DIY refugium (Now accepting suggestions)

[RichT1999]

I am currently contemplating a refugium for my 125 tank. The current idea I have is two idential pumps pumping water back and forth between the sump and refugium (5 or 10gal) using an ATO system (See Picture). I want it to be as much of a hands off system as possible.

Does anyone have any ideas on an auto top off system (DIY or Package) for both the fill and return?
I want the following:
- Overflow protection on the refugium (Shuts off pump in sump)
- Low water protection for the pump on the refugium (Shuts off pump in refugium)

I am also open to new design suggestions that I haven't thought of (I work better with pictures)

[slief]

My concern would be using a pump to send water to the fuge and a another one back to the sump. If one has any more flow than the other, you will run into issue with your water level and I can almost promise, that will an on going issue.

I would connect the sump and fuge via a bulkhead. Have the return pump at the end of the fuge and the overflow line from the tank dump into the sump. By having the 2 sumps connected via bulkheads and pipe, the water will automaticly flow from the sump to the fuge provided that the return pump is at the end of the fuge. That is how I did my sump and fuge and it works like a charm with no extra pumps needed.

For reference, the picture below is both my sump (left) and fuge (right) before it was installed under my tank. You can see that I used 2 large bulkheads with union ball valves between the sump and fuge. Water comes out of the tanks overflow via a pair of 2" lines and dumps into the sump where the skimmer is located. The water flows through the pipes and into the fuge. At the back of the fuge I have some air traps where the return pump bulkheads is located. This is the method I would suggest you consider for your sump and fuge. No need for the extra pumps and the complexities that you could run into. Not to mention the extra power that you will use running 2 pumps that could easily be eliminated.

I also installed a bypass line from the sump that goes directly to the return pump. You can see that running around the perimeter of the fuge. I can close a ball valve at the end of the fuge and open the valve on the bypass line so that I can shut the fuge down for maintenance while I keep the main sump and tank up and running.



This is a close up of the connections between the sump and fuge. The white valves and never closed. I used them for convenience largely due to the unions as I needed to get the sump and fuge under the tank in 2 segments since this was a retrofit. The red valve is the bypass that leads directly to the return pump at the end of the fuge. The current arrangement allows for seemless flow from the sump to the fuge and essentially acts like one large filter box with the added benifit of being able to completely isolate the fuge. You could use the same method only on a smaller scale.


This is how the return pump and fuge bypass line come together. I close the valve nearest the bulkhead and open the bypass valve nearest the sump and the water is routed through that extra pipe.