Sump and Refugium

Working with the existing amiracle sump that came with the tank when it was given to me. I removed the drip plate and bio balls from the wet dry section of the sump. The AquaC EV-120 skimmer and Mag Drive 5 pump were installed in this section. This section contains a draw with egg crate that was located under the bio balls originally. The skimmer was placed on top of this egg crate and the magdrive 5 pump was placed on the bottom of the sump below it. A hole was cut in the egg crate for the pump power cord and output to skimmer.

The next step was to add section of plastic sheet (originally the blue sump cover that was cut to size) to  create a constant water level in the skimmer section and  act as a bubble trap. This was glued using silicone to the sump sides and bottom.  Above this was added a section of egg crate. 1' PVC pipe was then tie-rapped to the egg crate. The overflow tubes were then connected to the PVC pipe to channel water from the overflows directly to the skimmer section. A second piece of egg crate was added after the plastic. This section holds a sponge. The sponge further helps to eliminate bubbles. If it works as good I may replace the sponge with Live Rock Ruble in the future.

I was able to purchase for 20 dollars a used 15H gallon AGA tank for use as a refugium. It came with cover and 15 watt strip light. This was the perfect size and about as large an addition that would fit under the stand with out having a custom two piece sump and refugium made. This tank is was tall enough so that when I drilled an 1" 3/4 hole using a diamond hole saw bit and cordless drill in the top right of the tank. It was the correct height for overflow back into main sump's return section. Water supply for the refugium comes from the left side overflow. A PVC pipe T was installed under the overflow and a 1 inch ball valve controls the flow to the refugium the rest goes to the skimmer section.