Suggestions on plumbing my refugium?

[GothFishKeeper]

So I have a second sump for a refugium, and right now I have a pump putting it in one end of the refugium from the main sump, and another pump putting it back into the main sump from the opposite end of the refugium. I struggle every evening to get the pumps to exactly match flow rates to not have one of the sumps flood my house. It takes me hours to fix every time i accidentally bump into one of the pipes. I very much would prefer to put an overflow box at the end of the second sump and then have the water flow in a “U-turn”. This is why I originally placed the sumps where they are in a staggered formation, as seen in the diagram of my current setup. I’m also attaching pictures of the actual setup so please don’t mind the mess of wires. I will be fixing them right before setting this up to make space for the plumbing.

Can anyone recommend a way to do this without having to tear down either sump and drill them? They are both standard 20g longs with DIY baffles so I’m looking for a hang on back overflow box that would fit that, along with a way to have gravity put the water back into the main sump’s return chamber.

 

[Fish Fan]

Are the sumps sitting at the same height?

 

[TX_REEF]

I would bite the bullet and drill. It is more or less impossible to ensure 2 pumps stay perfectly matched in flow rate indefinitely.

 

[GothFishKeeper]

Are the sumps sitting at the same height?

Unfortunately yes

 

[GothFishKeeper]

I would bite the bullet and drill. It is more or less impossible to ensure 2 pumps stay perfectly matched in flow rate indefinitely.

Do i have to tear down the setup to drill it tho? :(

 

[TX_REEF]

Do i have to tear down the setup to drill it tho? :(

not necessarily, but you do need to be able to maneuver a drill in the space. That being said I would break it down for a day and let the display run on your wavemakers while you do it so you don't make any mistakes and crack the tanks trying to drill in an awkward position.

 

[GothFishKeeper]

not necessarily, but you do need to be able to maneuver a drill in the space. That being said I would break it down for a day and let the display run on your wavemakers while you do it so you don't make any mistakes and crack the tanks trying to drill in an awkward position.

Oof well I’m gonna need to organize a crap load before doing that. Do i need to drill both sumps?

 

[TX_REEF]

Oof well I’m gonna need to organize a crap load before doing that. Do i need to drill both sumps?

no, you can raise the first one that the display drains into, and then have the drain from that one drain into the lower sump that contains the return pump to the display. You can whip up a wooden platform pretty easily, and put it on legs so you have storage underneath too .something like this:

If you can't or don't want to raise one sump, you have to drill both, and ensure the holes are the exact same position on the glass so the plumbing lines up.

 

[Fish Fan]

Agreed with above, you need to have one sump sit higher than the other for water to drain from one to the other without pumps.

Though I'm not sure how to drill the side of your sump without taking things apart largely because you need to keep the diamond hole saw cool during cutting, and most do this by running water from a garden hose over the hole saw, or at the least using plumber's putty to form a well to hold water around the hole saw as it cuts. If there's trick here, I'd love to hear it :)