tub refugium

[sciknen]

hey guys
i was gonna do a 20g long
but then i was thinking about maybe a couple of tubs
not really sure
i wanted to do a sump and a fuge in seperate tubs and just have gravity
so its
tank----
----sump----fuge--pump back to tank
i was really looking for some pics tho
thanks alot

 

[trigger11]

Originally Posted by sciknen
http:///forum/post/2494401
hey guys
i was gonna do a 20g long
but then i was thinking about maybe a couple of tubs
not really sure
i wanted to do a sump and a fuge in seperate tubs and just have gravity
so its
tank----
----sump----fuge--pump back to tank
i was really looking for some pics tho
thanks alot
I dont have any pics but I did have a set up similar to what you describe.
The essential piece will be where you connect the two tubs together. I would use the same size piping or tubing that you use for your overflow.
A major consideration is how high up on the tubs do you put your bulkheads. You could put the bulkheads at the very bottom of each tub if you wanted to. The water level in both tubs would be exactly identical then. The other option would be to put the bulkheads high up on the tubs. What will happen then is the water level in the first tub would always be as high as the bulkhead. It would then spill over into the second tub. With this option you would have to make sure that you leave enough room in the second tub in case the power goes out and you get the backdrain from your DT. I tend to like this option better because then you can stack up the LR pretty high in the first tub and you dont have to worry about the water line. Then all you need to do is worry about adding top off water to the second tub.
Hopefully that helps a little. Maybe somebody will be able to post a pic for ya.
~Trigger11

 

[spanko]

I don't know because I have a Biocube but it would seem to me that you would want to go tank - fuge - sump. I say this because the fuge could take advantage of the nutrients and detritus coming from the tank first then the skimming - filtering in the sump could finish it off before going back to the display. Again I don't know ..... just thinkin.......

 

[sk8shorty01]

Actually your fuge needs to have a really slow flow rate, otherwise you will have a sandstorm and your chaeto will be blowing around like tumbleweed... What you should do is have the overflow from your tank split into two seperate lines, each running to a seperate tub. After the split you should put a ball valve on the line that is running to your refugium so that you can control the flow rate. This would allow you to put about 5x turnover into the fuge, and the rest would flow down the other line and into your sump. Then you run the protein skimmer in your sump on the side that the water is coming in from your display so that the skimmer does not skim out any copepods. Your fuge would then have a line that runs back into your sump which would pump into the side of the sump next to your return line. In my opinion you should run something like this because you do not want to have your refugium turning over at 20x or whatever like your display is going to be, you need a slow, peaceful environment in there haha. Good luck, I will try to post a pick of what I mean in a second.

 

[sk8shorty01]

Here is a quick picture I did that might explain it a little bit better.

 

[spanko]

Now that makes all the sense in the world. Thank you for the explanation.

 

[sk8shorty01]

your welcome, glad I could help.... the only thing you might want to think about is adding a small baffle in the sump... The baffle would run front to back (so the baffle is running into your computer screen if you are looking at the picture above) close to the line coming from the display tank into the sump. Then you would put your protein skimmer on the side of the baffle that includes that line from the display. This would isolate your skimmer so that it is only skimming water that is coming from the display. Your water would then be spilling over the baffle into the remainder of the sump, where it would join with the copepod rich water from the refugium. Again, I hope this makes sense.

 

[sk8shorty01]

Here is what I mean.....

 

[mugg1977]

You might also want to consider piping the sump and fuge together instead of using a pump to get from the fuge to the sump. This might make it easier to regulate the water level in the 2 as the pump will be difficult to match flow rates to the gravity drain from the tank.

 

[sk8shorty01]

Good point Mugg,
I don't know why I drew it that way because as you said, using 2 pumps and having to match the flow would be really quite difficult. Thanks for fixing my flawed design. 2 heads are better than 1

 

[sciknen]

ye ai think imma do what he said and plumb the two together
now what kinda of tubs should i get anything special

 

[mugg1977]

Just make sure and get something that is "flexible" aka not a hard plastic storage bin. These could crack easily. Try HD, Lowe's, Target, etc.

 

[pontius]

what size tub are you talking about? because if it's a good sized tub, the flow rate from a 20 gallon is not going to be so great that it causes a whirlwind in the fuge. I would go tank-fuge-sump and keep it simple. seems to me that if you have 2 different flows from a 20 gallon into 2 separate areas, that's going to be massive flow leaving the tank.

 

[sciknen]

well its gonna be a 55 as a dt
and how do i post pics i made a picture of wha ti want in paint???

 

[1journeyman]

I would put the Refugium first as well. The more nutrients and the higher the flow to the Chaeto the better.

 

[sciknen]

thats what i want to do but how do i post a file from paint

 

[sciknen]

bump on ?

 

[scopus tang]

Upload it as pic into photobucket.com. then click on the IMG code and paste it into your post.

 

[sciknen]

 

[sciknen]

hows it look