tank?

One thing if you have 2 drains, you can use a completely silent, failsafe, and clean (no salt creep in the sump) method by putting a valve on your main drain and dialing it back so it starts a complete siphon. Then leave the opening to the second drain a little higher in the overflow so it doesn't get any water flow unless the main drain plugs up and the water level rises and then it can run down the emergency/backup drain.
Being completely silent and not having to deal with any bubbles in the sump from the overflow creating salt creep were the deciding factors for me using this method on my new tank.

I'm not sure if it will work with your overflow if it's centered on a single hole but something to keep in mind anyway. You can google "herbie method overflow" for lots more details.

 

Yeah, just one 2" hole in the overflow, I plan on setting it up as is. and i understand now the concept of having the flow go slow through the fuge, Should i have the overflow drain feed the sump and fuge off a t and 2 ball valves, or should i feed only the sump from the drain and feed the fuge with my return line like illwill plans on setting up his?

I plan on doing the plumbing tonight, I will post some pics, and start a build thread when i get some more progress, i have the hood and stand built and painted just need the plumbing and i should be good to go.

Thanks again for all the input and advice guys.
-Jordan

 

you can get more control out of going off the return, but you will lose some head pressure. to make things really easy, adding in another small submersible pump in the return or sump section to feed the fuge would work.

~Will.

 

It isn't the end of the world, but Ilike to have raw water from the tank going to the fuge. Gives it plenty to live off of. Water from the sump will be skimmed. If you come off the bottom of the pipe, gravity does all the work, and the fuge gets what it needs. Now people do skim before their fuge, it just isn't how I would do it.

Ultimately you would want your fuge draining back to your return section. If it goes through the skimmer section first, then things can get skimmed out. Just need to turn your sump around.

Use a ball valve to regulate flow to the fuge, but leave the drain all the way open. You could put a valve in the main drain too, but only use it during maintenance. Leave it open all the time to know you have that drain no matter what. Snails can get into partially closed valves and clog up your drain.

 

Jordan, your first sketch was fine, with the exception of splitting off your 2 inch return so 90% of the flow goes straight to the sump and about 10% return flow goes through to the refugium - then gets dumped into the sump.

 

So from all the info would something like this work, or should i change anything? Im learning allot here



Thanks again for all the valuble input.
-Jordan