Ac500 Refugium

[123justin]

Im making a refugium out of a ac500 (ac110) to basically breed copepods for my mandarin dragonet.

My only worry is the flow in terms of GPH that the ac500 puts out. It's a fairly strong flow and I'm pretty sure the copepods cannot exist in a refugium with that much flow.

I'm wondering what the ideal flow rate to breed copepods is and how I can reduce that flow rate.

I have a baffel, my only idea in reducing the flow rate is switching the impeller (which many ppl have done)

Im wondering which impellers are interchangeable with the ac500? Or should I try cutting the ac500 impeller blades from 6 to 2?

 

[yvez9]

if i'm not mistaken, you can put the impellor from an ac300 on there, or you could simply reduce the flow by movint the little tab to the right, that should bring it down significantly

 

[steelhealr]

Sounds about right...creating a baffle should help, use the low flow position (to the right). SH

 

[superman]

Sounds about right...creating a baffle should help, use the low flow position (to the right). SH

I have an AC500 as my refugium on a 37 gallon. I used a baffle that sits about 1 inch from the output of the pump inside the AC500. The baffle goes up to the same level as the outgoing water edge. I have the AC500 wide open, most of the flow goes over the top of the refugium and doesn't dislodge much of anythign within the refugium. The higher flow helps the refugium from becoming a settling area, it has worked great for about 2 years now!