Difficulty Of Setting Up A Sump/refugium

[irishmarine]

Hi,

Relatively new to marine keeping, ive just about 2 yrs experience. I bought an established RSM 130D.

The guy that owned it had a refugium set up underneath and as such when I bought the system I bought the refugium also, for the past week I didnt bother with it as the guy said its a major hassle equilibrating it but once its up and running its fine!

I never set one up before, but I have all the extra equipment, the sump/refugium with seperators, return pumps, piping, refugium light etc etc

How difficult is it to do?
Is there much of a need for a refugium with an RSM130D?
How much extra water do I need to prepare for the calibrating portion?
Was yours difficult to set up?
Have you noticed any difference since you set up yours?

Thanks in advance for any help here!

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

have bump this thread...

sorry irish, wish I could help, but running stock & have never had a sump...

I know Terry has a good sump link... I will see if I can find it... unless he replies back 1st...

 

[Reefmack]

I think I gave it to irishmarine in another thread, but if my memory is bad (not unusual!) here it is.

My sump/refugium setup

I'm now running a sump only (no refugium section), but the setups are basically the same.

 

[irishmarine]

Yep, got that thanks,

My question is about the actual "switching on" of the refugium pumps, I have everything ready to go but I just dont want to have a disaster with too much water coming in or out into the tank either way would be a nightmare, I just want to know about water levels or how people have actually switched on theirs and calibrated it, what is the procedure when everything is ready and all piping/tubing and pumps are all in place ready to go????

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Terry do you have that link to the sump vid you showed me? How a sump flows/works...

 

[Reefmack]

Good memory Glenn! I should have thought of that. Irishmarine - check out the animated picture on this page that demonstates how a sump and/or refugium is supplied with water via a hang on overflow box, and a return pump in a section of the sump refugium:

Melev's Sump Page

Most of the RSM owners running a sump/refugium use an overflow box (they call it a pre-filter) from Lifereef - designed for the RSM.

The Lifereef keeps the siphon full on a power-out, and when power is restored the return pump will raise the level in back and the overflow siphon restarts on its own. A small hole is made in the return pump line - just below water surface, so that when the power is off the tank will only drain till till that hole is exposed and keeps the tank from back-siphoning too much water into the sump.