beside tank fuge

[Rbarb1111]

I planning a fuge that will be in a cabinet beside my main tank(30 gallon) and 3 inches higher. It will hold about 6 gallons and be made of acrylic. i am going to use a powerhead to pump the water into the fuge and install a 3/4 inch bulkhead near the top of the fuge as a gravity return. I am concerned about floods since the tank is in a home office and would cause a ton of damage. What types of things do i have to worry about if the power goes off?(reverse siphon) also how do i protect the return so that it does not get plugged with anything in the fuge. I am more worried that the fuge will overflow and not the display tank. Any suggestions or comments???

 

[RichConley]

If you use a bulkhead, and set it up so it effectively is an overflow, you dont have to worry about the fuge overflowing. What you do have to worry about is if your display (essentially acting as a sump for your fuge) can handle all the water in the pipes, and above the bulkhead if power goes off. Look into overflow style standpipes.

 

[jango]

You could put a tee on the drain pipe. That way if one side got clogged you would still have a functional drain...

 

[Rbarb1111]

Do i need baffles in the fuge or should i just leave it as one open tank?

 

[jango]

In a fuge set up like that you would not need baffles...Just remember not to have the tube connected to the power head submerged to deep or you will flood your display when you lose power...

 

[Rbarb1111]

I am planning on having the inlet tube in the fuge higher than the outlet so that it will break the siphon

 

[jango]

Just making sure...

 

[dedfish]

You do need to worry about your fuge overflowing due to a clogged or partially clogged return. This just happened to me and I had a flood. You should add some sort of partition or some means of seperating any macro from the return area. Here is a pic of my sit-behind-the-tank fuge when I was moving my tank. The tank has been removed from the table already. The hoses that are pointed up are usually in the tank. I copied the aquafuge design basically.

 

[Rbarb1111]

Thanks, i like your idea about the tee. How much flow should there be in the fuge. i was going to to use a maxi 1200. A 1/2 inch inlet and 3/4 inch oulet

 

[jango]

A 1200 should be plenty for 6g then if you think it's not enough flow you could put a MJ400 in it...

 

[Rbarb1111]

i though it might be too much flow a 1200 is much more powerful than a 400

 

[jango]

I was saying if the 1200 is not enough leave the 1200 to feed the fuge and place a 400 inside the fuge...

 

[Rbarb1111]

i get it, sometimes i'm not too bright!!!
thanks for you help

 

[jango]

No problem...

 

[nitrofish]

I am in the process of making a beside the tank fuge also. I was going to have the water feed directly from the fuge into the main tank, but I couldn't figure out if it would have enough flow thru the pipe at only a 3" slope. so what im doing is feeding the tank and fuge from the sump and the fuge will drain back into the sump.