Plumbing in an external refugium

[Funky_Fish14]

For the fuge, maximize it's use. Use large grain sand, it will allow more surface area, etc.. for pods to run around in, there are actually ALOT of pods in the substrate. Even crushed oyster shells would be a great substitute and IIRC, you should get good buffering from it? A simple single hole for an overflow bulkhead should do the trick, and you could probably just throw a strainer over it, although personally I would reccomend running pvc from the bulkhead down along the side/near the bottom inside the fuge, and put many holes. I have actually noticed ALOT of pods swimming around inside the PVC tube I use to put Nori on in my tank, and most pods dont swim around at the water surface, so you will 'harvest' more with the overflow 'intake' further down in the fuge. Dont forget to drill an anti-siphon hole as well. I use a Maxi-jet 1000 pumping about 3ft up for my 23g fuge, im guessing its only got about 50gph-100gph moving through it... I'd probably run 100gph or so, or maybe just less in your 10g. A maxi-jet 900 will probably do the trick, or even a 1200, and you can always plumb in a ball valve if your getting too much flow. I'd forget the extra heater, the water will be running all through your system and an extra 10g wont be a huge deal. Ohh, also, since you will be adding to the water moving through your main tank, make sure your not already pushing the limits of your drains.

Hope this helps... its just my 2 cents.

Chris