trying to complete a refugium

ok guys, heres my situation. info needed.

I have a 75 gal overflow main tank..
i'm trying to design the refugium.. and i'm taking lots of time so that i can do it correctly.

the tank i have for the refugium is 30Lx12wx12H. i have a simple design mapped out for how the water should flow through.. bubble trap, protein skimmer, refugium area, pump area. i've read other posts about how the gph of the pump should be less than the over flow, but i have no idea as to how to figure out the gph of the over flow.

my overflow mechanism is a 1.5" pcv pipe to the top of the waterline for skimming. i don't know if that can help you all or if you need more info. i just don't know how to figure the numbers and don't know what pump to purchase to complete the refugium.

please help! thanks

 

You may have to figure it out by trial and error. You can put a valve on the output of your pump to control the flow. The more flow you have the higher your water line will be above the top of your PVC overflow. I would also add some type of reducer/expander to widen the 1 1/2" PVC at the top. That will work to lower the water level also for a given flow.

Sorry I don't have an exact answer for you.

Sounds like a nice DIY build. I love those. I built my own sump/fuge too. We'd like to see some pics when you get a chance.

 

well i hope this helps, but my overflow is a eshopps 300gph and my return pump is 480gph i would recommend to have both the overflow and the pump with a ball valve so you can adjust your flow and water level. and i added a check valve in my return pump for safety so in case the electricity goes out it wont act as another overflow! ill post a pick of my sump

 

Melevsreef.com | Acrylic Sumps & Refugiums
Here is a link that we used when setting up our sump.

 

If you run split the entry water into your fuge, you can control the flow through the fuge without having to worry as much about having too low of a flow through your system as a whole. I'm reworking my fuge design now to do this as well. I will have about 90% of the OF feed going directly into my first intake of my fuge/sump, but have a 10% flow go through a ballvalve and into a fuge feed. I posted a "new fuge design" thread that kind of gives an example. I'll add another ballvalve to the sump side to control the flow into that as well.