Plumbing Help - 525xl ato converted to refugium

[seastar]

Hi there, I recently converted the ATO in my redsea reefer 525xl to a refugium. Chaeto is on the way so it's an empty water box at the moment.

I see three problems with return on the refugium at the moment,

1. That it will probably get clogged easily.
2. It's noisy as h*** in an otherwise silent system and kind of ruining the peacefulness of the tank.
3. The suction inside the tank is sucking in air and making a slurp sound on top, but also tons of bubbles on the bottom.

Thoughts on how to fix?

The blue PVC in the front is there the water enters the refugium and you can see the return in the back. Video and image below.

 

[Mandelstam]

Maybe an elbow pointing downwards on the drain to keep it from sucking air?

 

[seastar]

Maybe an elbow pointing downwards on the drain to keep it from sucking air?

I did try a version that did that and it definitely helped the air situation. I also for whatever reason didn't allow the water to go through it fast enough and caused the refugium to overflow. Maybe I need to make to strainer part a little larger.

 

[BigMulliATX]

I would think a t with a whole in top out of the water and an elbow pointing down to allow the water to go up the elbow faster

 

[seastar]

I would think a t with a whole in top out of the water and an elbow pointing down to allow the water to go up the elbow faster

Boom! That sounds like a plan. Thanks!

 

[seastar]

I didn't have a T fo a drilled a hole in an elbow and put in a little bit of flex tubing, not the prettiest thing in the world but it's getting the job done and Im back to blissful silence, thanks a ton.

 

[smithreefer]

can you give me the size of the fuge ?

 

[coralkurd]

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