building a new refugium! got a few ?'s

lukeist1

lukeist1

Member
Well just joined the site a few days ago. been wanting to upgrade the filter on my 155 bow front for a while. It's has a canister filter now and was planning on buying a setup for a sump and refugium. but the cost of a store bought setup has been holding me back. After seeing some of the stuff you all have been doing so I have decided to build one instead of buying. thou I may still buy the overflow boxes? So got up this a.m. and called my local fish guy to see if he had any old tanks kicking around that he'd let go cheap. told him I wanted a min. of a 30g. but really looking for a 55g. and of course how much...lol. Well love this store he said that he had 5 or 6 at the house that i could just have! can't beat that lfs..lol. but the ? I have is a 30g. big enough? i really want a 55g. but if it's free I wont push the issure if he brings me a 30g. so long as it's big enough?
 
jas1

jas1

Member
I just depends on how much equipment you plan on keeping in the sump. Everything is better when it's free! Even food tastes better when it's free... LOL... Check CL. I paid $50 for my 55.
 
jas1

jas1

Member
I hope you don't mind I'm not trying to steal your thread but here's a pic of my 55 sump/refugium. It has everything you mentioned in it plus a refugium section
 
lukeist1

lukeist1

Member
yes read all bout yours thats y i thought I'd do my own...! very nice!!! and that is just what I have in mind...
 
jas1

jas1

Member
Originally Posted by lukeist1
http:///forum/post/3152075
yes read all bout yours thats y i thought I'd do my own...! very nice!!! and that is just what I have in mind...
Thanks! You could probably get away with a 30 gal but it's kinda iffy, ya know. BUT you might be able to use two 30's
 
cablebox615

cablebox615

Member
I was also thinking about doing one too. I live about 45 min away from glasscages dot com so it would be easy for me to just what size tank i need and get the inserts cut there to mak sure the fit right.
 
jas1

jas1

Member
Originally Posted by cablebox615
http:///forum/post/3152085
I was also thinking about doing one too. I live about 45 min away from glasscages dot com so it would be easy for me to just what size tank i need and get the inserts cut there to mak sure the fit right.
Oh man you suck!!! LOL j/k. I wanted to buy my DT from them but the shipping to Montana was more than the price of the tank, WAY MORE
 
tdog7879

tdog7879

Member
I got a 20 gal. sump for a 80gal tank but thats only cause i dont have them room to going any bigger. I f i could i would but i did manage to put a skimmer,phosphate reactor,refugium with LR and my return pump without any issues. I just went to home depot and got a 1/4 small sheet of clear plastic and cut 3 baffles and silicone them into place and that was it. It cost me about 45 bucks.
 
lukeist1

lukeist1

Member
ok i think i found the over flow boxes that i want. putting two on so that if one gets messed up,one will still be going. the biggest question i have now is how big should the sump pump be??? I tryed to see how big the pump in my big tank sump is but could'nt read it.
 
lukeist1

lukeist1

Member
ok so i'm thinking that i'd like to use two maxi jets for my sump pump they pump 300gph apeice so maybe 400 from the two of them with them pumping up???? I was thinking that I would make two spray bars 30" long, one for each pump??? anyone have any thoughts on that? and I got the tank today,only 30g but it was free...!
 
lukeist1

lukeist1

Member
very nice! I bet that works great! I went and got everything today. What a great day for freebie's...!!!!my LFS NOT ONLY GAVE ME THE 30G TANK HE THREW IN A NICE 6 MONTH OLD PROTIEN SKIMMER THAT WILL DO A 300G TANK...!
WENT TO GET THE GLASS FOR MY BAFFELS AND WANTED TO PRICE OUT LEXAN TO MAKE MY OVERFLOWS WITH AND THE MANGER GAVE ME A HALF OF SHEET OF CLEAR 1/4 INCH LEXAN, 4X4...!more than enough to do everything twice.

so i picked up a quitetone sump pump that will pump 400 gallons an hour up five feet. that will change the water three times an hour almost. if not more. plan on putting a spray bar in, it has a three foot bar now but think i'll do a 5' one. but so far i have about 80.00 dollors in this project with the glass, pump, plumbing, hoses, silicone, not bad. all I need is bio balls and and some eggcarte...!
if I'd known it was going to be this cheap i would have done it years ago! And it was nice of my fish guy to set me up like he did but i have spent alot there over the years building my three tanks. nice to get something back. i'll take some pic's and let you all see how it's going. hope to have it up and running by thrus????
 
lukeist1

lukeist1

Member
well i have my baffels in, and thats the protien skimmer my fish guy gave me. already precut all my lexan for my overflow boxes. wish i had the 55g. but this will work out ok and be better than the canister. I left 8" for where ithe water dump's in and than another 4" for the start of the refuguim, and 16" for that. than 7" for the sump. the baffels for the refuguim are 15" tall and the first baffel is an inch from the top of the tank and an 1@1/2 high. may leave the protien skimmer hanging on the outside of the sump? would'nt have those problems if it was a 55g. but for $80.00 bucks I'm pretty happy!should finish the overflow boxes tonite and spray bar and tubing should be easy? I hope...lol
 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
Just some thoughts,
So, do you plan on running water from right to left? What I mean is, looking at the pics and reading, it looks like and sounds that way to me. If that's the case, it mould have been better to make the first baffel go to the bottom and flow water over the top. Add in another baffle cause you left an 1 1/2" space. It looks to me like you have the room for it. Reason is for bubbles. They are probly gonna flow right under and into the refug area. If this is so then you could have not added the baffle at all and got more room.
How tight did you cut the LEXAN? You want a pretty good gap between the two. If it reacts like acrylic then it will absorb water and expand. This is why you see acrylic tanks bow. Mind you, the expansion isn't much at all, however other peoples tanks(sumps/refuges) have broke due to acrylic baffles. I am sure there are just as many still going strong.
Give that silicone three days to cure then test the sections by pouring water into them. In your case I would just fill the two outermost ones and leave the refuge section dry. You don't want any leaks inbetween the sections. This will also test how good a bond you have between the glass and the LEXAN, as the two don't bond nearly as stronge as glass to glass.
I am not trying to be rude and crash your high, I am just giving my .05 worth.
 
lukeist1

lukeist1

Member
Well everything is done,
finished the overflow boxes last nite,along with the spray bar. got to wait for the silicone to cure and clean it up some. so I may as well paint the spray bar black. the spray bar has 3/16" inch holes every inch with a extra hole on the back side every 4" to blow on the glass at the back of the tank. hoping that will keep the back of the tank cleaner and put some water movement behind the live rock too???did a test on the spray bar tonite, put the pump in a 55g drum i use to mix water in and put the bar on the top of a six foot stepladder. it shot water for 12' and had good pressure, even at the end.
took about five minutes to emptey the drum so It think I'll have very good water turn over!



 
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