Too many GPH

M

matt_longview

Hey guys,

I built an in-tank refugium for my nano. I went a little extra on my pump and it's too much. Pulls the water in my refugium way too low. I need to slow down my pump. I have it setup above the water line where the output goes straight through into the main display so the input is piped down to the bottom of the fuge. Could I ball valve the input pipe to slow it down from ~350 to ~280gph? Too hard on the pump?

Thanks!
 
@Shmoopy wrote:
What type of pump is it? You will want to put the valve on the return (output) side of the return pump. said:
agreed, and it is really dependent on the pump to whether it can be turned down or not
Click to expand...
 
Rio +1100
http://www.marinedepot.com/Taam_Rio+_1100_Powerhead_Pump_UL_Fixed_Flow_Aquarium_Powerheads-TAAM-TA3111-FIPHFF-TA3140-vi.html

I have live rock rubble in the refugium and it pulls the water down below the top of the live rock. The guy who helped me design my fuge (it was designed for 280gph, but I thought two elbows and 1' rise would tone it down enough) suggested putting an overflow straight into the
refugium section from the tank as well, bypassing the filter floss, chaeto and purigen.

The overflow would go right above the pump
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Here

[attachment=0]fuge.jpg[/attachment]

Here's a drawing of my refugium. Only difference is I put the pump's output through the hole at the top and the input plumbed down into the tank to make maintenance easier... or so I thought.
 
I had that problem & a bubble issue. I added an elbow on the return pump facing out & down & it solved both my problems. Maybe you've already done this?
 
I did ball valve it back a bit. Seems to have helped but now I've got this ugly valve in my main display... meh. Definitely temporary.
 
Directly throttling a pump at the outlet by placing a valve on a single line with no relief will cause the pump to run hotter. Extended continued operation at this higher than design temperature will cause the pump to fail sooner. A proper method of decreasing the outlet flow to your display without affecting operating temperature would be to place a "T" directly at the outlet of the pump. One end of the "T" will run to your display and you can place the ball valve at the other end of the "T"and recirculate water back into your fug. The ball valve will then give you full level control.
 
I would downsize the pump and please, pick something other than RIO. I've heard way too many horror stories of them melting down in tanks. I thought I'd be ok with mine as it was the UL model. I was wrong and nuked my 55 a few years back.
 
Side note: get the live rock out of there, assuming you have it in the chambers of your nano. If you don't take it out and clean it often it is a nitrate factory. Couldn't figure out why my nitrates hovered at 10-20, took out my LR and its now 0.
 
Have you considered a T and ball valve off the return to feed your reactor and then removing your 80gph pump altogether?
 
So I never did update this... I ended up drilling a few holes through the plexi above the main return. This allows more water into the fuge section so the pump can run at full strength without pulling too much water out and lowering the water in the fuge too low.

Works great now.
 
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Rio makes nice little valves that come with them when you buy them new that just go on the pup itself
but you could put some hose between it and the pump so it is near the top for easy access like this,

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here is a link showing what all the come with, http://pondcart.com/ppf/agora.cgi?p_id=11410
 
Thanks Richard.

That's actually exactly what I used at first when I had the ball valve toning it down, but I didn't like that thing sticking out so far into my tank. That's why I found another way around it. Although... now I've got a torch coral in my tank that won't fully open even though he's in my lowest flow. It might be time to dial back the flow again. lol. :)
 
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