redxlch
Member
Originally posted by aloredo
hey red nice set up i new to this what is center sect is that ur return or somekind of sump and last sect ur return....:happyfish
I take it you mean the center section of the sump / fuge.
The center section is the refugium area. It has 1" pvc pipe topped with egg crate topped by 3 layers of fiberglass screen topped by course aragonite substrate. Water flows from the skimmer sump area across the "fuge" to the main sump. This facilitates waste removal.
There are various ideas on fuges. Some peeps just use a deep layer of gravel. Some use mud. Some use herbs. I am trying the Jaubert / Monaco system. It creats a void area underneath the gravel that denitrifies the water passing over it. It's not a conventional method so only time will tell if it works for me. I had a smaller setup on the tank prior to the remodel and the water was getting very stable.
You can use this method in your display tank also and hide the whole thing by under sizing the egg crate by and inch or so. The method does recommend "corse" substrate which is not to a lot of reef keepers liking, mine either.
The idea is to trap unwanted waste from the water and have something "living" in there that consumes the waste and their waste becomes something you "want" back in the water circuit.
From the other end, water drains from the overflow in the display tank to the wet dry area then spills into the main sump area and from there it is redistributed to the display tank and skimmer sump and starts all over again.