Tell me what you think (skimmer/sump)

[Max]

Ok I hope I can explain this so you understand but here goes:
My 44 gallon corner tank is in the corner of my living room. No room for fancy equipment and my tank isnt drilled. I really dont want to drill it and it has been racking my brain trying to figure out where to put everything and the most important how to build it with out an overflow (just one more thing in the main tank).

This is what i plan to do, tell me what you think.

I am going to put a twenty gallon tank on the oposite side of the wall (in my bedroom)
right behind my corner tank. With the rim of the 20 gallon a few inchs above the rim of the 44 in the other room. I have a aquaclear 50 in my main tank now for flow/second filter, that im going to take and mount it in the stand under the 20 and pump the water from my lower main tank into the higher 20 and let the 20 overflow back into my main tank. I think that solves the not drilled and no overflow in my 44.

Now for the skimmer/sump

Im going to section off the back 4 inches of the 20 gallon so i have 2 long devided tanks in one. a front side and a back side.

The back side of the sump tank:
ill put a devider in the back side so i have a 4 x 4 square in the one corner.
Thats now 2 deviders so far, and keep the devider off the floor of the tank so that water runs under it.
Ill drill the 20 so that the aquaclear running on skimmer mode pumps into the bottom of the 4x4 square into a 3 inch round clear tubing standing up inside the 4 x 4 square. A round chamber in the square chamber. Both will drain from the bottom. I can then let the rest of the back half fill up and over flow into the front side of the tank and that front side then overflow out to the living room into my main tank. I dont mind drilling the 20

Wow that was a month full. Hope you understand what im talking about. I could draw a pick but thats my idea.

I can keep the front of the tank nice so I have a nice tank in my bedroom to look at and the back part can be an algee sump or plant sump or anything i need to use it for.

What do you think

[Samper]

I'm not quite sure how this will work........first to pump water up you will need some sort of pressure rated pump. Second the water from the 20 gallon...how are you going to control which side of it the water flows down from unless you mount it to where it isn't level it could go anywhere you said nothing about drilling the other side to drain is why I'm asking. Third if you do get it to drain into the main without drilling any holes having bulkheads or tubes you are going to experience micro bubbles like crazy due to the water hitting the surface. I'm hoping I understood you correctly. It's early here and if not just disregard.

[kevinpo]

front side then overflow out to the living room into my main tank.

This is the only part that isn't clear. How are you going to accomplish this?

Regards,
Kevin

[Poseidon]

The 3" round tube must be a DIY skimmer then? That could be a start.

[Max]

The 3" round tube must be a DIY skimmer then? That could be a start.

Yes I saw a DIY that looked easy enough to build. Not the best money can buy im sure but my intent is to create a ecosystem and from what been told, if you have the right things in your tank that a skimmer isnt a "Must Have" thing.
Correct me if I wrong and im sure there are many who say it IS NEEDED.
So im going with some is better than none and im sure I can get it to at least be better than nothing

As far as how it will flow back into the main tank, Yes I did drill it for an overflow tube and even drilled it for the incoming skimmer presure. Didnt need to, a drop tube would have been find but got this drill bit and wanted to drill some holes

Ill take a few pics of it if and post them here when im done. I hope it works and if not then ill know what not to do next time.

The aquaclear 50 I have has a sorta built in venturi on the outlet. This should at least work better than nothing right?

[Poseidon]

The Venturi's on the outlet side do not work as well for skimmers as those on the input side. If it comes in tehn passes thru the impellar, the bubbles get chopped up even better. More smaller bubbles are better then fewer larger ones. Here is a link to a simple input side venturi, I use it with a MJ1200 to keep my CPR overflow going strong.

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch...y_Code=Maxijet

It is only 4 bux and works very well! I don't know if it will adapt to your particular pump though.

[Max]

I can change the direction of flow with my aquaclear so that it sucks in from the outlet past the venturi then thru the blades. It slows the flow doing that but I have had a worry that it would pump to fast for my overflow to keep up so slower may be the best. My overflow is 3/4" PVC and im thinking it may be to small for the full blast. So reverse is better anyway.

what do you think? 3/4" overflow to small?

[Poseidon]

What are you going to use for the overflow?

Something like this?

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch...de=CPROverflow

Or this?

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch...egory_Code=MLA

These would be Ideal. I like the CPR because it only protudes into your tank a very small amount, less then an inch! The other box is much larger. If so then 3/4" inch line to the sump would be fine as the CPR offers a 3/4" bulkhead. The other uses a 1 1/4 line but you could adjust the depth it goes into teh tank to limit it's flow... I have ball valves on mine as a precaution too. On both the inlet and outlet side! I only use the return valve with any regularity though. Like at feeding time, or when it is time to scrape the glass!

[Max]

Im not using a store bought overflow. My 20 gallon is drilled and it is slightly higher than my main tank so it runs directly in by gravity. I did have a major bubble problem at first but that was fixed with a defuser tube. Just a long piece of clear tubing that the water falls into. Works ok!

After 2 days of messing and allmost flooding out my living room (syphon problem)
I finaly got my setup to run unattended and if the power goes out it just stops.
No ball valves either My powerhead pumps the water up to my sump/second tank with the hose over the water not in it. it fills it till it overflows down back to my main tank. It works great. Im going to run higher lighting in my second tank and let it grow my good algae and plants. No crabs or snails in that tank.
Put all my reefcleaners in my main tank to keep the algae at bay.

Ive heard 1000 different way to do things and this way I can handle.

[Samper]

The only problem with this is that normally a refugium needs very low flow. What pump are you using?

[Max]

The only problem with this is that normally a refugium needs very low flow. What pump are you using?

Im using a aquaclear 50.

Im glad to hear you say it needs low flow because that what it gets. I was going to go a little bigger on the pump but if low flow is what i need then im golden.

[Samper]

How many gph is flowing through the fuge?

[Max]

Well since the aquaclear has to pump through a 3/8" id tube up hill a little I cant really say for sure but if i was to guess id say if i had it running into a 5 gallon bucket it would take 5 minutes or so to fill so that would be around 60 gallons and hour. maybe a little more. Between 60 and 100 gph is the best i could say with out actually testing it



To much?

[Samper]

Most people run between 200-300 gph through it. The reason for this is that the flow isn't so high the the creatures get swept away in a harmful way and the flow isn't so low that too little of your water goes through it.

[Max]

If/When I need to do a water change Ill drain it from there into a 5 gallon bucket and see how long it takes. But 200-300... Got it.

Thanks

[Samper]

The idea is to provide a peaceful place for benefecial things to grow. I've seen some very beautiful refugiums lately, they teem with life in a totally different way but are none the less interesting.

[Poseidon]

Very cool, sounds simple enough, can you post some pictures? And how about that DIY skimmer? Have you seen the plans online for Snailmans DIY skimmers? There is some good info there on how skimmers work...


Here.

Read up and enjoy!

[Max]

Thanks for the skimmer info and yea ill take some pics of my refuge. Im looking for plants now to put in it.