Seeking help for plumbing a refugium

[ArsenalFish42]

Hello! I have a Innovative Marine 30L which is a all in one tank. I want a rather large refugium for it, possibly a 10 gallon, and want to keep it under the tank in stand out of mind. How can I set this up for success? Where shall I put I the inlet and outlet for the fuge, (from the tank in to out etc) also what pumps should I use? any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

As far as I’m know , You’ll need to plumb it similar to a sump. With some type of overflow and return pump.

You can fashion small overflows from PVC.
This one is a bit fancy.

 

[ArsenalFish42]

So I need an overflow in the tank, to prevent the tank from draining into the fuge correct? I am just trying to make sense of things. Also will you be using just return pumps with pvc back into your tank? will those pumps affect pods from going into the tank?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

No.
You need to look as the basics of how a sump is plumbed.

The overflow is how the water gets to the sump.
You pump water into the display from the sump and it “overflows” into the drain back to the sump.

It’s a standard set up. So no. It doesn’t effect pods and such.

 

[ArsenalFish42]

sounds good, thank you. with this tank being an all in one, should I have it plumbed from the back where the return pumps are? or from the tank side? Also, pump wise, how do I know what size is best. Strength wise?