Refugium

[TeamFreddy]

Need your opinion on what I am thinking of doing.

I currently have a Megaflow sump. similar to the one pictured below. I am not running any media in the first chamber. The second Chamber has an ASM G1x that fits with no room to spare. The 3rd Chamber has my return pump in it. I was thinking of adding a refugium. I thought of using the first chamber for a refugium but am concerned about the water trickling down ...

My other thought was to add a small 5-10 Gallon tank and drill a return line and let gravity send water back into the sump. and T off the Return pump to the DT with a valve to allow very little flow back into the Refugium. Below is kinda what I am thinking of doing.. let me know what your thought, concerns, or things to look out for.

 

[jpsika08]

No problem on gravity feeding your sump with the fuge, but I would advice to drop the fuge water in the return chamber instead of the skimmer chamber, you don't want to skim away your nutrients and or copepods in case you decide to colonize some.

 

[TeamFreddy]

No problem on gravity feeding your sump with the fuge, but I would advice to drop the fuge water in the return chamber instead of the skimmer chamber, you don't want to skim away your nutrients and or copepods in case you decide to colonize some.

^ Perfect.. I didn't even think of that. I am going to try to pull this off this weekend. I just need to find the biggest tank i can get to fit through the doors of my stand Thinking 5 Gallons is going to be the limit.

 

[Skyreefer]

That will be a cool set up. I agree with Juan, send the fuge water straight to the return. Your design gave me an idea! I have a fuge in the center of my sump with chaeto and mangroves but I know my mangroves will need more room soon. So I'll probably set up another fuge to exclusively put them in. Thanks for the idea dude. Post pics on your progress.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I would make the flow to the fuge on the lower side. Also, make the plumbing coming out of the fuge as large as possible to reduce the risk of it clogging.

 

[TeamFreddy]

I tried fitting my 10 Gal. QT Tank in there to see if I can fit it. I could not. I found a 5.5 Gallon tank at Petco. Its glass but looks like really thin glass so I am kinda worried about drilling into it for the bulkhead. I am going to wait for the $1 per gallon sale and pick up like 3 of them incase I break a few. I am thinking of putting 10-15 Lbs of sand. Hopefully that makes for a descent sand bed then adding some Cheato, pods, etc..

16 X 8 X 10

I will post up my progress once I decide to move forward with this.

 

[jpsika08]

Yes, drilling though thin glass is much more difficult than thicker.

 

[TeamFreddy]

Yes, drilling though thin glass is much more difficult than thicker.

I learned that yesterday. LOL

Saturday I ordered a Hole saw and bulkheads from Glass-holes.com showed up at my door on Saturday. Talk about fast shipping.

I tried drilling a hole in a extra 10 Gal. tank i had. It broke I bought a 5.5 gallon and broke also.

I removed that piece of glass and will be replacing it with another piece then re-sealing it. Well see how that goes.

 

[scubamattv]

When i drilled my 10 gallon tank I cracked 2 tanks before i got one right (luckily they're cheap). I found that if everything wasn't perfectly level it was probably going to crack. I drilled a few practice holes after i had 2 tanks with cracked sides.

 

[knapp870]

The only problem I see with this is that if your skimmer is doing its job then very little nutrients will make it to the refugium to feed the pods, chaeto, etc. T'ing off of the overflow may be a little more ideal. Just my thoughts.

 

[BigAl07]

The only problem I see with this is that if your skimmer is doing its job then very little nutrients will make it to the refugium to feed the pods, chaeto, etc. T'ing off of the overflow may be a little more ideal. Just my thoughts.

My thoughts too! I have my "OverFlow" t'd off to run 3/4 runs into the SUMP and 1/4 runs into the FUGE which then GRAVITY feeds into the RETURN section.