Different refugium/sump idea...

[Conner]

I was thinking about my sump situation for my new 220g tank. I wasn't happy about the size of my sump, do to difficulties with fitting anything in through the stand openings.

What do you guys think about this design?

1. The water will drain from the tank into a refugium placed next to the tank (it will enter on top of filter pads, so that mulm and debris doesn't settle in the refugium too badly).

2. It will drain out of the refugium into the sump, entering several filter socks for micron polishing.

3. It will then flow over biomedia, and get pumped back up to the aquarium.

Here's a quick ms paint sketch I drew up (the sketch doesn't show the bonded filter pads in the refugium).

 

[black056mtc]

it will work fine if you have room for it, just make sure that main tank and ref. overflow just enough incase a power outage. just put a lot of plants in the ref. to make it look cool while you at it.

 

[Griller]

Great idea - what plants are you looking at?

 

[Conner]

Initially I'm thinking starting with some peace lilies, but I'm open to suggestions. This is going to be in my living room if I attempt it, so I'd like it to look really nice. Large, flowering plants with some color would be good.

Also, anything that's known to really suck up nitrates would be good.

Another possibility would be to mount the refugium above the tank, and have water pumped from the sump to it, then draining back into the tank, but I think my design above would be better.

 

[xdragonxb0i]

it would work, but you would want to drill the hole, so it can go into the sump. because it will be bad if you lose siphone going down into the sump

Im trying to hydroponics on my main tank. i have eggcrages i just put individual plants in each sllot

 

[Griller]

Im trying to hydroponics on my main tank. i have eggcrages i just put individual plants in each sllot

Wow - any pics???

 

[Conner]

it would work, but you would want to drill the hole, so it can go into the sump. because it will be bad if you lose siphone going down into the sump

Im trying to hydroponics on my main tank. i have eggcrages i just put individual plants in each sllot

Of course the refugium tank would be drilled, I wouldn't trust a siphon overflow with that much water.

I was also thinking of using eggcrate, sticking individual plants into the openings in it.

Another option I'm considering, is having the tank drain to the sump like normal, with a pump returning it to the tank like normal. Then I will have a second pump sending some of the filtered water up to the refugium, with an overflow to bring it back down to the sump. That way I don't have to rely on the water to flow from the tank, through the refugium, then down to the sump.

 

[Conner]

Kind of like this (for the second option of having two pumps):

 

[LD50]

I think your second design is better, it will allow you to controll the flow through the refugeum without effecting tank flow. Can I ask what kind of lights you plan on useing?

 

[Conner]

I think your second design is better, it will allow you to controll the flow through the refugeum without effecting tank flow. Can I ask what kind of lights you plan on useing?

I haven't decided yet, but either a short (24") twin tube T8 fluorescent light, or else maybe a floor lamp (that hangs over the refugium) with high wattage twist-tube cfl's. Third option would be to install some track or recessed lighting above the refugium with spot lights, but with 10' ceilings, the light would be pretty diffuse by the time it got to the plants.

Any suggestions?

I have to talk this over with my fiance tonight. She may or may not go for the idea, since it would technically be another fish tank in the living room. But the fact that it would only have plants in it might win her over. The other factor is having that much light in the living room, it might make it too bright for us.