Idea for a Double Tank Setup WITH Separated Refugium and Sump

[Astyanax]

[Please accept my apologies if you are seeing this twice. My first attempt at posting this did not seem to make it to the forum]

Hi All:

I have an idea that's starting to take shape in my head, and I wanted to share with the group for a sanity check.

First off, I am an experienced fishkeeper, but only ever with small tanks. I've never done a big rig, but I am constantly seeing amazing things going on in this forum, and it has gotten me excited and my creative juices flowing. I want to get into the FOWLR approach with refugium and sump.

I have a corner space in my living room that's not too huge, and I'd like to do a corner setup. Rather than spend thousands for a custom L-shaped tank to fit in the corner, and rather than take up huge amounts of deep floor space with a pentagon corner, it occurred to me that I can put two separate tanks in that corner, giving me a similar visual effect as an "L", like this:



But these tanks could also be configured to share the water, givng me one big ecosystem, but an effectively "partitioned" environment (from a livestock perspective). My goal is to get as much water volume into this system as possible.

As you can see from the pics, I'm shooting for a 90g tank next to a 65g tank, with maybe 30g+ in sump and refugium, so I can squeeze almost 200g of water volume into a relatively small space that occupies the corner. Visually, it could be stunning.

So as I ponder these ideas, I've just made my very first quick sketch below:



I'm looking for opinions on whether this approach makes sense at all, and more importantly, whether it will work as outlined. I'm aiming to get a conversation started that will hopefully result in a build kicking off pretty soon.

Thanks so much for your time. Please let me know what you think!

Astyanax

[Astyanax]

Okay, I've put a few hours in, and spec'd out this thing in Sketchup. I would love opinions from anyone regarding any part of this, because this would be my first build.

First, my sump design:



Water from both tanks comes in to the two filter socks (haven't decided on media, if any), and then pours over the drip plate through the filter media. I may go with live rubble instead of bio-balls (Remember, this is a FO or FOWLR system). Water also comes into the sock chamber slowly from the refugium. I'm also very interested in opinions on my baffles. Did I get the configuration correct?

Here's the refugium:



Pretty simple design here, as any diverted water will pour into a DSB, LR, and chaeto refugium area. Lower flow in here, and the water lazily goes out to the sump through the 2" pipe on the right side. Again, do my baffles look good?

And finally, here's the pipe illustration:



Does this look sound? Obviously, I need to factor in stand clearances, so this is still a rough draft. Also, I did not design the return pipes, as that part is elementary. I also designed with 1-1/4" PVC pipe for the whole thing. Will that be sufficient? My plan is to probably use external overflows for the tanks themselves.

Thanks all for any opinions you'd like to offer!

Astyanax

[Brando457]

Looks good to me, I would allow the return section to be a bit bigger to compensate for drainage if the power goes out.

[Uncle Salty 05]

If the rig is in the corner and you can build a stand similar to a corner stand, rather than have the refugium and return section separate I would do it all in one big sump. Less plumbing and less chances for leaks.
I would not use the bio-balls and I would only use the filter socks during cleanings.
Instead of one return line as shown in the first drawing I would have a T coming off the return pump with valves on both lines to control how much flow goes into each tank.
You say FOWLR now, but set it up for the reef it will one day be.

[RocketEngineer]

1) The first change I would make would be to have both displays drain using either Herbie or BeanAnimal setups. My preference would be BeanAnimal with coast-to-coast overflows and the plumbing out the back.

2) I wouldn't feed the refugium from the drains. Splitting drain lines is an unnecessary complication IMO. On that same line, I would ditch the filter socks as I'm not into things I have to remove and clean every few days.

3) You need to ask yourself what the purpose of the refugium is. Are you going for nutrient export via macro algae, pod production, or nitrate removal? Pick one and design accordingly.

4) The baffle height combined with the drain from the refugium won't work because the first chamber of the sump is higher than the last baffle of the refugium.

SO, what would I do? First I would have a 48" sump under the 90g tank that extends into the corner. The drain lines from both tank would enter in the corner, hardest to reach area. Moving along the sump I would then have my skimmer section and place it so that I could get the skimmer out for cleaning relatively easily so say 16" wide. Then I would have my bubble trap and then the return section. I like a macro-algae refugium for nutrient export so I would have that section at the end of the sump, say 18" long giving me a return section 12" wide. I might reverse the sizes but something in that range for each would work.

On the other side of the stand I would have a small barrel for an RDSB for nitrate reduction. Since the barrel is taller than the sump, it can gravity drain into the skimmer section. The RDSB would be supplied by either the return pump or a dedicated supply pump, not a drain. Next to that would be another barrel for ATO water.

Just my opinion.

[Astyanax]

This is amazing stuff guys, thank you so much. I am taking notes here.

FYI, the purpose of my refugium would be for nitrate removal.

Thanks again,

Astyanax

[callsign4223]

I would suggest running your sump first and then your refugium. If you do it the way you have it sketched any pods that grow in your refugium will have to run the gauntlet of the sump to make it to the DT. If you swap them then the pods just go straight into the DT.

[RocketEngineer]

Originally Posted by Astyanax

This is amazing stuff guys, thank you so much. I am taking notes here.

FYI, the purpose of my refugium would be for nitrate removal.

Thanks again,

Astyanax

That being the case, research sand bed in a bucket. While its not as cheap as it was when the original idea was proposed, the biology involved still holds and they are intended for that exact purpose.

[firemountain]

Interested. Following this thread.