questions about DIY refugium (real not hob)

[r00onmac]

is there anyway to set one up WITHOUT drilling into a tank? my tank is already setup... but im considering adding a 10 gallon fuge to my 5 gallon tank (interesting decision, huh? i dont even understand it myself yet) is there any way to pump the water out efficiently without drilling a hole and letting water flow out while i pump water back in?

i was thinking maybe adding a PH in the tank with a tube out to the fuge.. but that wont look so awesome, and i honestly dont think i have room for another PH on top of the one i have now...

or do you think i could put a ph in the fuge and run a tube from the intake up to the tank? this way i could hide the tube behind rocks or something (putting a screen on the end of course) and then do the same for the return?

 

[skipm]

If you can place the refugium right behind the tank you can use a U tube to keep the tanks at an equal level and use a powerhead in the refugium to pump water into the main tank which will then cause water to go from the tank to the refugium through the u tube in an effort to maintain equal levels. I don't think there is a good way to "screen" off the intake side of the u tube to keep fish and other critters from getting in the refugium though and a single snail in the tube could cause a flood.
Another way to do this would be to have the refugium slightly higher than the tank and drilling an overflow in the refugium to return water to the tank and using a powerhead to add water to the refgium from the display tank. With this method you could hide the powerhead in the rockwork of the tank.

 

[r00onmac]

look at my post in the nano tank section called "27watts of 14k mh per gallon"there is a FTS in there... if anyone has any ideas let me know

Id prefer to not have to drill anything and i dont want to pay anyone to do it... part of the reason i chose a ten gallon fuge is because its 10 bucks and i already have left over lexan to make baffles and stuff

you dont think if i do the U-tube that i could put a regular mesh screen over the ends and superglue it in place? because if i have the fuge im probably not going to use the HOB anymore and thatll leave room for a u tube...

 

[reefman23]

I think if you placed the fuge ABOVE the display tank, you could have the opposite of a regular setup...you would pump the water OUT of your main display, up to the fuge. Then you let an overflow in the fuge return the water back to the display using gravity. I dont know if it would work, but i think people do this.

HTH,
jesse

 

[leaffish75]

I had mine sitting behind the tank. A power head pumped water into it and it was gravity feed back to the tank. I built a small platform to hold it higher than the tank.

 

[r00onmac]

i could build a platform, but did you manage to make it so there is no drilling in either tank? i have no way to drill and dont want to buy a $70 dremmel and a $20 bit to add a fuge... i have wood to build a stand...

 

[leaffish75]

I didnt have to drill anything. I used tubing to run thru the in side and just used plan pvc for the return. the water would flow thru the pvc back. The bulkheads sat about .25" from the top of the rim. my platform was just high enough to make it stand taller.