DIY Sump/Refuge Done! PICS!

benihuma

benihuma

Member
For those of you that saw my previous post, here is the end result of all that pvc and countless trips to home depot. Here we are during the first stage of testing.
 
benihuma

benihuma

Member
Here is the new pyramid spraybar. The original was made with 3/4" pvc, and lots more holes. Well, there wasn't enough flow for the side arms to work, so all the flow came through the center arm. I made a new one out of 1/2" pvc and drilled less holes. There are now 4 in the center, and 6 on each side arm. Every single hole now has equal flow. Bye bye powerheads!
 
benihuma

benihuma

Member
Here is a view of the refugium that shows the vertical spraybar that is controlled by a ball valve off the mag 12. It also shows the two overflows that feed back into the sump. I'm thinking of putting a mantis shrimp into the refugium to liven it up a bit.
 
benihuma

benihuma

Member
Should I be using my bio-ball trickle filter, or is it not necessary once I fill my refugium with caulerpas?
ben
 
johnnysalt

johnnysalt

Member
you may have heard of bio balls as "nitrate factories"....they do a great job at removing nitrites but are not nearly as useful for a reef tank because they don't remove nitrate like macroalgae (caulerpa, etc.) does. How much live rock do you have? If you have 1.5 - 2 lbs/gallon, then you can easily lower your nitrites w/out the bio balls producing nitrates.
 
benihuma

benihuma

Member
my tank is not a reef, it is a 90 aggressive with only 50lbs live rock, and 4" dsb. so, if the bioballs are producing nitrate, the caulerpa in my refugium should take care of the nitrates, right?
ben
 
E

elan

Guest
benihuma,
how did you figure out the ratio of holes in the tubbing for the return water?
 
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