'Fuge question

L

landscraper

Guest
Ok Hi everyone... I am going to post a picture of my sump/refugium, but I think my question will do anyway.
In my fuge I put in some Ls, Lr, and also going to add a light and some macroalgea later on. Anyway I want this to also be a 'breading ground' as everyone says for the beneficial 'pods. My question is, is my design flawed? The return enters into the refugium area, then overflows into the skimmer area, then the water has to go through a bunch of filter pads (to combat the micro bubbles before they hit the return pump). But would the pods make it through all the filter media? i would think they wouldnt.
Your comments appreciated.
Thanks
 
L

landscraper

Guest
Please share.. even with the pads some of the bubbles still go through.
Thanks
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
This is how I see it. You have your fuge first. Pods breed in the fuge. Then the pods have to try and get past the skimmer where a huge portion of them will probably get skimmed out. Micro bubbles are being created by the skimmer. You have your skimmer right next to the return chamber and the baffles on the bubble trap are pretty short. Then for any pods that are being cycled around the system in the water are getting filtered out by the filter sock.
My advice, what I would do is drop the filter sock. Shorten the baffle between the skimmer and the fuge just a bit and switch the fuge so that it's after the skimmer. This gives pods a better chance at successfully making their way up to the display where they can be fed upon by whatever livestock that you have that will eat them. They will also help with diutris build up. This also allows for the bubbles created by the skimmer to have a longer way to travel and thus more time to rise to the surface and pop before they make their way to the return pump before making their way to the display.
 
ibew41

ibew41

Active Member
I agree move the skimmer to your first section then fuge then return and bubbles will be less
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Hi,
On both my sumps, return chamber is in the center, skimmer chamber on one side, and refugium on the other. I use a Y connector to run overflow water to each ends chamber with shut off valves to regulate the flow. 2Quills and Acrilic51 are the design masters.
 
L

landscraper

Guest
Hi Everyone, I removed the piece seperating the existing fuge and the center chamber where the skimmer was... I am going to move the skimmer to the first chamber on the right. This is also where the return from the DT enters. My question is the skimmer cannot have more than 7" of water.. I can not figure out how to install the baffles, so that the first chamber where the water is being discharged into the sump from the main tank is only 7" but increases to the second chamber where the fuge will be. any help appreciated.
Thanks
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Are you apposed to redoing the sump? This is how I would sugguest it.

I actually like this design the best....as, Flower mentioned. With baffles for the bubble trap all being 7" tall. You could make the fuge deeper, like 9-10".
 
L

landscraper

Guest
Thanks for the replys.. I think I am just going to be redoing the middle and right section. Reason being is I had hard enough time with the bulkheads from the overflow, and everything is hard plumbed now and I really dont want to re do that. I was trying to make the fuge deeper, but I guess 7" is deep enough for some LS and algea right?
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by Landscraper http:///forum/thread/384001/fuge-question#post_3362515
Hi Everyone, I removed the piece seperating the existing fuge and the center chamber where the skimmer was... I am going to move the skimmer to the first chamber on the right. This is also where the return from the DT enters. My question is the skimmer cannot have more than 7" of water.. I can not figure out how to install the baffles, so that the first chamber where the water is being discharged into the sump from the main tank is only 7" but increases to the second chamber where the fuge will be. any help appreciated.
Thanks
The skimmer doesn't need to rest on the bottom of the container. If you set it on top of something it would sit higher and only be in 7" of water even if the water depth of the section is more.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Ok this is just something I will never understand, and please do not take this personally. Hobbyists add one or two pieces of live rock to their sump/refuge thinking it’s the magic filtration addition. With all the things we add to our systems that displace water. (the great diluter of bad stuff) IMO you are better served taking out the LR and getting as much dilution in your system as you can
 
L

landscraper

Guest
Well.. if you read my questions.. you would see I was asking about the depth for LS and algea.. the LR is out of the fuge.
Banguy thanks.. I do have some eggcrate proping it up, problem is I only have 2" from the top of my skimmer to the bottom side of my tank.. haa so I can only get it about 2" higher but I have been doing that.
Thanks.
Got it!
Can the skimmer discharge go into a higher section? The idea is to try to give the microbubbles time to float up.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Well.. if you read my questions.. you would see I was asking about the depth for LS and algea.. the LR is out of the fuge.
Well.... you have to excuse my lack of reading ability, i missed the part where you said you removed the live rock can you point it out
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
IMO the best thing you could do in this situation to maximize as much as you can out of your sump tank is to go with something more similar to design #2. This way you can raise the skimmer up as Bang sugguested as much as you can. If you can get 9" then I would go 9" but this depends on how much higher you can raise the skimmer and still get the cup off. But with the fuge on the opposite side of the tank then you can go with an even deeper fuge. That's probably your best bet for maximizing the amount of extra water to your system to help with dillution as Joe sugguested.
Ofcorse this would require re plumbing the drain.
 
L

landscraper

Guest
Quote:
Originally Posted by Landscraper http:///forum/thread/384001/fuge-question#post_3362535
Thanks for the replys.. I think I am just going to be redoing the middle and right section. Reason being is I had hard enough time with the bulkheads from the overflow, and everything is hard plumbed now and I really dont want to re do that. I was trying to make the fuge deeper, but I guess 7" is deep enough for some LS and algea right?
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
It's deep enough for some (not alot) but, yes. What is your main goal for running this fuge?
 
L

landscraper

Guest
Really, just a place for some Macroalgea and also a breeding ground for Pods... I removed the filter sock and also all the filter media between the baffles so hopefully that will make the pods easier to be dispersed into the tank .
 
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