building a new refugium! got a few ?'s

[lukeist1]

No the baffels in the tank are 1/4" plate glass. thats where $25 of the $80 i spent went. the the stuff that i thought was lexan is really ploycarbonate. i guess it's better than lexan,wont yellow. and as far as bubbles i plan on having two carbon media pads one top and one on bottom, on eggcrate along with carbon socks in the narrow part. I'm hoping that will slove the bubble problem?

where the water come in,yes on the left i was going to put bio ballS.

 

[lukeist1]

the overflow boxes i made with the ploycarbonte

 

[posiden]

Yea looking at the new pics of the OF boxes I can see better that the pannels in the tank have the same coloration on the edges. As you were posting I was thinking to myself that they sure do look like glass.LOL
What is your plan on mounting the OF boxes??

 

[lukeist1]

I have vinal J bead like they use on siding. its black and fits over the tank edge perfect. I plan on just drilling a few holes and using nylon nuts blots and washers. so do you think the media pads will keep the bubbles at bay?

 

[lukeist1]

drilling hole on the overflow boxes that is.

 

[posiden]

If the bubbles don't go through the media then they will acumulate, and if the media doesn't dislodge when the air pressure builds then the air will render the pathway usless. The only other way for the water is either over the top of the baffle or over the top of the tank which ever is lower or the same height.
I am also not familiar with the J strip you mentioned. If it works then you will be good to go. Do you plan on making your own siphon tubes for the boxes then?

 

[lukeist1]

yes i have 1" tubing that i'm using. i plan on using two if i have to. and thinking bout bubbles, I think that i'll just put corse gravel 2"deep in the bottom of those to bays and let the water come thru that??? no bubbles that way??

 

[lukeist1]

i mean chrushed coral, and no the first baffel is an inch lower than the top of the tank.

 

[posiden]

I think you would be much better off adding another baffle.
Add it to the right of the one that is off the bottom. I would use a 1" gap. This way your media can still go in where you had planned and you solve the bubble issue.

 

[posiden]

I am not trying to get you off track from your orignial thought on this build.
You said that you were going to run a filter sock. I don't run them so I am always thinking of things in those trems. You may not have any kind of a bubble issue. I know folks will run them just to aleviate bubbles from thier sump/refuge. So, I may have caused a lot of comotion for nothing. Sorry if that is the case. It has been a long two days. I posted before thinking about the situation as a whole.

 

[lukeist1]

hey thats cool i'll take any advice, never made one so it's all a learning thing. may not use all that i'm told but i will remember it.! and thanks to all for your imput!

 

[detane]

just an idea

 

[lukeist1]

well went and got my bio balls today and was going to get more glass for another baffle. showing the pic's to my fish guy and he talked me out out it??? showed me a set up he had and in the bottom of his dump side he had a carbon pad on eggcrate set 2" inches up. it seemed to work great as he did have alot of bubbles in the dump section, but the rest was bubble free. told him he just wanted to sell me carbon pads...

no live sand thou checked three place's and no one had any.

did pick up some dead rock and will take a few live rock out of each of my three tanks to put in the refuguim,and put the new rock in the two other tanks to get it going. wondering bout paint 4 my spray bar??? real worried bout buying the wrong stuff!!! anyone have any name brands that i should use???

and thanks again for all the imput it was nice to have it all..!

so tommorow or friday i guess i'll hook it up and see how much water i can pump on the floors..lol...

 

[posiden]

Krylon fusion sprat paint. Let it dry real good and you will be good to go.
Let us know how it all turns out.

 

[lukeist1]

hey thanks!!! hooking it up tonite i hope!take some pic's and post them

 

[lukeist1]

well got it up and running seems to work great!

Picked up some mico algey and bought two overflow boxes. and the neon green clove frag i had to have too...

the overflow box I built was ok, but i had to turn the pump back, because I had too much water for it, and could've made another but..... so i just said the hell with it and bought two for 85.00. oh well that brings my cost up to $165.00 but still happy!!!!

shut the power off 5 times and had no floods so i'm happy.

get lucky every now and then.
thanks everyone for all your imput!!!

THINK i'LL JUST WATCH THE FISH TONITE...LOL

 

[posiden]

It looks really good friend. You did a bang up job.

About my only concern is the media. If I am not mistaken the water needs to flow through it. Right now you aren't doing that. The water will take the path of least resistance and flow right around it.

 

[lukeist1]

where the bio balls are the carbon is cut tight but i only had scraps after that so i just threw them in the trays picking up more tommorow. I uselly use filter bags and buy loose carbon for them. i brain cramped and forgot to pick up a jug...

put i'll take care of it tommorow.along with more carbon pads..! just did'nt feel like running back to the store today. thanks thou..!!!

 

[posiden]

I was in reference to what looks like bags of some sort. Not sure what they are? As for the pads, scraps or not. If they all cover the surface then your good to go IMO.

 

[lukeist1]

those are bags of carbon two will fill the bin compleatly i just started looking at corals and forgot what i really needed..lol

so i only had what was laying around house had enough carbon pad to cut one big one for where the bio balls are and just threw the scraps in. figured it would'nt hurt.