Refugium ideas Aquatop AIO 24 gallon

[davidstenb]

Want to put a refugium on my 24 gallon AIO. Was racking my brain on ideas since the chamber in the back are rather small. Some ideas where taking one of my HOB filters and drilling a hole in the bottom and plumbing (never done tank plumbing before but first time for everything ) it down to a sump underneath. I know that’s a far fetched idea because who knows what would happen when i drilled the bottom of the hob. Then I started thinking of overflow boxes. But I just wanted to here some of the communities unique approaches to this. I’d rather have the refugium in a tank on the bottom because I like the idea of increased water volume vs a hob that wouldn’t increase the water volume a considerable amount. Let the good ideas flow.

 

[HD_Reefer]

I have a pump in the large chamber that pumps water out and down to a reactor canister in the cabinet, then back up to the same chamber. I have a pico fuge light pointed at the canister and the chaeto fills the canister every week. It's been running perfectly for about 6 months, but it's a fairly large pain to do maintenance on it. I'm contemplating alternatives setups now because of that. Outside of the pain, the remote fuge does the trick!

 

[davidstenb]

I have a pump in the large chamber that pumps water out and down to a reactor canister in the cabinet, then back up to the same chamber. I have a pico fuge light pointed at the canister and the chaeto fills the canister every week. It's been running perfectly for about 6 months, but it's a fairly large pain to do maintenance on it. I'm contemplating alternatives setups now because of that. Outside of the pain, the remote fuge does the trick!

Funny I had reactor unused sitting in a box. Needless to say I’ll be doing the same thing as you. But now that I’m ready there is no chaeto available via my usual suppliers. Covid strikes again

 

[Jers_Reef]

I have the same setup, and I’m thinking of taking the plunge doing one of those Xaqua INOUT, drilled setups. Is this glass ok to drill? The overflow on that Xaqua is only 2.5” wide, so it could go in the back (off the first chamber?), with return directed straight back in, then still have filter media in the big chamber, normal return, etc. Or so I’m thinking….
My hangups are
1) still trying to figure out how to fit a reliable float auto shutoff that will cut power to the sump/fuge return. Has to be small enough to fit in the back of the AIO, and also not trip when the ATO kicks on.
2) can I drill this Aquatop glass?
3) can I drill with the tank filled and running? Any glass debris will fall into the AIO chambers and I can siphon it up. Mix up a few buckets of saltwater and work fast?

if I don’t drill, I might try this, but I fear the siphon will fail in the event of a black out and then sump will flood the main. Not convinced yet that the little pump will kickstart the siphon.