Overflow/Siphon for 5.5gallon?

[theguy67]

I have a 5.5 gallon cylindrical tank just sitting in my room on my desk. I had plans for it (don't ask:squigglemouth but they fell through. NOW, to give it purpose, I am turning it into a refugium for my 55 gallon reef tank that is in the same room (5 ft away). I am planning on connecting them with 1/2 inch vinyl tubing. It will host a type of colorful macro algae ( haven't decided yet), and perhaps a small fish/crustacean.

My main concern is how to construct the drain. The Tank sits on a desk, putting it about 4ft high. I have a siphon box on my 55 gallon, which never "fails" but it will slow from time to time. I am not sure how a small siphon box would work as the flow would be lower, allowing air bubbles to collect ( based off of the 55's design). I do not want to drill it, as I'm pretty sure I'd destroy the tank.

For the inlet, I may just feed off of my return pump, or purchase a smaller pump just for the tank. That's the easy part. I have to ensure that this is SAFE, as I do not want water on the floor:fish2: ( wouldn't be the first time).

 

[Reefing Madness]

Personally I'd not use a 5.5g tank for a sump, much to small, and your volume through that tank from a 55g would be entirley to high for that thing. You'd have to DIY a pvc pipe over flow so it would be small enough for the 5.5g to handle flow wise. That and the sump is never full, it would only be 1/4-1/2 running normal, with space incase of power outtage, and the back flow needed from the overflow. Really risky with such a small tank.

 

[theguy67]

Personally I'd not use a 5.5g tank for a sump, much to small, and your volume through that tank from a 55g would be entirley to high for that thing. You'd have to DIY a pvc pipe over flow so it would be small enough for the 5.5g to handle flow wise. That and the sump is never full, it would only be 1/4-1/2 running normal, with space incase of power outtage, and the back flow needed from the overflow. Really risky with such a small tank.

I already have a sump directly below the 55. It is 10 gallons, that can hold 20 incase of an outage. The sump is what the 5.5g refugium would be draining into. I guess I should have mentioned my sump. I am not expecting very high flow through the 5.5 so I'm worried that a siphon wont work to drain back to the sump. I want to make it like a display, and keep decorative macro algae.

 

[beaslbob]

I agree the jar is too small to form an effective refugium for a 55g tank. I would do the pvc overflow thing but use plastic storage containers to from a refugium/sump for the 55g

For the 5.5g I would just to an stand alone eco jar. see: Self-contained Microcosm

another alternative is to have the 5.5g at or above (or just a little bit above) to 55g. So the 55g is actually the sump. that could make an interesting display and still feed pods to the display.

All in all just my .02

 

[theguy67]

I agree the jar is too small to form an effective refugium for a 55g tank. I would do the pvc overflow thing but use plastic storage containers to from a refugium/sump for the 55g

For the 5.5g I would just to an stand alone eco jar. see: Self-contained Microcosm

another alternative is to have the 5.5g at or above (or just a little bit above) to 55g. So the 55g is actually the sump. that could make an interesting display and still feed pods to the display.

All in all just my .02

What would be the difference between using the 55 as a "sump" for the 5.5, or the 10 gallon sump, itself? I'm mainly trying to give the thing a purpose, as I hate seeing it just sitting there. Plan B would be to drain it and turn it into a terrarium, but I am looking to benefit the 55, as I do not have a refugium. What's the minimum size of a refugium (separate from sump) for a 55?

 

[DSP]

I agree with them as well.A 5 gal is way to small for a working refugium.Realy the only benefits would be to add a place for pods and other fauna to reproduce,But its not worth the work of setting it up imo.The minimum refugium i would put on a 55 gal would be atleast a 30 gal refugium.Thats just my opinion

 

[backpack]

Above would be he way to go. that way you could tee off and use a ball valve to control flow. It would drain back at its own pace then. A place to breed pods is nice if you have a mandarin gobie but its not enough space for most benefical macros.

 

[theguy67]

Ok, thanks. I'd hate to finish the project and have 0 results of what I expected. I may still connect the 2 if I decide to setup a nano. IDK yet. Time to brain storm again. I didn't realize how big a refugium needed to be.