Fuge question.

[Reef69]

Ok, so im always looking for something new to try. I was cleaning a storage closet and i found an eclipse 3 explorer which used to house a betta a while back, also my gf gave me her eclipse 6 after her guppies died..anyways, I was wondering if these guys could be turned into refugiums for the cause to ..breed..copepods. Any ideas of how the set up would be?..anything helps..thanks!

[Ram_Puppy]

is it acrylic or glass? do you want to do a gravity fed fuge or put it under the tank, and how big is your display going to be? I am assuming the 90 gallon reef? you could definately use it, not sure how much impact it would make.

If your doing gravity fed and don't allready have a sump, you will need to get an overflow or have Dan build you one. either way you will probably want to drill it, easy if it's acrylic, hard if it's glass. if your doing gravity fed you can use a powerhead in the display tank to push water up into it, and have it drain back, if your going from below you will probably need to put baffles in it if you don't have a sump.

As far as setting it up for pod production, a coarse substrate, live rock rubble and macro algae are ideal. You can also follow blakes lead and use a chichlid cave, they are little pottery igloo looking guys, and pods will congregate inside them. I have also heard of people using filter floss and sponges, but I think Live rock rubble would be better, if memory serves Aquatic warehouse almost always has a tank full of rubble for sale at a good price.

water movement should not be high, a low turn over rate is good in a fuge. Gravity fed is better for getting more pods back in the tank, but in many instances, a gravity fed refugium is simply inconvienient... can you imagine the trouble in removing your canopy to work on the tank? eek... that is the only reason I haven't done one, but if you have a space NEXT to the tank where you can do a gravity feed, I would say go for it.

to get your pods started, simply hit up one of us that already has a population going...

[Reef69]

Thanks alot Ram, that helps alot.!! Well, my 90 has a 20 gal. long as a sump. I was wondering maybe i could have either the eclipse 3 or 6 drilled or something..and somehow set it on top of my sump, already measured, there is room..is it a bad idea to let gravity do its thing on the sump?..or should it drain into the display tank?..also, what kind of light should i use for it..Thanks alot for taking the time to answer, i apreciate it.

[Reef69]

Help?? :cry2:

[Tim Marvin]

If they are acrylic tanks you can use a hole saw to cut them for the bulkhead. Gravity feed is fine above your sump or tank. Pods don't die from going through the return pump,( agains popular belief). You can use one of your drain lines to feed the fuge or pump the water up from the sump. At least 20 watts of light are needed, but 55w- 96w PC's work ell for this. If you run the light 24 hours it will grom like crazy, but most people like to run it on a lunar cycle to help keep the PH and 02 up in the night.

[Reef69]

Thanks alot Tim, I always thought pods died when they ran through the pump..I pretty much have an idea on how im going to do it. Its an acrylic tank, the eclipse 3, so im going to drill it..put an outflow and drain it to the sump..also going to add its own return pump from the sump to the fuge..dont know if this makes sense or not..lol..let me know what you think..Thanks!

[Tim Marvin]

It's funny, because you can set up a sterile tank, and a lively fuge and within a couple months the tank will be loaded with critters. This makes me beleive they live through the pump.....Unless they can jump like fleas.....LOL.... You can use another pump if you want, but I like to cut down on as many pieces of equipment as possible.

[Reef69]

yeah, you are right, i dont want to have the sump full of PVC pipes and joints..but does it sound like a good idea?..the way I want to set it up?..thnks

[GaryP]

I have a T from my return going to the fuge. The leg from the T going to the fuge has a ball valve that is barely cracked open to give a slow flow in the fuge. The fuge then flows back to the sump.

No extra pumps - just a T, a ball valve, and a little extra tygon tubing.

Gary

[Reef69]

Ah Genius Gary, thanks alot, I re-did my prototype and added your T, will keep you posted.Thnks