Refugium/Overflow GPH how to?

I was wanting to add a small 10 gallon to my system as a refuge. But i have NO IDEA how to tell what kind of pump i need. Lets say i get and overflow rated at 600 gph, so will i need a return pump rated at 600 gph? Im just not sure how the mathmatics to this works, lol or is it really that simple?

 

You seem to be confused about the mechanics of an overflow. All an overflow does is stream excess water in the tank out to another unit(ex: sump). The rate is base on the gph of your pump, not your overflow. If your overflow is rate for 600gph then don't get a pump that exceed that. GL

 

You dont need two return pumps, just one. Just split the drain line, one to the sump and the other to the refug. Just make sure you have a ball valve on both lines to control the flow to your needs. You can have the refug draining to the sump. Luna

 

so i need 2 pumps is what your saying? 1 in and 1 out?

 

No, you need an overflow to drain onto the fuge then a pump to pump back to the tank. My tank has an Eshopps PF-300 that will drain a max of 300GPH. That overflow is supposed to handle up to a 75G tank but it depends on what you want. My return pump is 780GPH head pressure but that does not mean it pumps 780 GPH to my tank. You have to take into account how far up it has to push the water. I dont know the math but it decreases pressure each foot it goes up or probably each inch it goes up, I cant remember. Do some research on the pumps and see how much presure you can get at the highth of your tank.

I actually started out with a 400GPH pump and it wasnt near enough. I had to double the head pressure to get the pressure I wanted.

 

go big on the pump side like 2 or three times the gph of your overflow and ball valve the output to match after running

 

I personally recommend using rio hyper flow pumps. aquatictech.com has them for pretty cheap and you can see the flow rate of the pump at different height. The flow rate for your tank should be atleast 10x the volume of your tank. Don't worry about the size of the overflow you use, just make sure it doesn't siphon or leak. My hint is when something looks complicated then you're doing something wrong.

 

thanks alot. i havent attempted anything yet. i just had some questions first

 

+1

I use a valve on mine and it works.

 

No, all you need is one "decent" size return pump. Heres a video of the refugium that I added a while back, this is what am trying to say. I dont have this set up anymore.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gOxUstwpbg