Possible Refugium?

[Jennie]

This weekend I was taking down a 5.5gln tank that I previously had guppies in. Is it possible that I can convert that to a refugium for my 10gln nano? If so, are there any plans available(for idiots) to be able to follow :oops: ? Any help would be appriciated!

[matt]

I did exactly this; 5.5 gal sump/refugium on a 10 gal nano. It worked great; i used a maxijet 1200 as a return pump and drilled the 10 gal for a small overflow. If i were doing it again, I'd go external on the pump with the pan world 10PX; it's like a tiny iwaki. Or, I guess a mag 3 would work. Your problem, if your 10 gal is already up and running, is that you need to drill that tank if you want to add a sump/refugium underneath it.

You could try mounting the 5.5 gal so that the water levels in the 2 tanks are the same height, then run a u-tube over from one to the next, with a powerhead pumping water between the two. As long as the tube is submerged, it should hold a siphon. Definitely put the pump in the 5.5 gallon, so that if a siphon does break, you'll drain the refugium instead of the main nano.

Or, you can just buy another 10 gal for $8 or so, get it drilled (good luck finding someone to do that) and transfer the stuff in your nano to it.

[Nano_Steve]

a 5.5 gallon would be a perfect refugium for a 10 gallon. plans will differ from person to person but the main thing you want to focus on is flow of water through your refugium. u dont want to have the thing only to have the top layers of water flowing with the lower portions stagnant. if you can think of a good way to do it i would suggest having the refugium above the 10 gallon tank so any pods and such that are beneficial to the system will free fall into the show system without being destroyed by a pump like many underneath refugiums.

talk with malofish about making an above if thats what you want, he figured out a great one that worked just fine.

hope it helps, steve

ps dont forget to completely rinse out the tank and clean it really well, it shouldnt matter too too much but just to be on the safe side, u might even want to rinse it a bit with some vinegar.

[Jennie]

Are there any plans specifically for a 5.5gln that someone has successfully built?

[reefer]

here's a site that specializes in making refugiums for nano tanks

http://www.wetdryfilter.com/

click on the tab marked "custom work" in the products menu. this should give you an idea or 2 on how to set one up.
hth!
8)

[Richard]

You could just contact Dan, I'm sure he could build you a little sump/refugium. Maybe even a mini overflow.