2 Sumps under tank?

[jbrunken]

I currently have a wet/dry filter under my 125G tank. Eventually, I would like to convert this to a refugium, however I'm concerned that it will not be nearly big enough.

The filter eats up about 1/3 or the space under the tank, which in reality only leaves me about 3 feet to work with.

Would it be possible to add an additional tank for a refugium (say 20G or so) then somehow plumb the wet/dry filter (which is accrylic) to feed into the refugium?

I don't know if this is the ideal setup, but I was thinking that the water could flow into the current wet/dry filter where my skimmer is. I could take out the bioballs, and use the space for other chemical filtration when needed. The water would then flow into the refugium before it's eventually pumbed back into the display tank.

I have a few ideas, but my main concern is that I don't want to create a situation where I could overflow one of the sump tanks if the power goes off.

I'm sure that I'm not the first person who's tried to do something like this. Does anyone have any thoughts on how I might pull it off?

Thanks in advance.

-JB

[Agu]

The way you describe involves having two pumps circulating water, one from the second sump to the tank and one from the first sump to the second sump. No matter how hard you try to coordinate the two pumps eventually one of them will run dry or overflow.

Instead why not install the second sump as the refugium high enough so it gravity drains to the existing sump and use it as a refugium ?

Or you could connect them, but you'd need at least two pretty big bulkheads.

[BetiumInside]

I tried it... exactly the same thing... and It was very very hard to syncronize them. Once the freaking tube came out and make a disaster!! I tried to make 2 holes between the tank and the wet dry, but never really had the time to do it. I ended replacing the we dry and the lil tank (refugium) and a big 30 gal sum divided in 3 parts. Since I had only 3 fish on a 100g tank, I removed the bio-balls in one shot. But also I got a better and bigger skimmer. So what I suggest is just but this 30 gal tank, make the 3 divisions on it and replace it, one you have the wet dry out, sell it or with patience and time you can creat another sump with the divisions and all the stuff needed. And of course I have the space that I needed.

[ERICN]

ok all you need is 1 larger pump. lets say 1000gph to make it easy you set the refuge a lil higher than the sump. you tee off your return pump to get you 700gph back to display the other 300 routed to refuge then that will spill over to sump and back to tank

[dalbrecht]

You need to rely on gravity at some point, You could conceivably pump into the fuge from the sump and gravity feed back if it isn't possible to plumb them in sequence. You could also drill both vessels at an appropriate height. The trick is that water overflows the fuge into the vessel with the main return pump.

[gvibes]

I'm going to have a 2' long wet/dry converted into a refugium along with a 29 gal (30") for a sump. I am going to elevate the refugium, and have it gravity drain into the return section. I'm not sure how I'm feeding the refugium yet. I may just T off one of the drains.

[jbrunken]

The problem I'm going to have with elevating the tanks is simply headroom. I can probably lift it up about 4 inches higher than it is now, but that is about it.

My wet/dry has a skimmer built into it, so no matter what solution I come up with, I probably need that tank (with the skimmer) to feed into the refugium right?

How deep does the water need to be in the refugium? I was thinking of building or buying another accrylic tank then drilling them in order to run a couple of connecting hoses (similar to those that feed the wet/dry from my overflow.

I definetly don't want to do anything that involves more than one pump as that seems like a recipe for disaster (aka flood).

I appreciate everyone input on this, at least I know I'm not TOTALLY crazy now...

-JB

[Agu]

then drilling them in order to run a couple of connecting hoses (similar to those that feed the wet/dry from my overflow.

They'll have to be big pipes connecting the two containers. Without the head pressure a simple bulkhead has less capacity .

[82SC]

yeha I did a sump and a refug under the main takn and it worked fine.

[thorsen]

I just did something like your doing under my tank. I was short of cash and wanted a refug so I did it cheap, and it has worked great. I went to walmart and bought a four dollar plastic tub and then to home depot and bought 20 feet of clear plastic tubing (four dollars too). I put the plastic tub next to the sump on top of two 2x4's, then I put a section of the half inch tube in a corner of my tank which siphoned into the plastic tub. Then since the plastic tub was just a little higher than the sump I put two short sections of tubing from the tub to siphon into the sump. It's fairly low flow through the refug, which I don't know if that's good or bad, but lots of pods are already swarming in there and the algae is growing nicely. I'm sure a person could do this in a nicer way and it would work well.