Designing A Refugium To Fit Into A Juwel Rio 180 Cabinet

[sophos9]

Hi all,

I'm looking to utilise a bit of the cabinet that the Juwel RIO 180 fits on. Now I was thinking about internally strengthening the cabinet and putting in a sump but it would cause way too many issues (drilling tank, no temp relocation home etc)

I love the idea of a refugium and was wondering how I get one working (really dont want it hanging off the back or side)

My feeble way of thinking would be to buy or make a small tank that fits into one of the cabinets and some how pumps (siphons) water from the tank and pumps it back up.

I think there will be issues with flow rates (can I get past these using valves?) and I really dont want it to over flow (float switches or summin?)

I know in theory what I want to do but dont have a clue how to do it - can anyone help please?

 

[AK77]

Hi Sophos,

What do you want the refugium for? Is it as a water filter for macro algaes to absorb nitrates and phosphates from your water or is it for cocepod development?

The only way you can have water being syphoned from the main tank into a sump and back up again is either by drilling the tank or use of an overflow box. If you don't want to drill the tank (which is gonna be a pain in the ass if your tank is already set up and have livestock in it), then an overflow box is the way to go.

The Juwel 180 cabinet is a bit on the small side unless you remove the central support ("300w metal halides overkill??" Thread). I suppose you could get a small 12" x 12" x 18" cube made up, but unless you drill or have an overflow box, nothing will safely work.

 

[sophos9]

Hi

I guess since getting the Mandarin, I gone pod crazy.... The water stays really clean in my tank (0 phos and highest of 5ppm nitrate), I've 26kg of LR which is really helping so its only for the development of pods!

Drilling the tank is out and I've looked over all the overflow boxes - at those prices and the cost of getting a smaller tank made, pumps and what ever else I think I would be better off putting that cash towards a 'proper' tank and carry on filling the Juwel filter box with LR.

 

[AK77]

Hi,

If its only for pods then you could set up another little tank anywhere in the house and use a plastic syringe or turkey baster to suck pods from there and inject them into the display tank. Just put a lump of rock in the tank, a small 550LPH pump from Ebay to circulate the water, some chaeto algae and phytoplankton to feed the pods, a light unit and you'll be well away.

You could also just dump some chaeto in your tank. That provides a good colony base for pods.

 

[sophos9]

Thanks!

How much light does chaeto need? Thinking about putting some on top of the LR in the filter box will be quite close to a 15K white T5...

 

[AK77]

I would have thought that Chaeto would do perfectly fine under T8's. I have an 11w Arcadia Arcpod in the sump, and the chaeto grows just fine down there. I'd easily say in the few months that I've had it, its multiplied by about 5-6 times lol. The good think about it is that it doesn't go sexual and you can easily prune it by hand. I have it running along the back of the tank, tucked behind the LR.

One thing I would say about it is that it acts as a chemical filter and a physical one. Mine was getting quite brown, with diatoms and just general crap. I drained some tank water out, and gave it a damn good rinsing through. I was very lucky, because on replacing the chaeto back in the tank, I saw there were 3 bristleworms in there, 2 of them pretty large. Narrowly avoided getting stung there. Definitely wear my marigolds in future lol.

 

[SkiFletch]

Hehe yeah, always gotta watch for bristleworms in Chaeto

 

[Musho3210]

my chaeto got nothing....

 

[sophos9]

Thanks all. Can I just bung it in then or does it need to be attached to anything?

 

[AK77]

I just wedge mine between the rocks and the back of the glass. You could try decorating the tank with the stuff and place clumps in rock piles or something. You'll need to prune it back once a month or so, because once established it just groooooows!!

 

[sophos9]

Great thanks, I've just bought some and will be adding it into the juwel filter box with the 1.3kg of LR rubble...

Was also thinking about the inside structure of the rocks, the wrasse never goes in there, the blenny probably aint bothered and that leaves the Orchid Dottyback - do they enjoy pods?

If not, the mandarin has the entire inside rock structure to itself...