refugium and sump

[econerd]

ok so our 20g is set up and doing well. i have 6 silvertip tetra, 4 glowlight tetra, 2 peppered corys and 4 dwarf suckermouth catfish. we are looking at getting a pair of dwarf gouramis or similar some time in the future. ive got some small tanks, a couple of i think 10 gallons but need to check for sure, and basicaly im thinking of putting in a refugium with one of these small tanks with some plants and bits to increase the water volume and get the ugly pump and heater out of the main tank.

ive looked up some DIY jobs on the net but they all use custome built tanks. what i need to know is how to get the water from the main tank to the small tank and back again without overflowing either and will the water cool on its journy to the big tank? also i need to keep costs as low as possible so going out and buying expencive prebuilt sumps and other things is out of the question. i want to do it as DIY as pissible.

what sort of tubing will i need to keep enough water flow going for it to work, will the clasic clear aquarium tubing me enough or will i need something more substantial like mains water tubing?

thanks in advance for any help and will work out size of small tanks and get back asap.

[econerd]

ive worked it out to actualy be just under 6 uk G or 26L.
anyone got any sugestions.

[econerd]

right ive done some major net trawling and i think i got it sussed.
ive found a how to for a simple siphon system that works well. ive also found some cheap water pumps for the return. all i need to know now is how much water does the pump need to shift so i buy the right one? it needs to be able to do the same job as the canister filter thats in there now so needs to be able to shift enough water to keep up. how many litres an hour does it need to move min? also will the water cool as its transferd to the main tank as i need to know of i will need to turn up the heater a bit too keep it a good temp.
thanks.

[Ringo]

http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx

Try this site above. It has basically a fail safe overflow system. This system does require you drilling the back of your tank with three holes and also building an overflow box to make it work but I have read other forums where people have built this system and it works even when power goes out it will not overflow.

[funkman262]

I made a pvc overflow for my reef tank (10g display tankw/ 10g sump) because I didn't want to drill the tank. It cost next to nothing to buid and didn't take much work to do it. I had about 1.3m or so of head so I used a maxijet 1200 to get adequate flow through the tank.

[econerd]

i know what im doing wirh it now and can get water pumps from amazon at a good price i just need to know how many litres an hour i need to shift. is 200 or 300 enough?

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

How are you planning to do it? You only need 1 pump.

[TazManiac]

4 times tank volume per hour.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

That's a good general number, but the flow rate can vary according to your needs. Typically, you want a refugium to be an area of low flow.

[econerd]

i know i only need one pump thats why im buying one. im making a syphon system out of pvc pipeing, ive found plans on the net for it. just gotta get alo the piping together. so a 300 litre an hour would surfice? i cant get hold a 400 for some reason its 200 300 and then jumps up to 1000 which is way to much. thanks for your help.

[econerd]

ok so the table is built at last and the siphon and pump are up and running. took long enough lol. im going to get a beta for the smaller tank, about 35l and have read they come from rice padys and marshes in japan, so in keeping to their natural habitat i want to get some chunky bamboo as decor and hiding spots for the fish as i like to keep a natrual look going. is it ok to use bamboo in the tank (if i can find some), is it safe to use in a tank? obviously i will make sure any sharp edges are sanded down and i shall weigh it down if need be. i just cant find anything online about useing natural bamboo in aquariums. can anyone here help?