adding a refugium

Piro · #1 (**permalink**) 02-12-2009, 10:13 AM

I want to connect two of my tanks into one system, who is the best person to talk to for drilling tanks, setting up plumbing, pump suggestions, etc.?

Thanks
B

nbradley88 · #2 (**permalink**) 02-12-2009, 02:37 PM

are you talking about connectin a sump and a refugium, or a tank and refugium?

Without details i couldnt tell ya in which direction to go, but to give you an idea I will tell you what im doing...

I have a 75g sump underneath my 125g display, im setting up a 75g beside that 125 witha 75g refugium below how i plan on doing it is the 75g display will overflow into the 75g refugium.

From my 75g sump I wll probably have like a mag 7 submerged and plumbing out of the 75g sump over to the 75g refugium. For the return water flow from the 75g refugium to the 75g sump i plan on drilling the side of the sump near the top above the sumps normal water level, and drill it at the corresponding height in the refugium.

This way as the refugium fills up with water it flows into the 1" or 2" bulkhead i will be placing in the side of the tank through the plumbing and back to my 75g sump above the normal waterlevel so there is no resistance and it just naturally pours back into the 75g sump.

Thats how i plan on doing it, i dont know if you have a similar plans or not.

Piro · #3 (**permalink**) 02-12-2009, 03:27 PM

I have a 12g aquapod that I want the back compartment drilled to overflow into a 10g refugium. The refugium doesn't have to be drilled, but if it would make things easier, I would drill that tank as well.

I want the pump external to help control heat in such a small system.

brandonberry · #4 (**permalink**) 02-12-2009, 04:24 PM

I have drilled a lot of tanks and 10g tanks are really hard to drill because the glass is so thin and cracks easily. I once cracked 3 10g tanks before finally successfully drilling one. I'm not sure about the thickness of the glass on your aquapod, but I suspect it would also be hard to drill because of this. Tanks 20g or greater are pretty easy to drill because their glass is much thicker. Even if you do sucessfully drill the 10g, the slightest bump of the bulkhead fitting will crack it. You can order a acrylic 10g tank from glasscages.com that can easily be drilled, but they aren't that cheap.

Piro · #5 (**permalink**) 02-12-2009, 04:30 PM

the aquapod is plastic or acrylic in the back, I believe I can get by without drilling the 10g.

grennan · #6 (**permalink**) 02-12-2009, 04:32 PM

Maybe this build will give you some ideas...
http://carolinafishtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7919

redsoxbill · #7 (**permalink**) 02-12-2009, 04:34 PM

are you going to add baffles in the 10 gallon, or are you just going to make it a sump with extra liverock or do you want to make it into a refugium? I will be willing to talk you throug it if you can tell me what you want the 10 gallon tank to do.

Thanks,
Bill

Piro · #8 (**permalink**) 02-12-2009, 04:49 PM

the more simple it is the better. I don't plan to add baffles, I want the 10g for additional volume, live rock, and chaeto.

LobsterOfJustice · #9 (**permalink**) 02-12-2009, 05:16 PM

I've drilled 3 10g, havent cracked any. Used tanks from petsmart and a bit from glass-holes.com

nbradley88 · #10 (**permalink**) 02-12-2009, 05:53 PM

lol the 1st tank i tried drilling was a 10g, amazingly i didnt crack it, but i did take like 5min for each hole lol... but i have to agree with brandon, if anything touches that bulkhead odds are it will crack, i have a 10g drilled you could have.... lol its just they are holes for 1" bulkheads