fishman830
Active Member
Can anyone give me step by step instructions on how to make a refugium, and tell me all of the things that i need
Making a refuge
- Thread starter fishman830
- Start date
suver569
Member
I just finished up mine. No pics, but it's pretty easy.
I took a 10 gallon glass tank (I wish I would Have used acrylic now) On one side, I siliconed in a piece of acrylic, starting from the top, going about 3/4, maybe 7/8 of the way down the tank. a few inches into the tank, I put another piece of acrylic, extending 3/4 the way UP the tank. This gives the water flow in, time to settle down and flow smoothly thorught the refug area. Next, I moved to the other side of the tank, figured out how much room I needed in there so I could drop my mag 5 in (which was about 4") and I put in another piece of acrylic extending from the bottom of the tank, up about 3/4 of the way. That was the basic design of the refug tank.
After all that fun, I picked up an overflow. I went with the CPR 90 which is about 600 GPH flow. I adapted it to slow the flow rate down a bit (I didnt want my fuge having HUGE flow, just enough to keep it going) I went with 1" flexible hose for the overflow part. It was just alot easier. I used 1" flexible hose, and used a few hose clamps and waalaa, the return was done. I did notice a bit of noise being produced, which was easily cured with a large cheap sponge that I stuck in the refug to shut the darn thing up, which worked great.
For the return, I ploped a Mag5 pump in the refug (the section that I made 4" wide) and Plumbed up with PVC, Making sure to include a union and a ball valve. I used the flexible fitting available at most decent LFS's (the exact name i cant think of right now, but they're basically an erector set of ball shaped fittings, and a couple of nozels.) I used this to split off at the top of my tank, where the plumbing came up, and split into 2 nozels.
The system works great. I've only added livesand so far, about 5", but I have plans to finish it up when I stop working 80 hour work weeks.
But basically, I spent 55 bucks on the mag 5, 98 bucks on the CPR overflow, about 20 or so on misc. pvc parts, another 10 bucks on the acrylic pieces and silicone, 25 bucks on the 20 pound bag of LS, oh and another 10 bucks for the flexible tubing and hose clamps.
I'll get some pics later if my mother-in-law will let me use the digital camera.
Hope that helps.
I took a 10 gallon glass tank (I wish I would Have used acrylic now) On one side, I siliconed in a piece of acrylic, starting from the top, going about 3/4, maybe 7/8 of the way down the tank. a few inches into the tank, I put another piece of acrylic, extending 3/4 the way UP the tank. This gives the water flow in, time to settle down and flow smoothly thorught the refug area. Next, I moved to the other side of the tank, figured out how much room I needed in there so I could drop my mag 5 in (which was about 4") and I put in another piece of acrylic extending from the bottom of the tank, up about 3/4 of the way. That was the basic design of the refug tank.
After all that fun, I picked up an overflow. I went with the CPR 90 which is about 600 GPH flow. I adapted it to slow the flow rate down a bit (I didnt want my fuge having HUGE flow, just enough to keep it going) I went with 1" flexible hose for the overflow part. It was just alot easier. I used 1" flexible hose, and used a few hose clamps and waalaa, the return was done. I did notice a bit of noise being produced, which was easily cured with a large cheap sponge that I stuck in the refug to shut the darn thing up, which worked great.
For the return, I ploped a Mag5 pump in the refug (the section that I made 4" wide) and Plumbed up with PVC, Making sure to include a union and a ball valve. I used the flexible fitting available at most decent LFS's (the exact name i cant think of right now, but they're basically an erector set of ball shaped fittings, and a couple of nozels.) I used this to split off at the top of my tank, where the plumbing came up, and split into 2 nozels.
The system works great. I've only added livesand so far, about 5", but I have plans to finish it up when I stop working 80 hour work weeks.
But basically, I spent 55 bucks on the mag 5, 98 bucks on the CPR overflow, about 20 or so on misc. pvc parts, another 10 bucks on the acrylic pieces and silicone, 25 bucks on the 20 pound bag of LS, oh and another 10 bucks for the flexible tubing and hose clamps.
I'll get some pics later if my mother-in-law will let me use the digital camera.
Hope that helps.