my plumbing plan! please add any pointers!

[arcab4]

hi,

i posted this on my site and got some good answers but i wanted to see what you guys had to say.

my specs are...

60gallon acylic tank
15gallon sump
aquac urchin pro skimmer
dolphin powerhead (to pump water back into the tank)
2x96watts from ahsupply.com
150lbs of southdown sand


i wanted to setup a refugium also. so after reading around..this is how my setup would look like...(not drawn to scale really)



the water would flow down from the overflow, tee off into two pipes - one directly to the sump and the other one into the refugium. i have a valve to control the flow into the refugium. then it would drain into the sump. i think i'll have two openings in the refugium into the sump one main one and one for safety in case it overflows.

inside the sump is the skimmer/heater/powerhead. i'm running the water back into the tank with a regular tubing i got from my LFS. i heard if i use a hardpipe it would cause vibrations? i'm a newbie when it comes to plumbing.

how does that sound?

thanks in advanced....

[Aragorn]

Looks OK to me. Just make sure your sump has the capacity to handle a power outage. This way you won't suffer from wet carpeting . FWIW, I hard-plumbed my return except for about 6 inches out from the return pump...no vibration problems. BTW, what size refugium will you use?

[arcab4]

thanks. measuring the space in the main stand, i can build a mini-stand (so the refugium will be above the sump) and i can perfectly fit a 10gallon tank.

i know i can use a rubber container instead but i'm highly curious about looking at what's growing in my refugium..so hence the glass tank. i know it'll cost a bit more (anyone had it done before? how much is it) but i figured since i've spent so much money into this tank (and it's still empty!) what's a bit more to make me happy and have no regrets later.

how can i measure it so that my sump won't overflow? my overflowbox has a flowrate of 600gph. my dolphin pump has a flowrate of 570gph.

[naser]

i ahve everything hard plumbed. even to the pumps and out. not vibrations at all. plus hard pvc allways looks better.

[arcab4]

is there any benefits to using a spraybar into the refugium or should i have the water just flow into the refugium?

[naser]

ive heard that slow flow through a refugium is best either or as long as the flow is slow enough it shouldnt matter. the only thing a spray bar would do is increase nutrients to far reaches of the refugium. basically ive seen them both ways.

[arcab4]

thanks for the help.

i have a valve on the pipe that goes to refugium to control the flow. do i need any other valves?