Making A Refugium And Connecting It To My Tank

[fish_keeper2]

i was thinkin of making a refuguim. i was just going to set up a 10 gal with 10+ lbs of argonite sand, 15+ lbs of LR and lots of macro algae and a light strong enough for the algea to thrive and i will provide 20x flow. since my main tank is already set up how would i connect the refuguim to the main tank with put tearing it down? any ideas welcome.

 

[crazyelece]

Pump it up and into the fuge then let it gravity fall back to the tank.

 

[Aquascaper]

There's two ways:

1) Position a tank below the main tank and drain water into it using an overflow box, drilled overflows or 'U' pipe and pump it back up - The good side to this is that the refugium is easily hidden should you want to, the bad side is that most pod life growing in the refugium will not survive being pumped back up to the main tank.

2) Position the tank above the main tank water level and pump water into the tank and drain water from it back to the main tank using an overflow box, drilled overflows or 'U' pipe - The good side to this is that pod life in the refugium will be flushed into the tank providing extra live food, the bad side is that the tank is harder to hide

HTH

 

[fish_keeper2]

thanks. now i just need to figure out what materials i need and how to put it together.

 

[Aquascaper]

Tank
Pipe
Overflow Box or Glass Drill Bit + Bulkhead
Powerhead
Light

Pretty basic shopping list but the idea is very simple, just a tank linked to the main one, just depends on which way you position the refugium. Which would be easier for you and do you want to have a supply of pods going into the tank?

 

[fish_keeper2]

it would be easier to position the refuguim under the tank rather than over it. i dont really need pods as i dont have anything that relies soely on them(ie a mandarin goby).

 

[Aquascaper]

You don't need pods as a food source unless, as you say, you have a fish that relies on them. Some will get through from the refugium if you put it below the tank and pump the water up so all is not lost. You can always manually move them if you see a lot and fancy giving the fish a snack