Refugium Pix

cam78

cam78

Active Member
OK, heres the deal. Its homemade and I am asking for some feedback on it. Its a 10 gallon refuge for a 46 gallon tank. Where the water dumps into (left side) (from the DT) there is 2 5/8 inches where im thinking I will put my HOB skimmer. Then the baffles are placed 1 down 1 up and one down again each 1 inch apart.
Then it goes into the portion (middle) for the LS and LR which is 7 3/4 inches long. 9 inches high.
Then the baffles, which is one down (wall for LR and LS) then one up. I then have 5 7/8 inches for where the pump would go (right side). I didn't do 3 baffles there because I figured I needed room for a pump, they are pretty big right?
I'm thinking of getting the Lifereef overflow. If something dosen't seem right please let me know. Hopefully the Pic's work, never did it before.
 
tomtoro

tomtoro

Member
Originally Posted by CAM78
OK, heres the deal. Its homemade and I am asking for some feedback on it. Its a 10 gallon refuge for a 46 gallon tank. Where the water dumps into (left side) (from the DT) there is 2 5/8 inches where im thinking I will put my HOB skimmer. Then the baffles are placed 1 down 1 up and one down again each 1 inch apart.
Then it goes into the portion (middle) for the LS and LR which is 7 3/4 inches long. 9 inches high.
Then the baffles, which is one down (wall for LR and LS) then one up. I then have 5 7/8 inches for where the pump would go (right side). I didn't do 3 baffles there because I figured I needed room for a pump, they are pretty big right?
I'm thinking of getting the Lifereef overflow. If something dosen't seem right please let me know. Hopefully the Pic's work, never did it before.
You da Man! Those are some clean silicone lines. Make sure you water test it first with a hose in the bathtub to see if the baffles hold. Make sure the return pump matches the overflow gph at the height you'll be returning up to. You might also want to plumb a pvc tee fitting with a valve that returns the unwanted water to the sump in case the pump is too strong.
Looks good. I wish mine looked that perfect.
My return pump is a Mag 9.5 and it's about 3.5" x 5".
Good luck,
Tom
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Can you describe the gluing process? How did you hold the baffles while you siliconed? My magdrive 7 needs about 5 inches for the return section. What kind of skimmer do you have?
 
chilwil84

chilwil84

Active Member
skip the sand use live rock rubble (ie real small pieces) and grow some spagetti algae you just need to put a small light like a pc plant grow light (6500K) on top of the middle section, nice silicone job
 
chilwil84

chilwil84

Active Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
Can you describe the gluing process? How did you hold the baffles while you siliconed? My magdrive 7 needs about 5 inches for the return section. What kind of skimmer do you have?

for everybody who has trouble doing baffles i found that getting tank divider kits and use the side pieces so i had a larger area touching the tank and was able to hook them on without having the baffles in place then insert the baffles after it dried and then finished the bottoms
 
cam78

cam78

Active Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
Can you describe the gluing process? How did you hold the baffles while you siliconed? My magdrive 7 needs about 5 inches for the return section. What kind of skimmer do you have?

Actually I just put the tank on its end and measured 1" apart. I used Fluted door and window molding and just did one baffle at a time. I put the molding against the tank and placed the first baffle. Waited till that dried and then placed the wood/molding on the baffle and placed the second. So on and so on. Oh yeah, I have a HOB red sea skimmer.
 
cam78

cam78

Active Member
Originally Posted by TomToro
You da Man! Those are some clean silicone lines. Make sure you water test it first with a hose in the bathtub to see if the baffles hold. Make sure the return pump matches the overflow gph at the height you'll be returning up to. You might also want to plumb a pvc tee fitting with a valve that returns the unwanted water to the sump in case the pump is too strong.
Looks good. I wish mine looked that perfect.
My return pump is a Mag 9.5 and it's about 3.5" x 5".
Good luck,
Tom

Thanks man. Looks a lot cleaner in the picture I think. The guy from Lifereef stated he will be shipping me everything I need. He told me though not to use PVC he will be sending me soft tubing. What ya think?
 
joe 09

joe 09

Member
what is the purpose of all the baffles?i just built a 20 gal refugium and did not use any baffles.a pump from the dt and gravity feed the the sump. did i do something wrong?
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
The baffles are used to slow or direct the water in the sump/fuge. The zig zag baffles aka bubble trap baffles to do just that- trap bubbles. Most people have their skimmer in their sump and the skimmer puts out micro bubbles that can be an eye sore if they get drawn up the return pump and into the display tank. Not to mention it could stress out your fish or bubbles could get trapped under corals which could be bad.
 
