Thinking about adding a fuge

costa78

New Member
I am thinking of adding a fuge to my 60g reef tank. Right now I am running a canister filter, but the more and more I read on it, i think that I should start a fuge. I have about 3 inch crushed coral base, that I have wanted to substitute for a long time, but am afraid of starting a whole new cycle. All of my corals are doing real well, with the exception of the waving hand xenia. It seems to be shrinking little by little. Is there a way of adding a sump with a DSB and some macro without starting a new cycle? How big of a sump would I need for the 60G?
 

bang guy

Moderator
Yes, you can. Unfortunately it sounds like your tank isn't reef ready so you'll need hang-on overflow boxes.
The bigger the better, but anything less than a 20 gallon probably isn't worth your while as a refugium. Are you going to have a sump and a refugium or are you going to put them together?
The best bet is to set up the refugium as a seperate system until it's stable. When you change water just use the old tank water for a water change on the refugium.
 

reefnut

Active Member
The main flow moves across the top leaving a slower flow down around the macros... a lighting upgrade is comming soon...
 

costa78

New Member
What purpose does the overflow box do? By the name of it I can kind of figure it out, but does it prevent the pump in the aquarium from displacing water too quickly? I was thinking of doing a sump and a fuge together if that is feasible.
 

maverick005

Member
an overflow box is how you get water out of your tank and into a sump/fuge without drilling the tank.
a refugium is where you keep macro algae and detrivores and is a lower GPH than a sump.
a sump is where you can keep your heaters, skimmer, etc. to keep them out of your tank.
HTH
-brandon
 
Top