Remote Refugium Plumbing Help

[boosted_347]

I have a 13g AIO tank that I'd like to add a fuge to. I would like this to be a display fuge tied to the AIO. The AIO is on a stand in the corner of my office and I'd like a 5 or 10 gallon fuge located on my desk which will be the same height as the AIO but about 10 feet away.

Is this feasible? I'm assuming 2 pumps (one to the fuge & a return) would be required? I see a mess if one of the pumps fails for whatever reason. Has anyone done something like this or have any ideas?

 

[Dburr1014]

You will never be able to equalize two pumps to be the exact same flow, that is a disaster waiting to happen. Is there any way to make one or the other higher?

 

[boosted_347]

How much higher would it need to be? And will that overcome the distance?

 

[Dburr1014]

Well would this be a straight pipe? Enough for gravity to do its thing.
Pump from the lower to the higher and gravity back to the lower. Have to make sure that if power goes out the lower tank holds the extra water.

 

[DCR]

You would not need a lot of flow for such a small system which helps. I would say at least 3-4" difference in elevation would be needed but it is risky if the flow in the gravity flow line becomes restricted.

 

[Rundmc2016]

You will never be able to equalize two pumps to be the exact same flow, that is a disaster waiting to happen. Is there any way to make one or the other higher?

Yeah, running to pumps back and forth is a bad idea. Total agree with this.

To chover the distance between the desk and corner tank, will you have pipes running down the stand, along the floor, and up the desk? Or are both of these along a shared wall and you can run the pipes along the wall?

 

[dmsc2fs]

Another option you can look at is a 3rd 10G. You can put the 3rd 10G on the floor behind the desk, or in the main DT stand. You would use that as a sump and it would hold 2 pumps. 1 pump would flow water to the current tank and gravity would bring it back. 2nd pump would flow water to fuge and gravel would again bring it back. If you kept the 3rd 10G and 1/2 full or less it would hold the overflow from both your DT and fuge with both pumps turned off.

 

[X-37B]

I would not try that with an aio.
I have an aio 20g and after reading this and looking at mine I would not attempt it.
Your best bet would be a hob fuge behind the display.
Its easy to do with an overflow system as I have one ony 120.

The only way it would work, imo, is if both tanks were the same height and you had them drilled and connected with bulkheads from day one.