plywood overflow box?

[coyote6183]

im building a 220g plywood and would like a 55g refugium under it. i was thinking a 4 sided overflow box for the top left corner of the tank. only want about 150-200gph flow as i will have other filtration on this the fuge is going to be heavily planted. so i need help bad lol cause i never did this.

?'s
1. what pump
2. what bulkhead (3/4 inch plywood...what bulkheads will go through all the way?)
3. what size piping?
4. any other tips to maximize water quality? im thinking good lights and co2 reactor for this fuge, and an fx5 for more flow and filtration in the main tank

the tank is going to be a breeding tank for a pair of festae. the tank is built and im getting the glass friday, and wood to build the stand. any help pushing this project on would be greatly apreciated

 

[wow_it_esploded]

Why do you want the fuge? To consume nutrients? IMO, I would ditch the fuge and instead just place some easy to clean, quality, mechanical filtration. Something that you can clean in 5 minutes every or every-other day. That would help (IMO) with nitrate creep better than some plants. It would also be cheaper, not require a CO2 reactor to mess with, not be a trap for rotting detritus, and be a ton easier to maintain. Perhaps you could almost do sump style. A couple of long filter socks, some sponge filters for a rainy day, and your heater, all in the 55g. Just some thoughts.

 

[Pherball]

You could set up the overflow as a chambered filter if you don't like the idea of a sump. Have the overflow at one end (it doesn't have to be that long for 200gph), then set up baffles like in a sump with chambers for filter media, plants, etc, then have the return at the other end. You want less surface agitation in the main tank for co2, so I recommend against bubble filters. Also you could do some hydroponics in the overflow with plants that grow above water. Some vines growing around the outside of your tank would look sweet... and you don't have to water them.
There is a good calculator for overflow width, pipe size and flow rate on reefcentral.com.


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[duanes]

With a plywood you wouldn't need the box, just put an upturned PVC elbow into the bulkhead (s) in the tank, and down to the 55. You can carve weirs into the PVC, or use strainers.

Most legit bulkheads will go the that width plywood, it just depends on what diameter you want the overflow to be. The bulkhead below has about 2" of room, as you can see with the excess thread to the left. The wall of the rubbermaid tank is approx 1.2" thick.

I plant my sumps to get rid of nitrate, and usually end up with 0-2ppm.
planted refugium sump below, that also hold fry.

I also use filter socks for mechanical, but find mechanical to not be sufficient alone.
hardware sump, for filter socks, and pump, placed in line after the planted sump below