Fuge Questions

[Nano_Steve]

well i thought about it a couple more nights and came out with this rough diagram, im gonna use an 18 gallon(has the same foot print as a 10) and will probably light it with a 96 watt power quad.

my questions for this idea is will having my intake and output for my skimmer be sufficient where i have them or will they need to be moved? also do the bulkheads for my skimmer and my tank return and intake need to be the same???

thanks, steve

[Tim Marvin]

A course sponge will help catch particulate matter and will not stop pods. They can get right through the sponge no problem, like Matt said they are microscopic when larval. A sponge is not a micron filter, but you will have to clean the sponge a couple times a month to get out the sludge, and keep it from producing phosphates, but they work very well.

[matt]

I'd put the skimmer in and out before the refugium, and your bubble trap before the refugium. Right now you're taking refugium water and skimming it, IMO a no-no, plus you'll be reskimming water by draining the skimmer to a place "upstream" from the skimmer input, plus you'll be effectively adding all the skimmer flow through the refugium and over the bubble traps. Like if your return is 500gph and your skimmer is 500gph, you'll be pushing 1000 gph through the fuge and over the baffles. There's no need for that to happen. Also, I don't understand the configuration of your baffles before the refugium; what's the benefit of that "split wall"? Maybe I just don't understand the drawing.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts. Good luck!

[Tim Marvin]

Right, I agree with Matt.

[Nano_Steve]

ok i see where you guys are coming from with the flow aspect. that makes more sense when u put it into mathematical terms (go figure).

the split in the wall just before the refugium is to cut down on sand being kicked up from it being dumped from over a baffle, this way it just gently moves across the sand bed. the split between the top of the tank and the top of the baffle have no purpose, ive just seen pro sumps built this way and thought i would do what they show.

i put the bubble trap right before my pump so that i dont get micro bubbles spit into the tank due to the baffle-fall right before the pumps.

thanks for the ideas, steve

[dow]

For some good advice, look here. This guy seems to have a very good grasp of the whole sump thing.

http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com...eef/links.html

[cvonseggern]

FWIW, I know of a guy who frequents saltwaterfish.com's forums who says he has had baby Banggais make it through his pumps unscathed! He's using an Iwaki 20 and I'm not sure what else, but the Banggai had to go through one of the two to get to where he found it. I would think larval pods would be no problem at all.