How to plumb a display refugium

[SaltwaterandLime]

I currently have a 62 gallon AIO reef aquarium and am considering trying to plumb it together with my 10 gallon waterbox cube AIO and set the 10 gallon up as a macro algae display/refugium. I'm just not really sure how I would plumb them together in a way that wouldn't be a major flood risk.


My current tank;

Some of my inspiration

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

To add, I really do not want to drill into either of my tanks

 

[vlangel]

If possible could the 10g fuge be just a bit higher than the display. If so then with a small pump hidden in the display tank, water could be pumped up to the refugium where a HOB overbox would gravity feed down the drain back into the display.

A lot of folks are afraid of of HOB overflow boxes but that is all I have used for 20+ years. Eshopps makes reliable ones. The important part is to match the drain capacity with the return pump flow taking into consideration the head pressure. The easiest way to do this is with a variable flow return pump with a controller. You would not need a lot of flow for a 10g fuge. Macro algaes do not need as much flow as coral.

 

[RedoubtReef]

I also second the idea of somehow putting it above/higher than the display. I'd also say go bigger. You can get a 20 gallon long at Petco right now for $25 and double the size of the refugium. Or go big and get the 29 gallon for $39. You could drill the out the 20/29 for an overflow and run a small feed pump from the back of the AIO and have the fuge drain back into the same area as the feed pump or wherever.

 

[r+o reefer]

@SaltwaterandLime any update on this? Thinking of doing something similar and trying to find out what’s worked best for folks

 

[SaltwaterandLime]

@SaltwaterandLime any update on this? Thinking of doing something similar and trying to find out what’s worked best for folks

I found several old threads with folks who had done something similar. We chose to set our 10gal up completely separate since our eventual goal is to upgrade to a tank with a sump

 

[TokenReefer]

If you can position the 10 gallon so it's at the same level as the big tank, so the rims are the same height you can use a u-tube to connect the two with little to no flood risk; the little tank will be at the same water level. I just added a 20 onto my sump in this way