starting a fuge,need some help!

[rookum]

starting a refugium for my 90. have a 29 gal glass tank for under the stand.i have seen some great designs here and believe that this is the right size for my tank. i have an external pump on my tank right now, but i'm wondering if it's safe to cut the glass near the bottom of this smaller tank, will it crack? by the way my lfs does not have a bit smaller than 1 1/4. he wants 20 a hole, do i need this. i understand that the flow rate shouldn't be too crazy with a fuge so should i go back to a mag 7, in sump and call it a day. for the baffles i need 1/4 glass,yes? just want some feedback from you guys. what kinda of sand layers do i need in the "fuge", coarse at the bottom, then fine or can i just use 1 bag of live sand. i have read a few posts on fuges and am still curious.

 

[rookum]

figured i was on my own. so here is what i did. i took this tank 30x12x12 and put 4 baffles in it. each 117/8th x 9. the first and the last baffles are 4" from the end of the tank, room for return pump and the skimmer pump. using a super skimmer, got for free and put a rio 2500 on it. lfs gave me a piece to make the venturi chamber and bang. now i will have a "fuge" space of 17"x9x 12. like 7 gallons, i forget the formula but u get my point. here are a few pics, one of the baffles is leaning slightly, but rigging them to stay straight was a challange. ended up using some quick clamps and shims to get the pressure on the side of the tank to hold them in place while i sealed them in place. was told to run empty for a minute with lights on 24/7 to see what grows. was told that i need to make sure no cyano gets in the sand bed and this is why i have to run it empty. lr will do all filtration in the meantime. any advise is always welcome. enjoy

 

[mademperor]

Looks nice!
Btw, I never quite understood the baffles. I understand it's to keep equipment away from the sandbed area, but why double walls?

 

[buckster71]

Bubble trap.
As water falls it creates bubbles. The baffels stop the bubbles from getting back into your tank....they can do bad things to corals and stuff from what I hear.

 

[wattsupdoc]

Personally, I would have given up another 1 1/2 fuge space for an additional baffle on the drain side. Going from the bottom up. . Then made the last one of the three there short so water would flow diagonally up through your macro's. Did you calculate for backwash?

 

[rookum]

lfs did backwash calculations for me.as for the third baffle this setup is a temp.when i get the jist of it all then i'm going to have a custom acrylic one made buy a local shop. letting the silicone dry and will install when i get a chance. so is this"running fuge empty for a week or two" a sound theory?

 

[al mc]

Rook...no problem running the fuge empty. From your pictures I would personally consider having the CSS discharge back into the same chamber as the pump supplying the CSS. My thought is that you will get some recirculating effect, cut down on air bubbles and you will not be jetting it into the fuge section creating too much turbulence if you have a sand bed. If NO sandbed and only rock/chaeto the extra flow will not matter and you can keep it as is. JMHO

 

[renogaw]

https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...18&postcount=5
here's how i made my 29 gallon sump/refuge
works like a charm

 

[twogood4u]

I like your setup as i am doing the same thing. I am going to use a filter sock on the inlet side and have my skimmer discharge into the sock to reduce bubbles. On the left side (return) i am only going to have a 6 inch high baffle and the rest of the height will be egg crate.

 

[rookum]

thx. just got the right tubing for my ovrflw. have some pvc i will use for the intake side of things,and to hold the sock. with size of my stand,90all glass, i dont know if i will have the width to accomadate the s.s. on the side of the fuge. i've measured but something always gets in the way. post pics this weekend.

 

[rookum]

been few weeks since i got this started. left the lights on 24/7. got some good growth in the fuge. put sand in two days ago.will run another 2 weeks then rocks and cheato. still haven't redone the under the stand part to get the c.s.s. under the stand but hey its just nice to have a good skimmer. put glass lid on fuge but still have high evaporation rates. took the amiracle sump that was on my 90 and made that a fuge for my 75, talk about 2 4 1. a little hodge podge but its working. let me know what you guys think.