thinking of building a refugium

hey guys i got a 55 g tank. currently i have an Eheim Classic Canister (model number 2215) filter its for up to a 92g tank and has a max output of 164 gph. Currently i have it under the tank with the intake and output hanging on the tank. I wanted to build a sump/refugium under the tank and i was going to build an overflow box to bring the water to the sump underneath and i was hoping i can put the intake of the canister filter in the sump and keep the output in the main tank. would this be powerfull enough to send the water from the sump to the main tank or does the intake also have to be as high up as the output? also, if you put the heater in the sump would that be sufficient for the whole tank? thanks for all of your help everyone!

 

heater in the sump, yes, that pump no, you're going to lose a lot of the flow going back up to the tank. Need the size of at least a mag 5 for that.

 

ok thanks but here is a few more questions... what size sump should i put under my tank for the 55 g? also can i hook everything up to it, including my protein skimmer, heater, and canister filter and just have powerheads and the overflow box in the main?

 

10 or 20 gal for sump. and at least 5 for fuge you could make your fuge in the sumpo, but you would need at least a 20 for that to work

 

could i use the intake of the canister filter to bring the water to the sump instead of an overflow box?

 

NO. the overflow box only brings down as much water as the retun pump brings up. If they arent matched to the exact ml/hour you will either flood tank or sump. And matching those two together that precisely is physically impossible.

 

if your going to put in a sump, go with a sump and protein skimmer setup, ditch the canister all together and add a refugium as well, for pumps as stated before mag 5 or 7 imo

though on my 58g i have a ton of flow using a mag 9.5 that allowed me to cut down to 1 PH in the DT