thoughts and ideas on adding a fuge to my 45jbj

[indecloudzua]

i have a 10 gal thats been sitting around for a while that i use occasionally as a QT tank..I've been thinking of trying to hook it up to my 45jbj as a remote fuge/frag tank..im not really wanting to drill the JBJ and was thinking of how to plumb this addition..it would be next to my tank but a little lower..i was thinking of running two small pumps, a feed pump(to pump water from the back of the JBJ to the fuge) and a return pump to send it back to the DT..i was thinking of using a smaller pump on the feed pump with a step up for the return and putting some one way valves on both the inlet and return lines incase power goes out and also some gate? valves to throttle the two pumps..any one see any potential problems in this rather crude design??im certainly not that experienced in plumbing since most of mine have been AIO tanks here recently..any advice and tips would be greatly appreciated..:up:

 

[dawgface]

Two ways this will go, both equal a flood.

Basically, no two pumps pumps the same. Nor does the same pump always pump the same..... Is that confusing? Lol let me know if it is.

Unfortunately your best options is to drill, assuming you can. Or attach an external overflow.

 

[indecloudzua]

i thought thats where the one way valves and the gate valve would help control the flow..but i didnt think about the variations in the flow rate incase something got stuck in one or the other for some reason..back to the drawing board i suppose!!id have to build a small overflow somehow..

 

[indecloudzua]

New idea. Same setup basically but the pumps are on a timer. Run it every other day where it can cycle the cheato/mangrove fuge water into the dt and put some dt water back into the fuge. I could easily do a weekly check to make sure the flows on both pumps are in sync.

 

[tbub1221]

Or you could get an inexpensive overflow box to hang on the back and be done with it , then you only need one pump for return .
They come in all sizes and flow rates .
This was just a 1st results on Google im sure there are less expensive out there.
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[indecloudzua]

There's no room for one.

 

[indecloudzua]

And all the ones I've seen are to big.

 

[brick fish house]

Check out eshopps. Cheap, but they do the job.

With tge tanks I have seen, typically the more "moving parts" there are, the more potential for trouble. Keeping things simple not only reduces the likelihood of problems, but it also means fewer things to remember. There a lot of value in that with thus hobby.

That having been said...

I'm not a dan of overflow boxes. They are often a flood waiting to happen. But if they're the best option, then that's what it is. And while it's another moving part, a small pump set up to suck air out of the overflow's u-tube is very handy.

Sure hope this doesn't cloud the waters too badly!

 

[indecloudzua]

Not at all..if I wanted to use an overflow I would have to put it in the display part of the tank and I certainly don't want that. This new version should work and the pumps will be small and I could easily just run them when I'm there to minimize any mishaps