Drain help

[duke62]

With the new build i am going to have 2 tanks in the basement. 1 for the sump and 1 for the fuge. Is it better to use 1 drain into the sump and one drain into the fuge from DT so the fuge gets some waste for chaeto or should i plumb both drains into the sump?

 

[jedimaster1138]

I think this is one of those things that can be debated either way, strongly.

Personally, I pump skimmed/processed/post reactor/filter sock (when i use em) water into my fuge as a T off my return. I believe that dumping drain water directly into the fuge just makes the fuge a garbage dump and can lead to problems down the road or just an excess of rotting...stuff in the fuge. Plus, even if you run socks, a monstrous skimmer, reactors etc and then pump that processed "clean" water into the fuge, not ALL the water and waste and such is going to get ripped out. So there's that.

Using the above set up, I grow a basketball sized hunk of chaeto every couple months, for whatever that is worth. Clearly there's still plenty of PO4 and NO3 making it into my fuge for the chaeto to chow down on.

 

[Adamc1303]

Filtration methods aside. As far as plumbing I think draining into the sump and then gravity draining or even using a pump to feed into the fuge is the way to go. So many variables can go wrong draining into two totally separate tanks. If you are feeding the fuge with a manifold I would gravity drain it back into the sump so there are no overflows anywhere.

 

[MIKE NY]

I have the same set-up. I drain down into the fuge(which is BB and I siphon every week to remove detris during a W/C) and then goes into the sump through filter socks where the skimmer and other equipment is...