Refugium question

[Susan Edwards]

I have a RMS Max c250. It has a built in sump on the back. I want to add a refugium below as I don't think there's room to add another hang over the edge item. I have a 10 gal aquarium I can use, and can get the glass to divide it, and the pump etc. My question is:

How do I get water from the tank sump down to the 10 gal? It has to somehow flow down, but also, if the pump below fails, not flood my floor.

I have an accessory for hooking up a chiller. Would I somehow pump from the chiller to the refugium, then return to tank? And how do I keep from a disaster if something fails? I've seen the in tank ones, but then you can have lights on opposite times.

 

[Reefing Madness]

You need an overflow box to get the water to the sump, and a pump of similar rating to get the water back from the sump. The chiller should not be used to pump water from the tank to the sump or from the sump back to the tank. Chiller should be run seperately.

 

[jaws789832]

I guess the question is though, Can you put a overflow box on the other side of an existing overflow. I am following because I want to do the same type of thing with a nano cube 28. Its a aio so basically water flows through a overflow to get to the back filter and return pump chambers. Can I add another overflow box back there, and then if I can where do I return the water to, the display part of the tank or the filter part of the aio?

 

[SantaMonica]

Test it, by turning off power and watching how high the water goes in the sump.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Is it possible to use the chiller hookups, take the outlet from sump (on back of aquarium) to go to the refugium, and then pump from the refugium to the chiller, and then use the chiller return line to go back into the sump?

 

[Reefing Madness]

I don't understand what your asking. Outlets from the sump? to the refugium?
Lets see if I can put this together. You can set up the chiller on the sump, intake from the inlet side of sump, and then have the return water going to the return side of the sump. But you need an overflow box to control the amount of water going to the sump, and a return pump to fine tune control of the water going back to the tank, or you flood.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Okay, I have the rms c250. On the sump which is back of the aquarium, there are two "free" hookups/nozzles, for the addition of a chiller (or other accessory I'm sure). There are no other "free" outlets/inlets and no room to add another overflow box. Because the chiller can come from the sump, in this case it is the back of the tank, not beneath, I was thinking I could use the free outlet on the sump to take water to the beneath tank refugium, pump water from there to the chiller, then use the chiller return to go back to the sump and from there it is pumped back into the aquarium. Make sense?

 

[SantaMonica]

From a sequence point of view, you can put any items before or after any other items. The important thing however is for it to continue to work when evaporation happens, and also that it does not overflow when the power is cut off.

 

[Susan Edwards]

I'm going to have an ATO, and will also test the water levels. The ATO I'm buying has a digital "eye". I'm still researching those. With the back sump, there's not a lot of depth so not sure a float will have enough room. The RMS tank also has water viewing windows and min and max and optimized lines which also should help. Once I get the refugium set up, which won't be until the tank has cycled, I can put the top off there. I'm assuming it's best to get the tank going first?

 

[Reefing Madness]

Yea, set the tank up first, then you can go from there.

 

[Susan Edwards]

so the refugium is cycling with a pc of shrimp and bio spira. I'm hoping I don't have to tear it down. It doesn't seem as steady on the stand as I'd like. Maybe with weight beneath it would be better. The stand is for 2 29 gal. I ended up with a 37, just higher and same footprint and was planning on a 20 gal quarenteen on bottom. Will ck with hubby tonight. Might have to put concrete blocks on bottom and will see if he can maybe also strap to the wall in case of earthquakes. This is calif. but out in the central valley. Haven't felt one since we moved here in 2000.

Do I need to go thru the entire cycle or when ready just plumb to main display. It's a bit larger than a typical refugium so it's a lot of water. Should get my cs overflow box and returns tomorrow.

Okay, so this tank that I got at petsmart, a TF 37 gal, is not the best. Talk about cheap. If I can find a place online to leave a review, I plan to. Might also contact the company.

-The worst is this neon orange sticker right above the water line that tells me who built the tank and when.... Who the he** puts a manufactors sticker where it can be see and where the consumer cannot remove it? It is between glass and trim.Right now I can barely see it with the water line and the skim and bubbles but hey, guess what? The camera got it... will find a pc of black acrylic to silicone over it. Petsmart did give me 20 off tank. I'd already painted it when I found it. The way I handled the tank, it was from the back and that eye sore was hidden from my view otherwise I could have painted the other side.
-Hood is one piece. Meaning every time I want into the tank I have to pull it off totally. What? Who thought of that? There is a feeding hole but people do have to get into the tanks.
-Power hob filter makes this awful grinding noise every so often. Scare the heck out of me.
-Thermometer has no markings for temp adjustment. You just turn blindly... And of course if it isn't high enough you have to remove hood, fight the cord for the led lights to move the hood just to get to it

I just keep telling myself its a refuge but dang it, it's a display refuge. and yeah, I won't need the therm. or hob filter once I'm hooked up, and yeah, guess who has to go on amazon and buy new lights...

Looking at led's. I sure see the difference between just whites and my rs max lighting. Wow.

Susan

 

[SantaMonica]

Some wd-40 or oil will soak into the sticker and allow it to be removed. Then clean the oil off with alcohol, then with soap.

 

[Susan Edwards]

@SantaMonica I wish it were so simple but the sticker is inaccessible. It is between the glass (back side) and the trim and is completely encased/sandwiched between glass and black, plastic rim. Other than removing the rim and risking the destruction of tank, that da** sticker is there to stay until the earth dies or the tank breaks. That is why i'm so confounded by what they did. That sticker should be on the bottom edges of the tank if they want it permenant. Not the top!

 

[Susan Edwards]

Anyone have thoughts on whether I need to do a full cycle of refugium before plumbing it to the main tank? Will take gross shrimp out tomorrow. Got smart this time. Put it in a mesh bag and used my algae clip in the tank so it won't be a mess. Running a bio wheel until I get it plumbed. Already have some nitrite spiking (used bio spira) so it is cycling.

Ordered a LED light for the tank to get rid of that awful cheap hood! Looks much better

 

[beaslbob]

I would connect refugium as soon as possible.

my .02

 

[Susan Edwards]

thanks @beaslbob It's a 37 gal refuge to go with a 66 gal main tank. So what I'll do is remove half the water of the refuge, replace it with water from the main tank and add fresh water to the main tank so the water parameters are close to the same. Going to treat the main tank once more with chemi clean today. first treatment did not get it all and I don't want to add cyano to the refuge. Going to go find some macro algae this weekend to help with the nitrates in main tank. Got them back down to around 10. Excited to get this display refuge planted.

 

[SantaMonica]

You should be able to scrape the sticker with a razor blade.

 

[Susan Edwards]

@SantaMonica I can't access the sticker to scrape it off. It is between outside rim trim, and the back glass, facing the front. The glass prevents me from getting to it, and the trim is part of the tank so it is well and truly part of the tank. Can't believe any tank manufactor would allow this.

 

[Sean Brown]

That sticker is annoying. Since you already painted the back of the tank, you could put a black stripe of paint around the top using painter's masking tape and a mini roller hiding the sticker and water line.

 

[Susan Edwards]

@Sean Brown if I'd seen that dang sticker I'd have painted the opposite side. I think, because the tank has water, I'll look for a small pc of black acrylic the size of the label and silicon it to the glass. I'll know it's still there but no one else will....