Which option would you choose

What about this idea--is it bad for some of the DT water to go straight into the fuge? Wouldn't that cause some detrius buildup?

Couldn't I put all the DT water into the skimmer section, then have a small pump in there to put some of that water into the fuge? I don't know if that guarantees all the water going into the fuge would be post-skimmed water. I'm sure some would be straight DT water.

 

I like raw DT water to go to my fuge, which is one of the reasons why you would put the fuge and skimmer section on opposite sides of your Sump and the return in between.

I suppose you could do it with the pump though..

 

I think I would put a sock on the flow going into the fuge rather than running a pump. I think that would get the larger stuff out, let the stuff you want (as far as I know) go to your fuge, and save you money because you don't need to run another pump.

 

What's the reason for wanting raw DT water going to the fuge rather than water that's been through the skimmer?

 

Gives the Macroalgae and rocks/sand bacteria more "dirty water" to suck up nitrates & phosphates from. IME

 

Not a good design at all. The overflow needs to be full flow without any restriction. Never ever throttle a overflow. It's a good way to start a flood.

Option #2 is the best way to ensure flow going to the fuge while maintaining a free flowing overflow.

We could come up with numerous ways to do this. But over all, you need your flow throttled to the fuge, and the overflow to the skimmer free flowing. The plumbing needs to come off the bottom of a horizontal run to ensure a steady supply of water. Teeing off a vertical run will not get any water since the pipe has a water/air mix. Plenty of other ways to get this done, but option #2 is the simplest and easiest.

Gate valves are much better for throttling. Actually, real gate valves are not supposed to be used for that, but our PVC gates are fine for it. Much better throttling control than a quarter turn ball valve. But I doubt you will find one in town and will probably have to order one.

However, you do not need a gate valve for a fuge. You don't need a fine control valve. A ball valve will get the job done just fine... much cheaper and readily available.

 

I sorta disagree powerman, if diverted properly you can restrict one part of the flow and not truly be restricting the over all flow, and if you do other things (like a second "extra" over flow) you can dial in your return to make it quiet by restricting it. Well I guess I don't really disagree, I just feel that there is a big difference in diverting and restricting flow.
Mulder32 are you mainly looking for extra pods out of your fuge or do you want more filtration? If your looking for filtration you want the dirty water going to your fuge for your macro.

 

The best idea is to Tee the overflow, and put in a ball valve on the fuge side. That way, you get controlled flow with no risk of flooding.

You can put a ball valve on it before the T, but don't use it except for maintenance.

 

Throttling your overflow then requires balancing your return. At some point balances are changed and floods happen. Your overflow should always have all the extra capacity your return pump can put out so you never have to worry about a flood. If you are backing up your return pipe, you are not diverting it, you are restricting it.

Quieting an overflow can be done Herbie or Bean style but is a totally different overflow setup. And both require a secondary standby "unrestricted" overflow pipe to prevent flood for the very reason we are talking about.... because we are throttling the main overflow.

Overflows on a regular reef tank should never be throttled... but hey... it's not my carpet.

 

I'm mainly doing it for the filtration, so in that case, I guess I'd want the more "dirty" DT water.

Restricting the overflow seems dangerous. I'd prefer to just let everything flow into the sump.