Display refugium plumbing

[zwalter38]

Question regarding plumbing a display refugium. So basically I have a 135g running off of two canister filters and no sump. I am going to plumb a 35g display refugium into the system. My plan was to run a 1inch siphon tube between them and an in-line pump from the 35 into the 135. So in theory the pump would pull water from the 35 gallon and output it into the 135. Then the siphon tube would return water back into the 35 gallon. I set it up and it ran ok. The water started level and then would drain to about 2 inches lower on the 35g and eventually would stop lowering. I’m assuming this happened because the siphon gained enough head pressure to keep up with the pump. I also tried a smaller pump. I’m wondering if anyone had any ideas on how I could plump in a display refugium with no sump. Thanks

 

[RocketEngineer]

The safest method would be to have the display fuge sit somewhat higher than the tank, use a gravity drain to go from fuge to display and a pump from display to fuge. This would act just as if the larger tank was the sump.

 

[Katrina71]

@sfin52 just did a similar project. He may be able to give you pointers.

 

[zwalter38]

The safest method would be to have the display fuge sit somewhat higher than the tank, use a gravity drain to go from fuge to display and a pump from display to fuge. This would act just as if the larger tank was the sump.

That was my very first idea, however it looked horrible having the fuge that much higher than the main display. Plus I’m sort of stuck now, because I have the stand built and everything, so I have to try to figure out how to make it work with the two tanks being level.

 

[RocketEngineer]

You only need like 4” difference to make it work.

 

[sfin52]

Question regarding plumbing a display refugium. So basically I have a 135g running off of two canister filters and no sump. I am going to plumb a 35g display refugium into the system. My plan was to run a 1inch siphon tube between them and an in-line pump from the 35 into the 135. So in theory the pump would pull water from the 35 gallon and output it into the 135. Then the siphon tube would return water back into the 35 gallon. I set it up and it ran ok. The water started level and then would drain to about 2 inches lower on the 35g and eventually would stop lowering. I’m assuming this happened because the siphon gained enough head pressure to keep up with the pump. I also tried a smaller pump. I’m wondering if anyone had any ideas on how I could plump in a display refugium with no sump. Thanks

I did this exact same thing using the canisters as the pumps.
@Katrina71 suggested splatter paint after my paint technique failed.
Oreo (cat) was inspecting the workmanship. Loki (husky) just likes posing.

 

[sfin52]

@Katrina71 thanks for the tag

 

[sfin52]

The safest method would be to have the display fuge sit somewhat higher than the tank, use a gravity drain to go from fuge to display and a pump from display to fuge. This would act just as if the larger tank was the sump.

The dt becomes the sump.

 

[zwalter38]

That stand looks really neat! I do believe I’m making some progress. If I could redo it I would have built the stand for the refugium a bit higher so it would be elevated above the main display tank. However everything is already built and put together. So far I’m at the point of adjusting the water level so when I start the pump it raises the level in the main display far enough to give enough head pressure to the siphon to keep up with the pump. It ends up being about a 2 inch difference in water levels between the two tanks, and then when the pump shuts off the water levels out between the two tanks without spilling. The only issue I’m having is I’d like the water level in the refugium to be higher while the pump is running. However if I raise it the main display will be too high (could overflow) while the pump is running.

 

[sfin52]

That stand looks really neat! I do believe I’m making some progress. If I could redo it I would have built the stand for the refugium a bit higher so it would be elevated above the main display tank. However everything is already built and put together. So far I’m at the point of adjusting the water level so when I start the pump it raises the level in the main display far enough to give enough head pressure to the siphon to keep up with the pump. It ends up being about a 2 inch difference in water levels between the two tanks, and then when the pump shuts off the water levels out between the two tanks without spilling. The only issue I’m having is I’d like the water level in the refugium to be higher while the pump is running. However if I raise it the main display will be too high (could overflow) while the pump is running.

You really need the sump returns above the tank.

 

[sfin52]

That stand looks really neat! I do believe I’m making some progress. If I could redo it I would have built the stand for the refugium a bit higher so it would be elevated above the main display tank. However everything is already built and put together. So far I’m at the point of adjusting the water level so when I start the pump it raises the level in the main display far enough to give enough head pressure to the siphon to keep up with the pump. It ends up being about a 2 inch difference in water levels between the two tanks, and then when the pump shuts off the water levels out between the two tanks without spilling. The only issue I’m having is I’d like the water level in the refugium to be higher while the pump is running. However if I raise it the main display will be too high (could overflow) while the pump is running.

Pics
Mine is so close that it's only about a gallon or so.

 

[zwalter38]

You really need the sump returns above the tank.

It’s not so much a sump as just a 35 gallon macro tank. The top of the 35g is the same height as the 135g. I’ll have to get pics to post when I get home. But as of right now it functions enough just not quite the water level I’d like.

 

[coreytrv]

It’s not so much a sump as just a 35 gallon macro tank. The top of the 35g is the same height as the 135g. I’ll have to get pics to post when I get home. But as of right now it functions enough just not quite the water level I’d like.

What did you end up doing here? I'm about to test fire my design using sump / refugium siphon as well.

 

[sfin52]

What did you end up doing here? I'm about to test fire my design using sump / refugium siphon as well.

Here's my system.

 

[zwalter38]

What did you end up doing here? I'm about to test fire my design using sump / refugium siphon as well.

So basically what I did was run a small external pump from the macro tank into the main display. And then a 1”pvc siphon tube between the two tanks which regulates the water level in each of them. So as I pump the water out of the macro tank, the siphon tube replenishes it. Now there is definitely some kinks in the system that I’m still working through and I may try a redesign soon, but when it’s set up and running right it works flawlessly. Some issues I’ve ran into is obviously evaporation which is to be expected and an ATO can help fix that. Another thing that I’m battling now is cyano. Which I believe has sort of clogged up the siphon and has been causing some issues. I have the cyano under control now , I just have to take the siphon tube apart and clean it which I haven’t had the time to do. So my main issues is the siphon keeping up with the pump because there is not that much height difference in my two tanks. I did this because i get power outages quite often and if the pump doesn’t turn back on I wanted to make sure the siphon would keep both water levels within the tanks limits.

 

[zwalter38]

Here’s some pics of it set up and running from a little while ago as I was getting things up and running. But it will give you an idea of what I’m trying to explain.

 

[coreytrv]

Here’s some pics of it set up and running from a little while ago as I was getting things up and running. But it will give you an idea of what I’m trying to explain.

I see the U-tube in the smaller tank, there's your siphon to sump below?

Does water flow between the two tanks? If so, how?

 

[zwalter38]

I see the U-tube in the smaller tank, there's your siphon to sump below?

Does water flow between the two tanks? If so, how?

So the two tanks that you see in the photos are the only tanks set up in the system. There is no sump. The bigger tank is ran by two Fx4 canister filters and then the nitrates and phosphates are taken care of by the macro tank. The U tube that you see in the smaller tank is the intake for the pump that runs water from the small tank to the big tank. The picture of the pump is what the u tube is connected to and what runs the water from the small tank to the big tank. Then the PVC along the wall is the siphon tube between the two tanks. That is what returns the water from the big tank back to the small tank. So yes the water does flow between the two tanks.