DT-display fuge-sump setup

[jgraz]

My wife has given me her blessing and I am now in the planning stages of a 75gal build. I intend to also have a display fuge with all the bells and whistles tied into the system. My intentions are to run it as follows:

Instead of buying a reef ready tank it is my intention to drill I want to drill the 75 for dual overflows. One overflow will feed to my sump located below the display. The other overflow will feed directly to a 20gal and be a display fuge located approximatly 3'-4' away. The 20gal is already outfitted with a glas$holes super nano w/teeth overflow and a 1/2" return. I figured the DT will overflow through the 1/2" return and then overflow to the sump located below the display. Then all water will return to DT. Is my planning sound? Will this work? Will the 20gal be able to handle the flow as equipped, or should I add a bigger return and overflow to it? the overflow currently installed is rated at 300gph. Any feedback is welcomed. Thanks in advance for everything.
John

 

[Sunny]

You do not want too much flow in the fuge if the idea is to grow macro algae. Having a flow restrictor value on the drain to the fuge will be a good idea.

 

[TanksNStuff]

The overflow from the DT to the 20gal will have to have the same size as (or smaller than) the 1/2" overflow drain in the 20gal or else the flow coming into the fuge won't exit as fast as it's coming in... thereby flooding the fuge. That would make the wife change her mind very quickly.

The only other option would be to have a pump that has a faster gph rating than the drain line feeding into the 20gal and regulate the flow from there into the sump that way (ball valve would be very helpful to get it right).

Whichever way you work it out, you will also need to have a return pump in the sump that can handle both overflows becuase they will all be ending up there in the end. I'm sure you knew that, but just mentioned it just in case.

I agree with Sunny too. You would want the flow in/thru the fuge to be slower so that it has more contact time with the macro. The 1/2" that's on the 20gal now may be too fast as is and require a valve to restrict it anyway. But then you need to restict the flow going into the fuge too.... so a ball valve on the drain to fuge would be needed. It's usually bad practice to do this because valves on a gravity drain tend to get clogged up and/or cause other isses. I'd vote for just having a smaller bulkhead for the overflow to fuge.

Would like to see a sketch of your plan if you have one.

 

[jgraz]

Unforyunatly no sketch yet George.

My thoughts here are more for getting the extra equipment out of the sump. However would having a smaller pump in the overflow section of the sump pumping water to the fuge the overflowing back to the sump make more sense? After reading the above responses the flow coming from the DT would definatly be greater then the current setup on the 20gal can handle, and would indeed flood, unless restricted.

 

[NyteGTI]

are you going to be using your SPS 20G for this?

 

[jgraz]

are you going to be using your SPS 20G for this?

Most likely. Its a ways out as far as the build goes, so the 20's gonna be around for awhile. I like the nano but I gotta take the upgrade when i can get it. Of course my son keeps asking me to put coral in his freshwater tank. So maybe I just give the nano to him.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Simple fix: In the DT you are putting two overflows. Make one overflow, say a 700 gph or 1500 gph and make the second one the same overflow you have in the 20 gallon fuge. This way you won’t have a problem with excess flow. Obviously the larger overflow in your DT feeds the sump, whilst the smaller one feeds the 20 gallon fuge.

I would not try to put a pump on the 20 gallon to try to compensate for excess flow. It would be too hard to attempt to meter that pump to match inflowing water. You’re asking for a flood.

 

[TanksNStuff]

I agree with Paul. Using a pump (as I suggested) was an option, but not a preferred method. It would need a great deal of fine tuning and constant observation to make sure there's nothing unbalancing the flow between the 3 tanks.

You may be better off just skipping the separate fuge idea altogether, and then just doing an all-in-one sump/fuge design. I have a 30g sump for my 75g DT and it's plenty big enough to have a fuge built in. You're much safer going this route than having to worry about possibly flooding a separate fuge. Macro isn't all that spiffy to look at anyway, especially once you start getting buildup on the glass.

 

[jgraz]

Simple fix: In the DT you are putting two overflows. Make one overflow, say a 700 gph or 1500 gph and make the second one the same overflow you have in the 20 gallon fuge. This way you won’t have a problem with excess flow. Obviously the larger overflow in your DT feeds the sump, whilst the smaller one feeds the 20 gallon fuge.

I would not try to put a pump on the 20 gallon to try to compensate for excess flow. It would be too hard to attempt to meter that pump to match inflowing water. You’re asking for a flood.

I was just thinking of that very thing about the two different size overflows. Might think about that. As far as the pump to match the flow goes, I would not even think about that. Too risky. I guess easiest would just be pump water from sump to fuge and overflow back to sump.
Like I said this is all in planning. I was showing my wife some pics of display fuge's and she wanted me to try and incorporate one into this build. And since i'll most likely have a drilled 20h available I figured I'd give it a go.