Above Tank Refugium Design

[Jahkaya]

I am looking for a good design for my above tank refugium for my 20 gallon. I have a Three-gallon eclipse (small, I know) that I can drill. I am wondering what would be the best design for the intake, outlet as well as the best power head to use. The refugium will be about 12-16 inches above the Tank. Can anyone help me to diagram the best way to work this, or has someone done something similar? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[dchisenh]

I've done exactly that for my 29 on my desk. I used a regular old Rio 600 powerhead, a bunch of PVC, some tubing from Home Depot, and two 5 gallon "Critter Keeper's".

 

I turned my tank sideways, so that it can be viewed on three sides along the edge of my desk. Then, along the short side that is now the back, I simply suction-cupped the powerhead right near the surface and pointed the outflow nozzle upwards (this powerhead has a bunch of little adapters and one of them is a 90 degree elbow, that's what I used to direct the outflow up) and found a section of tubing that fit tightly around the elbow fitting.

 

Then, I used 1" PVC piping from Home Depot, cut it as I needed with a Dremel and inserted the tubing that fit the elbow nozzle up into the PVC piping. I stuffed the space between the tubing and the pipe with leftover aquarium floss (any inert material will do), but in hindsight I would rather have found a diameter of tubing that fit the tubing from the nozzle and then the inside of the piping securely, so I don't have to worry about the floss being forced out occasionally. I would suggest you go to Home Depot and look in the Plumbing area and see if you can find some tubing that will work.

 

Then, I used elbows to make the water flow up and into the refugium above the 29. I drilled a drain near the top of the Critter Keeper and used an elbow to connect it to another Critter Keeper next to it, so I'd have a setting area to keep as much algae out of the display tank as possible. It works well, but remember to use a larger diameter drain than for your input pipe. You can usually adjust the powerhead's flow to make sure the drain can empty fast enough, but that's a pain.

 

Also, a good idea is to have a back-up drain above the one you have as your main drain. I find that algae quickly will clog up the drain and unless you can tend to it on nearly a daily basis, it may be a disaster waiting to happen.

 

I wish I had a camera to show you what I've rigged up, but if you have any questions about what I've mentioned, just ask. Hope it helps some.

 

-Dan

[Jahkaya]

Dan:

 

Thanks for the info. That sounds just about what I had in my head. I the heads up on the second drain is also good. I am a bit nervous about spillage as the wife would have a fit.

[dchisenh]

Yeah, I found out the hard way about the need for a second drain. : 2:00am and messing with towels and silicone sealant is not the way to go.

 

Also, just incase it does leak, think about using the money you're planning on spending to get your next coral or two with and setting it aside, just incase something does go wrong, you've got the money set aside to buy your wife something to get her mind off the seeping saltwater mess that you accidentally created.

 

-Dan