refugiums

would it be better to have a fuge seperate from your sump or attached to your sump, I ahve a 75 gl. reef tank with two tangs and I am trying to figure out the best way to grow calurpa seperately because they have cleaned my tank out of everything I was growing

 

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

I have a 29 gallon long that I have configured into a sump/refugium.  Less bulkheads, etc., less chance of leaking, lower cost (I already had the tank).  In addition, limited space.

You can do either a combined or separate setup.

 

Does anybody have a good idea on how to plumb a refugium that sits next to the main tank? I have a 90 main tank and plan to use a 10 gal for the refugium. I am worried about the 10 overflowing and not sure how to balance it.
Thanks

 

Thomas, welcome! Feel free to join as there is no cost and you get discounts with our sponsors!

If you elevate the 10 gallon above the display tank you can pump up to the refugium and have a gravity siphon flow back to the display. As long as you leave enough room in the display for water from the refugium if the power goes out, you will never have to worry about overflowing.

 

That sounds like a great idea. I really was hoping to keep the 10 gallon at a visible hight, the same as the main tank. There must be a way to keep them even?

 

You will need to have the ten gallomn above the display to overcome atmospheric pressure and achieve gravity flow via siphon.

PS:

Feel free to join as there is no cost and you get discounts with our sponsors!

 

Will it work the same if I pump across to the 10gallon and then route the output down into the sump of the main tank?

 

No. The benefits of the refugium, reduced nitrates and phosphates as well as pods are better if they go directly to the display.

 

But phisicaly it will work?
If the power fails in a setup like this, and the syphon stoped going out of the 10Gal. and ran dry, then the power turned back on and the pump resumed from the 90gal. , won't it overflow the 10Gal.? Does this mean I will need a skimmer box in the 10Gal. or am I missing something simple I can do too keep the gravity syphon always full?
Thanks for your help guys.

 

All you need is a control switch so your feed from the dsplay won't restart. The restart would be manual. How often does your power go out!

It's not a real problem here, so no major inconvenience.

Post a picture of your tank, eh?