overflow -sump and fuge?Help?

My question I have is If I were to get a different overflow one that has two drains and is bigger then of the one drain overflow I have now, would I have to get a better GPH return pump back to the main tank to handle more volume? The setup I have now is OF to sump skimmer and UV sterilizer back to main tank. The set up I want to do is 1stOF to sump ,skimmer,uv sterilizer to main tank 2nd OF to fuge tank gravity fed to sump back to main tank? Hope this makes sence but would this work and how much flow would I want going through the fuge an hour? Thanks for any help and if you need better detail just let me know thanks.

 

The OF will only return what the pump can put in the tank. Going with a larger OF is fine, it's the other way around that will give you problems.

 

You can use a ball valve on your plumbing to control the amount of flow to the sump

 

+1 Otty. The second question has different answers depending on the type of algae you keep. Some like slow flow, some like fast. I almost have mine set up and ready to go. My fuge is offset to the right side of my 20g long. I have left and right OF. The two are plumbed to meet in the center with 1" PVC and dump into the left side (sump side) through a 1&1/2" PVC drain. The right OF drains down and splits off. The water either go to the common sump side dump or enter the fuge. Everything is controlled with ball valves (three of them).

 

Can you get me some pics of that? and would a 20 gal fuge be to much for a 125 gal or is that a good size.

 

Yeah....no problem. Just give me till tomorrow night. I am heading to bed now. I work tomorrow until six. I will have them posted on this thread by 9PM.

 

Do you think ot would be better just to get another OF /return pump for the fuge itself and have two different systems? Right now I am turning the tank over about 5 X an hour, and if I run the fuge system It'll bring that up to around 10 X per Hour. + add more flow right now I'm at about 4700 GHP with the extra return I'll be at aroun 5300 GPH. How many times an hour should you be turning your tank over and also what kind of flow rating should you have in a reef? Would it be ok to have two different filter systems?any advice thanks

 

You should be at about 10x per hour from the tank to the sump/fuge. You should be around 50x in your tank itself (returns included). What is the size of your tank anyway? Here are the pics of my plumbing. It isn't the prettiest sight to behold, but it will work. I just have one more piece of PVC to cut and two more pieces of acrylic to silicone into place on the sump end and the fuge end (to hold the PVC in place).

The right side of the tank drains down and splits off. The part coming straight at you is the fuge piping and the split off to the left goes to join the plumbing from the other side. The ball valve hooked to the black hose has nothing to do with the OF. It controls flow to my skimmer.




Here is a pic of the OF from the left side. Nothing spectacular. It joins the right side piping at the coupler behind the collection cup. Then it will flow down into the sump from there.

 

Thanks the pics helped a bunch. A few questions looks like all the valves are full open , do you ever slow the flow down and for what? or are they just used so you dont make a mess for cleaning purposes? Whould it be dumb to have a fuge and a sump run off seperate systems? Or should I plumb the fuge and sump together and get another OF going to the fuge and a bigger/better pump for a return in the sump for a 10X turnover? I have a 125Gal with one OF,return pump rated at 950 gph but I'm getting about 600gph with it now. So I'm only at a 5X turnover rate now.

 

Personally, I like my set up the best. I think it makes the most sense and gives the most options ITO flow. If you want to direct 600GPH at my fuge, you can do that. If you want to direct it towards the right to meet 600GPH the other way, you can do that. This is not up an running quite yet. I still need to get a Mag 7 to act as my other return. That is why the ball valve positions don't make sense. Once that is in place, it will go online. Right now, I have 100% of my right OF going into the fuge part (which has nothing.....not even sand). My left OF is not online yet. I am going to cement everything together tomorrow, put the sand in the fuge and slow down the flow to it (increasing the right overflow to the sump).