Refugium ????

[bwmichael21]

I am looking into setting up a refugium. I have to room to house the it above my tank on a shelve. What do i use to pump the water up from the tank to the refuge. From what i've read so far a simple tube will drain the refuge to the tank under the force of gravity. If you know what i should be purchasing or have any other insight into this it would be greatly appreciated
michael

 

[stacyt]

A good powerhead should be sufficient to move water from the main tank to the fuge.

 

[bwmichael21]

How would a powerhead accomplish this, i guess if you don't mind could you outline what i'll need and how i should go about this ?

 

[mauldus]

If you're going to set up a fuge above your tank you will need a way to get the water up to it via either a wet/dry pump like a mag 7 or a strong power head (it's basically a pump, you'd just have to put a tube on the end where the water squirts out and put that in your fuge). The power of the pump will depend on how high your fuge is above your tank. Gravity works against the pumping water.
With the water going up to the fuge, you'll need a way to get it back down. A simple gravity feed line (siphon) will not work. It will loose it's siphon and your bottom pump will fill your fuge to overflowing or vice-versa. What you need is an over flow box. Assuming you don't want to drill your fuge, you can get one that will hang on the back like this one
http://www.lifereef.com/lg_pre.gif
made by lifereef.
Hope this helps you with the jist of it. You need to do some more research about what to put in it and some design samples. Do a search on the DIY board for refugium or just fuge. GL!

 

[bwmichael21]

What i have in mind is using my magnum filter which i don't currently use right now to pump the water up to the fuge, Drill a hole at the back of the fuge about 3 inches from the top and run pvc piping back down to my tank. I figure this way the water will fill up the refuge till that point where it will be drained back down. Should work in theory right ?

 

[shanev]

michael21
That should work. A hole drilled will work as an overflow, just make sure that nothing can block the hole, maybe a baffle so no large pieces of macro alagae stop the flow.

 

[kinkfish]

take a look at this link check out the t valve is that the drain or the return
http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dyn...Frefugium.html

 

[kinkfish]

check out this link tell me what you guys think about the t valve connection.
http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dyn...Frefugium.html

 

[shanev]

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/V.../refugium.html
Hes using it to control the amouint of flow going to the fuge without creating back pressure on the powerhead.

 

[kinkfish]

will this work ? please give me some feed back I am not much of a handy man so I need as much help as possaible lol.

 

[kinkfish]

do you mean the drain or the return?

 

[kinkfish]

the main tank correct. if so I am going to start building and take some pics.

 

[kinkfish]

I was also thinking about adding two bulk heads for two drains in case one got plugged up I would still have a back up so the tank will not flood. You think I should put the t valve on the drain into the main tank?

 

[bwmichael21]

I have the refuge setup perfectly, drains excellent. I have read alot about what to include in my refuge (live rock, Caulerpa, etc) should i follow any specfic order in which to introduce these. I have moved a piece of live rock from my tank to the refuge but that is it currently. What type of spectrum of lighting should i be using blue ? or a normal fluorencent light, i will be leaving the light on 24/7 when i get some caulerpa and adding a bit of Fe once a month to prevent it from producing spores. Anything you can tell me would be of great value !

 

[bwmichael21]

I am using 1 inch pvc piping and it drains the water from the top of the tank, what that big would plug it up ?

 

[shanev]

Odds are nothing would completely plug it up, but some sort of scrren helps. You would be surprised what a large snail and a clump of macroalgae can do to a flowrate! Nothing to worry about just something to keep an eye on.

 

[kinkfish]

So I take it that my diagram is good set up and it will work if I build it. And what is FE?

 

[bwmichael21]

Fe as in Ferrous aka Iron