DIY sump & refugium

[gqsmoothster]

Borrowing some ideas from previous posts and then adding in a few of my own, I came up with this setup. The pictures should explain most, but if you have a question just ask. It was my first DIY project (although it was a few projects in one). I just needed to add some volume to my tank and get my skimmer pump out of the display (a Mag 3 isn't small in a 55 gallon tank).

• acrylic overflow box draining into rubbermaid sump
• rubbermaid sump has skimmer pump inside (near overflow drainage) and outputs back onto the "top" of the sump
• a bulkhead fed by gravity drains into the refugium
• the refugium is a 10 gallon tank in which I inserted acrylic baffles (acrylic sheets purchase from Home Depot, cut, and glued with silicone). There's a great post about how to do this somewhere. If you can't find it, I'll look through my archives and find it for you.
• The last chamber of the fuge has a Mag 9.5 with valve that feeds to PVC which splits and sprays into display tank.

The levels of water are just right so that if the overflow suction breaks, the Mag will pump water from the fuge into the display but:

1. the fuge has a safe section which will hold all water
2. the last section of the fuge will drain but keep the Mag 'wet'
3. the display will fill up but not overflow
4. the Mag will make a God-awful noise and let me know something's wrong

The levels of the water are also tweaked such that if power fails

1. the overflow will only drain until the fuge is full but not overlfowing
2. the return sprayers will break suction just before the water in the display drains to the overflow cut-off point.

As you can imagine, this is a fine line so I marked the water level on the refugium and try to top-off to this point everyday.

Extra notes:

• I covered the sump to reduce water loss
• I added tents of acrylic to catch splash from the flow coming out of the sump into the refugium
• I added some filter floss at the mouth of the above run-off to reduce noise and to catch sediment

Since this is my first project, I'd really welcome any comments or tips.

[gqsmoothster]

Added some views

[midnighttoker]

I have a feeling that your return pump ran dry a few times. unless you top off every day.

[midnighttoker]

the last chamber is not holding enough water baffle is only 2-3 inchs on top of the Mag.

no wonder you need to cover up everything to reduce evaporation.

I believe the tanks should not be covered it requires maxiumum gas exchange.

[midnighttoker]

this can help you a little. http://www.barraquatic.com/sumps.php

[gqsmoothster]

Thanks. I'll check that. I find that I need to top off about one gallon every other day. I split that into half a gallon everyday after work. This is admittedly a design flaw. Also, I find that the current in the refugium chamber is a little strong ( I run about 900-1000 gph).

[scubadude]

Lookin good Jeremy

I love the simplistic design of the fuge, I use the same concept basically. The only thing I dont like is the bowing of the rubbermade container. It appears that the bulkhead for the gravity feed to the fuge is pretty high on the rubbermade which probably gives it the flexing. I do realize that rubbermades are definately more effecient (cost wise)than tanks but from the looks of things you are already becoming handy with building your system you might want to make one big tank that serves as the sump/fuge together with your setup a 40g long would probably do it nicely. Keep us updated

[gqsmoothster]

You're right. The rubbermaid bowed out when it filled up. It's obviously not made for such an application, but so far, so good. Cost was the major factor with this design. I may try to use a larger rubbermaid and redo that part in the near future. Otherwise, when I upgrade to a 90 later this or next year, I'll use my 55 as a sump.

I'm going on vacation for a week soon and am thinking of setting up a 5 gallon bucket to gravity drip-feed water into the sump. Something like 2 drips per minute or whatever. Otherwise I'll come home to a dried, up dessert in my tank.

[The R/C Man]

Do you have a RO/DI unit? If so you can run the line to your sump. Using an electrically operated valve attached to 2 float switches you can auto top off your sump. One float switch is to turn on and off the valve and the other is set higher and is a saftey in case the first one sticks on..... I have been using this set up for almost 2 years without fail.... Nock on wood!

[The R/C Man]

Oh, here is a site for the switches... Only $6 each.... http://www.floatswitches.net/
These switches are very sensitive and will click on and off with water movement. To compensate for this you will need to mount the switch into a pvc end cap and attach a piece of tube about 6" long. I also added a filter screen at the end of the tube to keep small snails out. This dampens the switch and keeps it from chattering the relay.....

[gqsmoothster]

I don't have an RO unit yet. I buy bulk RO from Walmart. I wouldn't mind filling a resevoir with say 5 gallon once a week. How does the electronic float switch convert to mechanical control of the water though? Some kind of servo? I would need a turn-key solution since I have no time for a DIY rig right now. All descriptions I've read are pretty confusing.

[The R/C Man]

You will need to buy a soleniod from Marine Depot or some place like that. You just run the RO/DI line in one side of the relay and then out the other to your sump. Take the cord from the soleniod and plug it into an extesion cord. Then just splice the wires from the two float switches into one side of the extension cord. It is about an hour to put everything together. Some people would rather not have 120v running to the float switches but I haven't had any problems and powerheads dropped into the tank also run off 120v.....

[The R/C Man]

Ok here is something you can do with a container instead of the RO/DI unit...

[gqsmoothster]

Thanks. I'm pretty sure I can do something like this. I was thinking of gravity fed (sorta guilty of "thinking inside the box") but this would work much better. I like it.

Is there good evidence that aerated water is better?

[The R/C Man]

I did just to keep the water from getting stagnet..... You can use a small pump such as a mini jet. They work great.... Just be sure that the water in the resovior is lower than the sump and that the fill line is out of the water. Other wise you could have a siphon from your top off water into the sump.... Bad bad bad....

[gqsmoothster]

Siphons: a reef-keepers best friend, but always involved in his worst nightmare.

As for your sig, I recognize it as an interpretation of Ockam's razor- a principle I use and preach daily.