Need Help

M

MLord

Back in February I set up a 10 gallon reef tank. It doesn't have a skimmer or filter of any kind. It has a DSB and at least 15lbs of live rock. Last time I was in Dallas I picked up an old aquarium I had. It's a 5 gallon hex like this one... http://tinyurl.com/3a3ymb I wanted to somehow connect the 5 gallon to the 10 gallon and make the 5 a refugium. They'd be sitting right next to each other like in the picture. I was wondering how I could do that. I've never had a refugium or sump of any kind in any of my aquariums so I have no idea how to do the plumbing or anything like that. So, any help would be appreciated. TIA
Mike
 
Any chance of raising the small tank above the 10? If you could, you could drill a hole in the side of the 5 and install a drain out and down to the 10.
 
I could probably get the 5 up higher than the 10, but would I have to? Also, the 5 is acrylic and the 10 is glass(not sure if its tempered or not). That going to be a problem? Thanks for the help
 
If the 5 was higher than the 10, it's make it a LOT simpler...

It doesn't matter, in this instance, that one is acrylic, and the other is glass...

Basically, you'd elevate the 5 above the 10. Drill an appropriate sized hole in the 5, and put a bulkhead in it. Put some plumbing in the bulkhead so the water drains from the 5 back into the 10.

Put a small powerhead in the 10 with some vinyl hose on it that goes up from the 10 to the 5...

Basically, the 10 gallon display will be the "sump" for the 5 gallon...
 
I was thinking of a pump in the 10 that dumped up into the 5.. then a hole in the side of the 5 lets water fall back into the 10.. Only really works if gravity's in your favor and the 5 is higher than the 10.
 
Ok so a couple more questions:
-what's a bulkhead (sorry but I don't really know anything to do with the plumbing)
-what size hole do I need to drill?
-where do I drill the hole?
-is there somewhere I can take my aquarium to get it drilled? if not what do I need to go buy at the hardware store to drill it?
-if I have a pump in the 10 pumping water into the 5, and then gravity takes the water from the 5 back to the 10, is it going to be even? What I mean is, will the water coming into the 5 be faster than the water going to the 10? I don't want to flood anything...
-what kind of pump do ya'll recomend?
Thanks for ya'lls help.
 
@kindbuds wrote:
Ok so a couple more questions: -what's a bulkhead (sorry but I don't really know anything to do with the plumbing) -what size hole do I need to drill? -where do I drill the hole? -is there somewhere I can take my aquarium to get it drilled? if not what do I need to go buy at the hardware store to drill it? -if I have a pump in the 10 pumping water into the 5 said:
A bulkhead is a threaded device with a hole in the center that screws into a hole cut in the acrylic- it has a rubber gasket on the inside to make a nice seal. You can get them from 3/4" inside diameter up to 4". I'd say a 3/4" or a 1" would do fine. You'd want to drill the hole as close to the top as you can while making sure the bulkhead sits flat. Since it's acrylic, your average hardware store fine toothed hole saw will work, but you have to be careful to not melt the plastic.

The water level in the 5 will be determined by the hole- that's why you want it as high as possible. You'll want to size the pump so that it's pumping less water than the drain can handle.
Click to expand...
 
With the suggested setup from above, where would the pump be? Would it be in the main tank? Also in that arrangement you would want that bulkhead (basically an overflow) as high as possible otherwise on a power outage (if the 10 is already full) you may get a spill out of the 10.
 
@gomavs wrote:
With the suggested setup from above said:
Pump in the main tank up to the 5.. gravity drains down to the 10.

You're right that the 10 would have to run a little low in case of power outage (the same way a sump does.)
Click to expand...
 
Is there going to be any benefit in adding this fuge (5gal for 10gal tank)? I would think there could be heat issues with the pumps, too many bubbles from the water flowing, and too much risk of flood scenarios. There might be some nitrate absorption but I wouldn't think enough to justify the negatives.
 
50% of the tank volume as a fuge couldn't hurt.. if folks see some growth in the back chamber of a JBJ nano, I'd think this would work, too.

*edit: then again, I _love_ refugiums :)
 
yeah but in those cases the water isn't going up several feet then gravity pulled down back into the tank....
 
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