refugiums or whatever???

[frozenguy]

all i thought a sump was, was just this tank under the display tank that heated and filtered the water......but now i'm hearing of other stuff.....
why would you want sand in there? why would you want plants in there?
what does seperation of things have anything to do with it....what is a protein skimmer?

 

[jtroutine]

what you are probally hearing are people that talk about sumps and refugiums.....difference....not much, a fuge is where you can grow some macros to help keep control of unwanted alga in the main tank and the sump well is just a section of water for equipment such as a heater skimmer and so on. A skimmer removes dissolved organic waste. It is good to have imo!!! Here is a picture fuge/sump made out of a 10 gal tank the bak pak is a brand of a skimmer you could really use any hang on skimmer

 

[frozenguy]

i would jsut need some tubing for the return and stuff and a pump......(i'm gonna wait till i get my 90 gallon.......)

 

[jtroutine]

check out on ---- for a over flow box as you will need one I bought a 800gph box for thirty bucks...nice overflow box too, then you would need a return pump. I used 3/4 pvc pipe to plumb everything together but that was becasue I just wanted the fun of the project. That is up to you. If you are going to have a 90gal imo a 500-600gph of flow at whatever head hieght your tank would be is what I would go for.
Hope that helped

 

[jtroutine]

also make sure that you put in a one way valve on the return feed to prevent the siphon of your main tank onto the floor in case of power failure. Or what you could do is drill holes into the return just below the water surface that way it breaks the siphon once the water line goes down. Get it all setup and pull the plug on your return pump and watch it and let it even sit sit for a few as the overflow box will keep filling to a certain point, adjust as nesacary. I hope you made sense out of all this I am not good at explaining.
Joe

 

[algaeeater]

Hi
Why all the dividers in the sump? And is there a noise problem with the water going over the sections? Can you put a foam filter in there? Sorry for all the questions, but I want to build one too.
Thanks

 

[poiboy]

Most of the noise will be from the over flow or pre filter. Why all the dividers you ask. They are there to create sections of slow moving water. In a ref you want little current as possible.

 

[poiboy]

I thought the pic's above made that clear.

 

[zafirablanca]

I second that James. Dividers help bubbles rise out of the water, hopefully before they reach your return pump and get shot into the display tank. If you dont have a seperate refugium tank, then you also need dividers to attempt to keep sand, rock, macroalgae, etc. out of your return pump as these things would damage it. You also would want to have your protein skimmer (and its pumps) seperate from the sand, etc. as well, for the same reason.
If possible it is nice to have a seperate refugium and sump.
You would have a deep sand bed and macroalgae in your refugium with a light running over it 24 hours/ day. This helps naturally remove and process waste accumulation in your tank. Which in turn, helps control things like hair algae problems. It is also a safe place for reef bugs and worms to grow and multiply. These critters also help clean tank water as well as provide a food source for may fish and invertebrates.
You would have your heater, protien skimmer, bubble reducing baffles (optional), auto water top-off (optional) and return pump in the sump. This is where all of the mechanical processing of the water occurs.
Also, having either of these or both increases the volume of water in your system. This is beneficial in the sense that things change more slowly in a larger volume of water. Temperature changes more slowly, waste builds up more slowly, etc. Stability is what makes larger systems easier to maintain and healthier for tank inhabitants. Sumps and refugiums add volume and stability to out main tanks, as well as aid in filtration.
Hope this helps
Good Luck
-Christine

 

[jtroutine]

alga eater another thing you could do is take some rock ruble from your main tank and put it in the section where your sand would be right where the water comes over the wall, this will help keep any turbulance down from the water coming over the wall. If you hook up your plumbing with pvc it is really easy to utilize a valve under your overflow which you could adjust to keep the water line above the outlet of the box to keep it silent. I had to do that cause I ordered a 600gph box but got a 800gph not that I will complain being that I had gottin for the same price and could always use it later come bigger tank. What I mean is the box is ready to flow 800gph and I only have a pump that is returning 500gph so the valve is closed a little too compensate for the slower amount of water going through the box. If you are considering to go with this, good as it will help alot, I think so anyway. It helps keep water changes to a minium do to the fact of the tank being able to keep its own nitrates down also helps witht the bio side of filtration. Also if you have like a yellow tang or something, he will be happy with the trimming of your plants, just feed him some of the trims. Also you want to try to incoparate your skimmer before your fuge as you want the cleanest water to pass through your fuge so it will be most benificial. As you can see in the picture the desighn alows you to have virtualy any hang on skimmer located there. Keep your light on over the fuge 24/7 to prevent any spores from the plant getting into the main tank. Again sorry for the typos and if anything didnt make quite sense
This is only my opinion, just sharing knowledge as that is how I learn.
Joe

 

[joerdie]

I agree with most of what i have seen on this thread but i DONT recomend that you keep a light on the fuge 24/7. This can effect your ph negativly in some cases. remember irl calerpa only sees the sun when the sun is up (duh) so you dont have to leave the light on all the time. IMO you would be better off putting the light on either durring the same hours as the tank lights (12hrs a day) or putting them on for 12 hours at night. (this can prevent ph swings)

 

[zafirablanca]

There are many opinions as to how long to leave the lights on a rufugium. Many people have found that leaving the lights on 24/7 prevents the macroalgae from going into a sexual phase and releasing toxins into the tank. Of course this is not what happens 'naturally', but the natural sexual phase can be lethal to a tank (not the ocean). I have gleaned this information from the various threads on the topic in these forums over time. Obviously what works for some people doesn't work for others. One should do a forum search on the subject to view other peoples experiences with photoperiod and macroalgae growth and come to a comfortable conclusion of their own.

 

[nightraven]

Anyone got plans for a 10 Gal Sump/Fuge that gravity feeds back to the tank?

 

[zafirablanca]

NightRaven,
I do think that others have discussed (on previous threads) refugium set-ups that sit above the tank and gravity feed into the main tank. Try a forum search, I am sure you will find some good stuff.
Good Luck,
-Christine

 

[jcsurfn]

I like the design of the pic above. Is that considered a sump and refugium in one? That is what I am looking to do for my 55 gal. tank. Does that seem to work well? Do you have critters and stuff growning in the refugium?

 

[frozenguy]

how do you get those dividers?
do you get sheets of plexiglass and just epoxy them on?
also, how big is that tank in the plans up top?

 

[jtroutine]

Yes I bought a sheet of acrlylic and cut them to size and used aquarium sealant to put them in place. I think it works good for my 55gal....it has too, that is my only choice as that is the only size I can fit under my tank. I put the plants all on the left side of the bulk head that way the current doesnt bring them over the wall into the sump where the pump is. Paid 9.00 at walmart for the ten gallon and 4.00 for the sheet of acrylic, pretty cheap. No I dont have any critters in there, which brings me to a quiestion would anbody recommend that and if so what?
Joe

 

[jtroutine]

Here is a picture of the of what is created, this is a pic from when it was built with nothing in it

 

[jtroutine]

sorry so darn big don know what the happened there!!!

 

[frozenguy]

hehe
thanks
that looks really nice
how hard was it to make that? did you get the sheets cut? or did you cut them yourself, if you cut them, what did you cut them with?