External/Display Refugium

[Dae]

Hello,
I have little to no room in my sump for a refugium and was looking at a DIY plan to build one that was external to my display. Does anyone have any advice/success with this? Some concerns I have are: 1. If it’s pump driven back to the display, in the case of a pump failure what are some ways to safeguard this? 2. If it’s gravity fed from a bulkhead drilled in an empty tank how well does this work? 3. Could this be done by repurposing an old sump that I have no use for any longer? (This also goes to 1. Being failsafe for a pump malfunction)

 

[dstockwell]

I don't see how it makes a difference under a stand or next to the stand. You will need your return pump in it then you need a siphon break so the water stops draining. And yes use an old sump is fine. If you want more protection put the sump inside of a bigger container for water safety

 

[X-37B]

Plumb the fuge overflow into the current sump. Put a tee and a ball valve to control the flow back to the fuge.
This is how my 30g is plumbed into my 80g sump. It was a macro algae fuge but it worked to well. I removed all the macro and its a Nem tank now.
It has a 3+" sandbed. No3 run 1 and I have to dose po4 daily to keep it around .05.
If you zoom in on the sump you can see the 2 overflows going into one 7" sock.