The quest for a new sump/refugium continues

you can probably put a 90 degree elbow to restrict the amount of water that will drain from the fuge to the sump. I a power outage instead of draining to the bottom of the bulkhead it will stop after it passes the lip of the elbow.

 

Drumroll.......please! introducing my new fuge.

I lowered the water level in my main sump to accomidate the water from the fuge and the main display tank in the case of a power outage. I've tested it and the level comes within 1/2 inch from the top of my sump very close, but I don't think it will every flood.

I attached some pics, please tell me if you see something wrong with my setup. I'm using a maxijet power head to feed the fuge with water from the main sump, I'm not sure if this is the best approach, but it works.

Thanks for all the input on this guys

Sean

 

Applause!

 

Nice set up! Do you like your swing valve to prevent back flow? I just bought 1 and havent installed it yet. Does it decrease water flow much?
Karma to you for your new sump!

 

Raven,
I've had the checkvalve for a few months, I test it every once in a while and it does its job. My tank is pretty redundent I have holes drilled into the return lines just below the water surface so that breaks the siphon also. I need to clean mine out soon, it looks like there's alot of gunk building up in there. I have the union type so I can just unscrew it clean it and screw it back in.

As for the flow I haven't noticed much of a difference if any, but I supposed there must be some effect.

Thanks for the Karma, I've been talking so damn long about a fuge and its nice to finally have it in place.

 

Thanks for the info on the check valve. I bought the screw union type as well. I'll make sure I clean mine out regularly. I bought a 1" valve to put inline with my 3/4" tubing. I hope this doesnt cause any pressure problems. My thinking was that a larger valve will allow more water thru and decrease back pressure. I hope I'm right or just worrying too much. Oh, by the way
I see you have a CPR overflow. I just bought a CPR overflow to replace my old overflow. How do you like it and are there any problems with it such as noise? I bought the aqualifter pump but I may hook up the airline to my Seio power head which has a true venturi on it.

 

I'm sure a bigger valve will make a difference in resistance it has too.

 

I'm having the same problem as skennelly. However, something seems odd to me... if you put in a second container, wouldn't you have to add more water to the system in order for the bulkheads to be reached?
For example, if you add a 10 gallon fuge, you only get the capacity of wherever the bulkheads are, say 7 gallons high. If you had 7 gallons in the original 10 gallon sump, even if you reduce that to 3 gallons (for the pumps to run), you still have to add 3 more gallons to the fuge to get it to overflow to the sump. This gives you a total of 10 gallons of water with 17 gallons of capacity (7 gallons of room for power outage). With the previous setup, you had 3 gallons of space BEFORE reducing the water level. If you simply reduce the water in the sump without the fuge you have 3 gallons of water with 10 gallons capacity (the same 7 gallons of room). While it is good to have more water (overall stability of system) it doesn't seem to answer the initial problem of larger capacity in case of power outage. Any thoughts? I think one of the previous ideas of adding another tub and plumbing them together might help but I'm not sure. If the plumbing is level, I think the level of the fuge and sump should rise together. Then you could have 2 10 gallons with only 6 gallons between them (same 3 gallons for pumps X2) and 14 gallons space. Maybe this is how I'll go, if everyone thinks it would work. Thoughts? How is the disign working out Skennelly?

Sorry for the long post but I was trying to work out some of the calculations for everyone's benefit.

Aaron

 

alarsuel,
I'll try and respond based on what I did.
First off yes you would have to add more water to the system for the bulkheads to be reached and here is how I accomplished that. I mixed up a batch of fresh salt water to match my existing salinity. I filled up my new 10 fuge with the new saltwater mix until I reached the bulkheads and water began to flow into my main sump. From there I turned on my powerhead that sits in my main sump and supplies the fuge with water. The water level in the fuge will always remain the same its the water level in the main sump that will change due to evaporation. To test whether I had enough capacity to handle a power outage I shutoff all my pumps....main return and the pump that feeds the fuge. When everything was done draining I had about a 1" or so of space in my sump. I put a mark on my main sump to show me the maximum water level before any chance of a flood.

Before the 10 gallon fuge I had approximately an 8 gallon sump system. After the fuge I have around 17 gallons.

So far my design is working perfectly I am very happy. I'm a little paranoid so I check the bulkheads daily to make sure there isn't any chance of a glog, but I put 2 bulkheads on for redundancy.

 

Skennelly, If your worried about water overflowing a bit, paint the bottom of the inside of your cabinet with waterproof epoxy paint. I did that on my cabinet because there are always little spills with cleaning and servicing the sump and I was worried about the wood eventually rotting. I figure my cabinet can hold at least a 2g overflow.