Thanks Chin.

Check out version 4. It has incorporated all three of your recommendations.

I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with #3 though. I may go back to having the second drain go directly into the refuge.

ok to be honest you are wasting space, if you are trying to save space, have a sump and refugium in one, the fuge on the right and the sump on the left with the pump in the middle, have a t joint on your return and have a ball valve after that going into the fuge to control slow flow. much better space and simply design. to much plumbing means to many things go wrong.

I cannot fit an all-in-one sump/refuge under there without removing one of the centre supports of the stand. I don't want to mess with that. Also, a lot of people seem to be going with seperate sump/refuges lately and I don't know of any complaints.

Your design is somewhat similiar what I've done.

I have a 20g refugium sitting to the side and slightly above my 75g sump. I run two drains (Dursos) with one split between the sump and the ref, with the flow directed to the ref via a valve. The ref flows to the sump from a 1" horizontal bulkhead to the sump on the skimmer side of the baffles.

Comments from mine
-I'm flowing ~1000gph split between between 2-2" drains. They're quiet but nothing like a system I heard (Skimmin's) where he had ~2000gph with 2 Herbies (1.5" mains, 1" buckups) Silent, plus there was no gurgling in the sump. I would suggest plan your display for a Herbie and the loudest thing in your system will be the pumps.
-refugium feed, I'm splitting a drain, doesn't take flow away from going back to the tank and what a lot of this is about is maxing flow in the display. A negative is you'll collect a bit a detritus but at least for me it's really not a problem.
-refugium drain, I was surprised how little mine flows. Always see 600 gph for a 1" but turned sideways and without any head I'm safe at ~300gph. The backup is a good idea. Do see a little scum on the ref surface so glad I've got a overflow for surface skimming.
-refugium isolation, with a second valve then just throwing in a heater and a HOB filter (and maybe moving LR to sump) it's a QT tank. Figure if something like ick could treat with hypo, then before putting it back on-line would just run fallow.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3...5/sump_fug.jpg

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3.../sump_fuge.jpg

Version 5...


A - 3/4" PVC over-top return manifold
B - Strainer overflow w/ 1" drilled bulkhead
C - 1" Spaflex drain (left-side)
D - 3/4" Spaflex return
G - 10-gallon refuge
H - DIY stand (to hold refuge above sump)
I - Refuge overflow w/ 1" drilled bulkhead
J - Refuge main overflow drain tube
K - Drain output with filter bag
L - 20-gallon Sump
M - Baffles, first at 1.3" and the next at 1.5"
N - Eheim 1262 return pump
O - Refuge Light
Q - ½"Spaflex refuge feed
V - ½" Gate valve (teed off return)
W - Back-up refuge drain
X - AquaC EV-180 protein skimmer
Y - 1" Gate valve
Z- 1" Spaflex backup drain
1- Backup overflow w/ 1" drilled bulkhead

Changes...

- Most everything is Spaflex now.

- Y is now controlling both return flows.

- X, the protein skimmer, has been moved to the left.

- M, the baffles, have been moved over, and the wider baffle is one the other side now.

- There’s a backup overflow (Z and 1) now.


http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m...berry06/v5.jpg

Did you check out the Herbie silent overflows? Your overflows are going to be VERY noisy.

I thought I was doing it Herbie-style.

Maybe I have a misconception of what that actually is.

OK, I just did more reading on Herbie. He calls for the drain bulkheads to be further down with the standpipe going up close to the surface. But again, he has an overflow box around that. What should I do any different here?

The Herbies have an overflow box with TWO drainlines on each overflow. Once drain line is just a bulkhead out the bottom of the box, call it drain A. Drain B is in the same box next to Drain A, and is also a bulkhead on the bottom of the box, but Drain B has a pipe on it so that it is several inches taller than Drain A. Drain A has a gate valve on it to constrict the flow so that the water in the box remains a couple inches above drain A's bulkhead, so there is NO air in Drain A drain line. Drain B doesn't have any valves on it. Now, eventually Drain A will clog or partially clog which will back the water up so it raises in the box. When it gets high enough the water will start going down Drain B along with a bunch of air as it "sucks". It will happily run this way until there is a point in which Drain B also gets clogged, but this won't happen because Drain B will be really noisy. This is your alert that Drain A has clogged, and needs maintenance.

Now, how's that for confusing?

Here's a pic of my tentative plumbing including the Herbie overflow. Drain A would be the green line on the right, and Drain B would be the green line on the left. On my line A there is a gate valve (the higher black thingy), and a union (the lower black thingy).
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Plumbing-1.jpg

Here's a link to the original Herbie thread on Reef Central:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=344892

So does this mean I have to silicone a glass overflow box in my tank? :(