Overview

I have replaced the acrylic lid over the refugium. This new lid is thicker, made of a stronger kind of acrylic, and a closer fit. A lid is neccessary to prevent splashing as water enters the refugium from the main tank.

My main tank is a 90-gallon glass aquarium measuring 48" long x 18" wide x 24" tall, manufactured by "All Glass Aquarium". Both my refugium and sump use an identical 42-gallon glass aquarium measuring 48" long x 13" wide x 15.5" tall, also manufactured by "All Glass Aquarium". The total water volume of the system, factoring in the sump baffle height, is 155 gallons (more than twice the volume of my old setup of 70 gallons).

Since this is not a standard setup, I had the stand custom-built locally through a local fish store.

Water flows from the main tank down to the display refugium and then to the sump (immediately behind the refugium) before being pumped back up to the main tank. The sump is where most of the equipment is located.

Pictured above is the durso drain (the white pvc structure) from which water in the main tank can exit down into the refugium below. The special design of the durso helps the minimize any gurgling or drain noises.

The black structure carries water that is pumped from below back into the main tank. It is made out of a flexible tubing known as loc-line.

This is the Danner Supreme Mag-5 pump (rated for 500 gallons-per-hour) that pumps water from the sump back up to the main tank and drives the whole system. I have cushioned it with from filter-pads to reduce the noise that it produces.

Because the sump is only accessable from the back, I have left a good amount of space behind the tank. Notice that all the electrical wires are raised off the floor to prevent them from getting wet in case the tank develops a leak.

To simplify access to the refugium, I asked a friend (Scott at www.marshreef.com) to make an in-place modification to my stand to allow the front trimming to be flipped up and down. When I need to do any work in the refugium, I can simply flip the trimming up and it is held in place by magnets until I flip it back down.