tomtoro

tomtoro

Member
Originally Posted by CAM78
Thanks man. Looks a lot cleaner in the picture I think. The guy from Lifereef stated he will be shipping me everything I need. He told me though not to use PVC he will be sending me soft tubing. What ya think?
I used soft tubing, hose barbs and clamps for the overflow and the return pump. It's clear and easy to bend, so that'll work well. But I had to make a pvc thing to hang on the tank so the water was directed properly once it returned. I couldn't figure out how to get that flex tubing to stay otherwise. Sounds like this guy has it figured out, though.
If you went Lifereef for everything, you went first class and will be happy. Did he send you a return pump and plumbing too? What all are you getting?
When you get it, how about after you put it all together, you send a pic. I'm curious how much of this stuff I didn't have to make.
 
tomtoro

tomtoro

Member
Originally Posted by joe 09
what is the purpose of all the baffles?i just built a 20 gal refugium and did not use any baffles.a pump from the dt and gravity feed the the sump. did i do something wrong?
Not if it works. I wish I didn't need all the baffles, but it would've been a mess in there if the water came in and out that fast.
Can you post a picture of it? How are you keeping bubbles sent from the return pump from getting in the display tank? Are you slowing things down with a valve or something?
Is your refugium above the dp? If so, I read in The Reef Aquarium that's the best one to have because the fauna have a better chance of making it into the dp. The one I saw had a coned bottom with a valve that leaked off the detritus. Not sure how, though.
 
reefnut

reefnut

Active Member
VERY nice job CAM!!!! The only thing that 'may' be an issue is how tall your baffles are. You need to leave enough room in the sump/refuge for the water that will drain down during a power outage so it doen't overflow. It may be fine... a test run would be the only way to tell for sure.
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Originally Posted by ReefNut
VERY nice job CAM!!!! The only thing that 'may' be an issue is how tall your baffles are. You need to leave enough room in the sump/refuge for the water that will drain down during a power outage so it doen't overflow. It may be fine... a test run would be the only way to tell for sure.
My 29 has a back wash of almost 1 gallon. So my guess his will be almost 2 roughly. Should be okay IMO.
 
cam78

cam78

Active Member
When you get it, how about after you put it all together, you send a pic. I'm curious how much of this stuff I didn't have to make.
Yeah he is sending me a return pump too. He said he will be sending c-clamps, the flex hose, fittings for the pump and overflow and I ordered the silencer (just in case) along with another/back-up piece of something he said might break if dropped.
He said that this system will stop automatically if the pump ever stops pumping. I'm a little nervous to see if I have enough room being where I placed the baffles. A test run would be just setting it up right, can't do anything else?
 
reefnut

reefnut

Active Member
Originally Posted by CAM78
He said that this system will stop automatically if the pump ever stops pumping. I'm a little nervous to see if I have enough room being where I placed the baffles. A test run would be just setting it up right, can't do anything else?
It will stop when the pump turns off but there is always some water that flows down to the sump... you will need to set it up and just see. You should be fine but do test it out when you get everything setup.
 
tomtoro

tomtoro

Member
Originally Posted by CAM78
When you get it, how about after you put it all together, you send a pic. I'm curious how much of this stuff I didn't have to make.

Yeah he is sending me a return pump too. He said he will be sending c-clamps, the flex hose, fittings for the pump and overflow and I ordered the silencer (just in case) along with another/back-up piece of something he said might break if dropped.
He said that this system will stop automatically if the pump ever stops pumping. I'm a little nervous to see if I have enough room being where I placed the baffles. A test run would be just setting it up right, can't do anything else?
Sounds nice. Expensive? Not sure what the new setup is like, but siphon breaks just below the water line will greatly reduce the amount of water flowing back into the sump. I put mine in front of the L and facing each other on the inside. As soon as I stop my return pump they start gurgling and my sump goes up maybe one inch over the baffles.
I also keep my tank depth as low as possible to keep the return pump from overfilling my tank just in case I somehow lose siphon in the overflow. The return pump empties only the last chamber of the sump if the baffles hold. The pump then burns out from running dry and to avoid that you need an electronic float valve, but that's for another time.
Tell us how the test went.
Tom
 
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