Making a refugium

[msmith619]

I currently have a 26 gallon wet/dry filter under my tank that has bio-balls. I keep reading about bio-balls being nitrate factories and was thinking about making a refugium to replace it. The footprint I have available for it under my tank inside the stand is 36" long and 14" deep. I could use a 30 gallon long aquarium (36" x 12" x 17") or a standard 29 gallon (30" x 12" x 18"). I want to incorporate filter floss for the big stuff and charcoal for water clarity (although the rock, sand and plants keep my water pretty clear) as well as house my current protein skimmer and return pump. In the "refugium" part I want to place a live sand bed, lots of live rock rubble, and macro-algea. I drew a stick drawing of what I was thinking. Please look at it, criticize it, tear it aprt, and offer suggestions so I can make a good one. (I have tough skin, feel free to be critical)
Mike

[allan]

If it's in JPG format you can right click it on your desktop (or where ever you have it) open with powerpoint picture manager. Click edit picture which will open a right side panel, click the link that says something like 'compress picture', that will prompt another series of links of which you will either check the one that indicates sized for email or sized for webpage. I prefer the latter.

Close the document, click yes when prompted to save, and your jpg will be substantially smaller.

[msmith619]

OK, I was able to reduce the size, hopefully you can see the image and comment.
Mike

[d3rryc]

Ping is really the local guy for advice on this, but here's a thought that I picked up from reading through the huge sump section Marc Levenson has on his site (http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html). He typically splits the water input between the skimmer chamber and the fuge, locating the return section as the middle of the three partitions. The logic is that the fuge section gets "raw," unskimmed water that way, the better to feed the fuge critters.

FWIW,
Derry

[hobogato]

there are different schools of thought on this, but i think your drawing would work with one minor tweak....

i typically suggest (and build) sumps/fuges where the tripple baffle (bubble trap) is the last thing the water goes thru before the return section. also, unless you plan on adding an auto topoff of some kind, you will have a hard time keeping up with water replacement because all evaporation shows up in the return section and the one you have drawn is pretty small.

[msmith619]

OK, I see two good suggestions here. I like the idea of "raw" un-skimmed water going thru the refugium. How about in the above plan I move the filter floss and charcoal to the left side of the refugium, to filter after the regugium and act as a bubble trap, enlarge the return pump section and put the skimmer there and instead of a 3/4 height wall, let the filter media act as my bubble trap and let the water level be even in the entire tank?

Attached is an updated drawing.
Mike

[RICKY81]

i don't know if your water levels will be maintained with only using the filter media as a bubble trap.. cause i think that the water will just flow right threw it and have the same water level through out the whole tank.. you might be able to add some baffles of acrylic and inbetween but the filter media instead of using the eggcrate as baffles. that way you will have differrent water levels in the sump versus all at the same level....

[msmith619]

Quote:
.. cause i think that the water will just flow right threw it and have the same water level through out the whole tank..

Is there a problem with that? That was my idea, just let the water flow right to left and maintain one level thru-out. That way the evaporation will not let the sump get dry. I usually clean the protein skimmer daily and add water as needed. I do weekly 10% water changes and have not had an evaporation problem.
This is a first-time thing for me. If I am making a mistake I would rather have it fixed in the design stage rather than after the item is put together and you get that queesy feeling you made a big mistake!
Mike

[chark]

For protein skimmers to work best you should have a constant level. Also the skimmer could add bubbles to your aquarium if it is in the same compartment as the return.

[RICKY81]

well just thinking that the rubble (sand, substrate) might end up in the return section get cought up in the return pump and might mess up ur pump and flood your sump.. and if u do plan on keeping pods or mysis they will ended up all over the place and not confine to just one section, just a thought.