Hey everyone,
I’m setting up a new sump/refuge and I wanted some recommendations. There’s a terrible rendition of the setup I’m going for below. I’m going from a 10 gal sump to a 20 gal sump/refuge. I’m adding a bigger pump to the setup as well and what I want to do is drill the 20 gal and pipe it to the pump so that the pump can be outside the sump instead of the way it is now, which is inside the sump. The skimmer is an in-sump eshopps 100 skimmer. The tank is a 20 gal long from petsmart and I was wondering if anyone’s drilled one before because I’m trying to figure out if it’s tempered or not. I also eventually wanna drill the bottom of a 50 gal, but wanna make sure its not tempered first. Any experience with drilling these tanks or recommendations on the setup, lay it on me.
I’d check any glass for sure before drilling, there’s an easy way to find out… you need a pair of polarized sunglasses and a cell phone screen. I’ll look for a link to the test.
And your sump design looks good, but i’ve always been a fan of submersing smaller style return pumps, less noise, less chance of leaks, and its just easier to get it in/out… you probably want more fuge room, is that why the pump is on the outside? whether the pump is inside or out, its still a good idea to have a barrier, baffle or partition of some sort between the fuge, macro algae, and the intake of the pump to keep stuff from getting sucked in.
here’s a pic of my 20L thats under my frag tank
i’ve heard of that test, but didn’t know exactly how it was done. that and i don’t own a pair of polarized sun glasses, but i guess its time to invest. haha. yes that’s exactly right. more room in the refuge is the main reason i wanted to do that. and i’d definitely have something on there protecting the intake of the pump. or rather, protecting everything else from the intake of the pump. ha. i dont know if i said, but my display tank is a 50 gal and the pump i have on there right now is not very strong at all. in fact, i’m worried there isn’t enough circulation. the pump i want to put on there is 550 gph @ 1ft of head. i figure with four feet of head and the bends in the piping its probably more around 450 gph. plus, i’d have a discharge valve on there so i could reduce flow if i need to. That may be way to much i don’t know but i figure as long as you’re not disturbing anything in the display tank, there cant really be such a thing as too much flow through the filter as long as the filter can handle the speed. i’ve looked around quite a bit and have never really found anything on the perfect sizing for a return pump so i wasn’t really sure what to go with.
[quote=“alexzobi, post:3, topic:4749”]
i’ve heard of that test, but didn’t know exactly how it was done. that and i don’t own a pair of polarized sun glasses, but i guess its time to invest. haha. yes that’s exactly right. more room in the refuge is the main reason i wanted to do that. and i’d definitely have something on there protecting the intake of the pump. or rather, protecting everything else from the intake of the pump. ha. i dont know if i said, but my display tank is a 50 gal and the pump i have on there right now is not very strong at all. in fact, i’m worried there isn’t enough circulation. the pump i want to put on there is 550 gph @ 1ft of head. i figure with four feet of head and the bends in the piping its probably more around 450 gph. plus, i’d have a discharge valve on there so i could reduce flow if i need to. That may be way to much i don’t know but i figure as long as you’re not disturbing anything in the display tank, there cant really be such a thing as too much flow through the filter as long as the filter can handle the speed. i’ve looked around quite a bit and have never really found anything on the perfect sizing for a return pump so i wasn’t really sure what to go with.[/quote]
I don’t think that pump would be too much at all…
I have a similar pump on my 29gal w/ ~5ft of head pressure, and I calculated the flow rate to be around 290gph. Head pressure significantly reduces flow rates on smaller pumps. You will have fine flow, but will definitely need to add more circulation to your 50gal via powerheads
I’m a bit confused as to what you’re trying to protect from your return pump?? Take a look at Johns design from the Refugium transition to the return pump section of his sump. Notice the egg-crate that keeps the macro algae from entering the return area. This is all that you should need, and it avoids the nutrient sink problem of sponge-like filter socks/pads/wraps.
[quote=“dajohnson02, post:5, topic:4749”]
I’m a bit confused as to what you’re trying to protect from your return pump?? Take a look at Johns design from the Refugium transition to the return pump section of his sump. Notice the egg-crate that keeps the macro algae from entering the return area. This is all that you should need, and it avoids the nutrient sink problem of sponge-like filter socks/pads/wraps.[/quote]
I do have a powerhead inside the tank, and in reference to what i was trying to protect from pump intake, that would be the algae in if i were in need of quarentine i’m hoping this would allow for that as well. I think the egg crate is probably the way i’ll end up going.
