Refugium Questions

[Noob]

The refugium will be for a bow front frag rack tank im setting up.

Im going to build a refugium out of an aquarium, I originally wanted to use a 55 gallon but the tank is way to tall and about a foot too long. So im going to check out some stores to see if i find a tank that might better suit me.

The only design i can think of is the same set up I have for my 55 gallon at work.
An intake chamber full of live rock, a fuge chamber, then a chamber with the return pump.

Can someone re-educate me on some of the main/new componets needed to have an efficient refugium
Whats the purpose of a deep sand bed?
How many inches is considered deep and does the foot print size matter any?
Why use rubble rock instead of bio balls?
Is chaeto still one of the best algaes to have in a fuge?
What does it take to go skimmerless?
WHat a bubble trap and what does it do?

[koa25]

I have a have my sump running down into about 20lbs of rubble. through a bubble trap to my fuge with a 5 or six inch sand bed with some more rubble and LR and Macro. then through to a mechanical filtration area with a skimmer heaters, uv sterlizer and the return. I am not well emersed to say what it would take to go skimmerless. I use i skimmer cause I run a pretty dirty tank feed often.

Deep sand bed is considered anything around four to six inches. Anything less is wont offer the same effect and anything more can cause harmful gas build up of decaying matter in the sand. Its helps with denitrification. The bigger the foot print will just offer more room for additional beneficial organisms to grow.

Rubble is just a natural way to do the same thing as bioballs. I use rubble cause I can't run a wet/dry setup. It has to all be wet and bioballs lose significant effectiveness if they are completely submerged where as rubble does better as such. Plus it houses beneficial organisms and food like copepods, amphipods and such, not just bacteria like bioballs.

I have a couple different Macros in my sump. I have chaeto, culerpa, dragons breath and some red macro i forget the name at the moment. I use to vary my tangs diet off of these. But everyone has tehre opinion on which is the best and offers beneficials properties. I'm not that technical on macro's. Just don't use Mangroves.

A bubble trap is dividers between sections that help remove bubbles befor they reach your return pump to be pumped bak into your main display. Added a pic with a generic bubble trap design. Some people get more elaborate. Basically just water flow areas that go down then up to give ampl opportunity for bubbles to be lifted out before carrying on.bubble trap.jpg

[FireWater]

Just remember that a fuge and a sump are two different things. In my experience of running a fuge as part of my sump it never worked 100%. You need slower flow through your fuge to take full benefits from it.

If at all possible separate them from each other. There are several designs out there to look at. On my last build at home I elevated my fuge over the sump and used tees in the plumbing to slow down the flow of water into the fuge while keeping faster flow to the rest of the sump. The water from the fuge then flows back into the sump at the bubble trap.

[350gt]

Only advice I can give is from my own experience... I am still newbish while pushing close to 2 yrs already....

But my fuge is not apart of my sump and I recommend this route to anyone starting a new tank.... The fuge, while some consider ugly has really cool stuff going on and at some point I want a bigger fuge... So if you do set up a remote fuge go as big as you can...

I am running mine without a sand bed and I can't stand the crud that builds up on the bottom. Idk if a sand bed would benefit me anymore but I haven't had no crazy algae out breaks EVER!..... I do have some live rock in there for the pods to hide out and breed, I would recommend rubble or a few good sized pieces... I have chaeto and caulpera, I recently added some dragons breath and a mangrove..... Going to see how those do....

[350gt]

Another thing.... I am trying to go skimmer less on a frag tank.... And it's been issue after issue....

I am going to pick one up soon... It's been pricey replacing chemipure and now I tried gfo....

[350gt]

Also check out Louis at elegant, he had a nice and I mean nice sump built for me with in a few days for less than what a off the shelf sump was selling for.....

[Noob]

Ended up buying a 20 gallon long, but still haven't decided on how to set it up. Any body here have pics of 20gall sumps? Trying to get some design ideas.

[FireWater]

Try looking at http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html