refugium/frag tank

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jenniferroman

AC Members
Aug 15, 2009
91
0
0
ok i am trying to make a refugium/frag tank and i am having a hard trouble finding the center point from the intake and outtake. for my outtake i have a power head pushing water through and i have a pvc flow valve to control the amount of water push's through. for my intake i have a filter also with a pvc flow valve to control the amount of water that goes in the refugium. either my 60 gallon get's over flowed with water and my 14 gallon refugium get's emptied out with hardly any water. or the 14 gallon get's over flowed with water and my 60 gallon get's emptied out. i have been trying to get this tank under control all day. tightening and loosining the pvc flow valves to get to a steady point and it is not happening. how can i get to a steady point? the flow of my power head is 175 gph. the filter i only turn it on so it sucks water and than i shut off the filter and i let gravity do the rest :help2:pLEASE. this refugium is driving me crazy

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fsn77

AC Moderators
Staff member
Feb 22, 2006
3,076
2
38
SC
Unfortunately, it is VERY unlikely that you'll ever get the amount of water your HOB is sucking out to exactly match the amount of water your powerhead is pumping back in. Even if you had identical pumps moving water in each direction, there's too much variability in performance to continuously maintain any sort of equal output - equal input situation. Even just allowing the tube draining water to the refugium to just siphon is a difficult situation to try and balance. It really is a recipe for disaster, as it is very difficult to acheive and maintain a balance. One of the tanks is going to flood eventually.

The way to fix this is to install an overflow that allows water to drain to the refugium, while still using your existing powerhead to move water from the refugium back to the main tank. However, even with doing that, you will need to lower the water level in your refugium to prevent it from flooding during a power outage.

The viable options are to either drill the tank for a drain (if the tank is not tempered) and install some proper drain plumbing or use an overflow box (aka prefilter siphon box). Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, but when set up properly either is completely effective.
 
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