Topic of the Month:refugiums

[jobob]

sensesfail, if u send me like 5 bucks for shipping i will give u some of mine. as u can see its overflowing my fuge. email me at jobob42069@aol.com if u want any. i was just goin to give it to the lfs anyway. i probly got about 3 softball size portion. i figure with water 5 bucks should cover one portion. let me know.

 

[guppy slayer]

Is it possible to have a refugium with out drilling the bottom of the display?? My tank is acrylic and has a built in wet/dry in the back. Can anyone that might have this type of setup with a refugium explain or draw/show me a picture. I would put it under the display.

 

[bret61081]

Farmboy...I thoguht about doing that at first, but then I read that you should only turn the amount of water in the refugium over 10X per hour....my over flow is ment to do 300G per hour...atleast thats what Iwas told! I figured thats way too much for a 10G refugium....I actually considered putting my 29G down there as a fuge but it won't fit inmy 55G stand....Do u think thats too much going through the refugium per hour or would that be ok? with about 20 pounds of LS, 5-10pounds of LR rubble some cheato and mangroves...
Jobob...I thought about doing something like that but I am not that "skilled" to cut all the hoses and stuff like that! but if I want to make it work I might just have to so I can get my nitrates down a natural way!
Thanks for all the imput guys...
:happyfish

 

[killergoby]

Originally Posted by Guppy Slayer
Is it possible to have a refugium with out drilling the bottom of the display?? My tank is acrylic and has a built in wet/dry in the back. Can anyone that might have this type of setup with a refugium explain or draw/show me a picture. I would put it under the display.
You might be able to use one of these: CPR Overflow

 

[jobob]

Guppy Slayer, i think the best way to hook up a fuge would be a overflow. but i don think the overflow box will fit on ur tank with the built in filter. so i think the only way would to have the fuge above the main tank, and pump the water from in back of the built in filter to the fuge and drill an overflow in the fuge. so it will gravity feed the return. something like this

 

[farmboy]

Hey Bret,
You can add a ball valve and a "tee" to the overflow line coming in to the fuge and send any extra water directly to the sump area. I use a similar setup on mine and it lets me kinda fiddle with it to try different flows.

 

[bret61081]

Originally Posted by Farmboy
Hey Bret,
You can add a ball valve and a "tee" to the overflow line coming in to the fuge and send any extra water directly to the sump area. I use a similar setup on mine and it lets me kinda fiddle with it to try different flows.

ok...cool thanks....just wondering you have a real pic of it...the hose coming off my overflow to the w/d is the matterial that we used to use to vacuume the pool....how do u cut that or do u have a different type of hose??
Thanks for all ur help guys...looks like its gonna happen soon!! I was actually at Big Als the other day looking at tanks...found a nice 15 tall that would prolly do the job best....I'll keep u posted!

 

[farmboy]

Bret,
Mine is all rigid plumbing but I'm sure the hardware store near you can help you adapt what you have. The plumbing guys are usually pretty helpful if ya tell them what you want to do. I have spent hours in the plumbing aisle.

I used 3/4" and 1" pvc. It's cheap and easy to work with. I didn't even glue the joints that are over the fuge(the overflows are glued). This lets me partially disassemble the system to do maintenance without too much trouble.

 

[bronco300]

hey you all, hopefully you can help me...i'm gonna start a 5.5 gallon fuge sitting ona stand behind my 10gallon...it'll be pumped into the refuge, and gravity back...what i'm wondering is if i can put a skimmer on the one end of the tank?? thanks!

 

[shnabbles]

HOLLY F promisetbg is that your tank?? What the heck happend looks like a fresh water tank lol

 

[bronco300]

also, can one put a fish in a refuge, would there be a point? i have two damsels, and i want to get some clownfish...but i like my blue yellow tail...so i thought maybe i could put him in there? if not oh well, i'll just go trade em in.sd

 

[farmboy]

Originally Posted by Bret61081
ok...cool thanks....just wondering you have a real pic of it...the hose coming off my overflow to the w/d is the matterial that we used to use to vacuume the pool....how do u cut that or do u have a different type of hose??
Thanks for all ur help guys...looks like its gonna happen soon!! I was actually at Big Als the other day looking at tanks...found a nice 15 tall that would prolly do the job best....I'll keep u posted!
I posted this on a different thread about fuges:
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...1&postcount=12

 

[popnfrresh]

Thomas712, in post number 62 i see you have the pvc connected to the overflow in your tank. What kind of pvc is that. Im tryiong to set up my refuge and have no idea what to use to prevent leaks.
you can email me at popnfrresh@gmail.com or reply please.
Thankyou

 

[thomas712]

Thats just a regular bulkhead with 1" PVC, not the schedual 40 stuff either, just the cheap 1"PVC.
Thomas

 

[popnfrresh]

Where can u pick that up. i looked everywhere at home depot last night and i couldnt find it and the guy there didnt even know what i was talking about.

 

[thomas712]

What? Couldn't find PVC pipe?

Thats just wrong
or were you looking for a bulkhead?

 

[popnfrresh]

I was looking only for the peice that would secure the tank glass. (bulkhead). Couldnt find one and the guy there had no idea hwat i was talking about.

 

[thomas712]

Yeah well they don't carry those, neither does Lowes. You should ask at your LFS or you can look them up online. There are different ones, so know what you want.

 

[popnfrresh]

lol i dont know what i want :help: . It is a 29g tank with a 1" hole.

 

[aquaengine]

I have had great success keeping clowns and damsels in a refuge that I made out of a 20 tall. It worked fine with fish. In fact my whole purpose was to keep a reef and a predator system tied into one with a lot of filtration. I have since broken it down because it is kinda of a hassle keeping both of the overflows for the sump and the fuge level without an auto top off or checkvalves on the return lines( My house flooded when i was away as a direct result of the fuge set up). I will be building a stand for a new 90g with a 39g refuge under it. Both will be for display. I also noticed a lot of salt loss over where I kept the fuge. I think this was because I just had a hose sticking into the tank from the over flow. This made lots of bubbles releasing the salt into the air. It’s not a hard problem to solve but it was an issue. All in all I think it is a great addition to any system. I would even consider having 2 one for display and one for algae.