Sump/Refuge DIY Pics!
- Thread starter benihuma
- Start date
von_rahvin
Member
i wish i would have thought of that kind of spray bar idea befor i set up my tank. oh well for the next one 
benihuma
Member
Yeah, I'm lucky, no water bill here. Not til we build the house, then I'll be paying like everyone else. Thanks for all the praise, but I can't take the credit. I stole the sump/refuge part from Broomer, then added my own spraybar. I can't wait til I'm done and get it flowing.
More pics to come...
Ben
More pics to come...
Ben
rsd
Member
I did something very similar. I used a little giant to power my return/spraybar. I used a single 1/2 inch pipe to the n=bottom of my tank and "t'd" it the with holes being drilled all the way around it every inch or so. Realy random. It works awesome. My only request is that you drill a hole near the top... barley under the water level to break syphon in a power outage. My "syphon hole" is at the water level but it still drains close to 2 gallons before the syphon breaks. Do alot of testing!!! Also make sure you either glue on the spray bar or that you used threaded pipe. Turbo snails have forced off pieces of my spray bar as they tried to go behind it. I've fixed it now but it was a pain to move the rock to make adjustments.
Don't worry too much about too much flow either. Once it is dilluted over 20-30 holes it creates a relly nice current that blends and becomes really random.
Great job!!
Don't worry too much about too much flow either. Once it is dilluted over 20-30 holes it creates a relly nice current that blends and becomes really random.
Great job!!
osolow
Member
abought the water bill my ro/di makes 1 water to 3 waste but I have owned this house abought a year and the biggest water bill I have ever got was $13.00 so if I have to pay $50.00 once to fill my 125 and 20.00 a month just to keep up with evaporation it's worth it. but I don't think it will be that much. I spend more the 20.00 a month on junk for my tank.
The one 1 way valve Jamesurq talked abought was one of the best things I put on my tank when power goes off I have no flowback from my spraybar.
I bought my from HD for $8.00
osolow
The one 1 way valve Jamesurq talked abought was one of the best things I put on my tank when power goes off I have no flowback from my spraybar.
I bought my from HD for $8.00
osolow
benihuma
Member
Juggernaut,
I got the bioball chamber from my LFS. They had it lying around for a while and the price sticker came off, so when I was interested I just gave them a reasonable offer. The question I have is how deep in the water is the bioball chamber supposed to sit? 2-3 inches? Also, I've searched and some say to clean them periodically, some say to use a prefilter sock and never clean it. Mine came with a filter pad that the water passes through before the bioballs, so would that suffice? Is it benneficial to never clean them?
Ben
I got the bioball chamber from my LFS. They had it lying around for a while and the price sticker came off, so when I was interested I just gave them a reasonable offer. The question I have is how deep in the water is the bioball chamber supposed to sit? 2-3 inches? Also, I've searched and some say to clean them periodically, some say to use a prefilter sock and never clean it. Mine came with a filter pad that the water passes through before the bioballs, so would that suffice? Is it benneficial to never clean them?
Ben
benihuma
Member
What types of caulerpas and algaes do you suggest I stock the refugium with. Do I really need a dsb in the refugium since I already have one in the main tank? I'll put some lr in so that the algae/caulerpa has something to stick to, but if I can get away with no dsb, I'd like to.
Ben
Ben
foxthorn
Member
Just a suggestion... but you could change the first and second 90-degree elbows that head up to the spray bar with two 45's instead.
This would free up some of the restriction on the flow that the 90's create. Yeah, you have a good size pump.. but then again, why use 90's if you don't have to.
Just my 2-cents
This would free up some of the restriction on the flow that the 90's create. Yeah, you have a good size pump.. but then again, why use 90's if you don't have to.
Just my 2-cents
melbournefl
Member
There are saltwater safe check valves but they don't seal as tightly as the ones with a stainless steel spring. The one's sold at HD (here anyway) have the stainless spring which I'm just not comfortable with. I redesigned a lot of my planned circulation system to avoid having to use check valves anywhere at all. If you're looking for saltwater safe checkvalves aquatic eco-system sells them (careful, they also sell the one's with the stainless spring. Very nice setup you have there! Good luck!
Later,
Paul
Here are some pics of my sump construction project:
http://www.villagebistro.info/phpgal...p?exhibition=7
And some of the closed loop circulation system:
http://www.villagebistro.info/phpgal...p?exhibition=9
Later,
Paul
Here are some pics of my sump construction project:
http://www.villagebistro.info/phpgal...p?exhibition=7
And some of the closed loop circulation system:
http://www.villagebistro.info/phpgal...p?exhibition=9
von_rahvin
Member
you can look it up, but form what i read . . each 90 you have in the system you lose approx 50 gph, same as every foot upwards. not a hard fact but a baseline to work with.
