refugium question

[gman52]

im about ready to setup my 20 gallon FOWLR in the next week. my question is regarding a refugium. is there a way to do it without drilling a whole in the aquarium, and instead, using a siphon? i don't really want to go through the whole process of drilling and all that. but if i could do it easily at home i would do it because i have a empty 10 gallon laying around, and thought mayb i could use i siphon instead of drilling a whole in the tank. just wanted to know if you thought it would work and your input.

thanks

[LittlePuff]

It will work. One will drain into the other, then get a pump for the return.


Kim

[gman52]

how powerful must the pump be to equal the siphon bringing the water into the refugium? the siphon tube should probably be smaller right, and how would i know what the pump output should be?

[Wasga]

you should look at buying an overflow. the overflow will drain as much water as your pump pumps. there are plans for a do-it-yourself overflow if you are handy enough to do it.

[Wasga]

I guess i should explain how this works... an overflow skims the water off the top of the tank. the opening is down in the water about a half an inch or so. if your power ever goes out, the water level in your tank goes down until it can no longer be collected by the overflow and it looses its suction. this prevents you from overfilling your sump/refugium. As for the pump, the larger the pump the better, with this set up. With a 20 gal you wont need a very large pump though. Also you want to have larger tubing to connect the overflow to the refugium, so you can get more water to it. If you cant get enough water out of the tank then your pump will be sucking air. Good luck.

[luminomics]

i agree with Wasga a overflow although a little more expensive would be a great investment and work much better than "surface skimmers"