Refugium Setup

[fraservet]

I have decided to set up a refugium with my 400l fish only tank.
It will consist of an old 48"x12"x18" tank, sited above and to one side of the main tank.
There will be several compartments - from water coming in to exiting
bioballs(4"),mineral mud + caulerpa(20"), live rock + inverts.(20"), bioballs(4").
There will be some coarse filter material between each compartment.
There will be 24h lighting.
Water will be pumped from the main tank via an ocean runner 3500, and will return via overflow from the sump tank.

If anyone has any thoughts or can suggest improvements, I would be grateful.

I was thinking of using 40mm pipe for the return, would this be ok?

 

[bob`_your_dog]

But wouldn't it be eaasier to have it under the tank? run it it from your sump if you have one, or is it a matter of space? And i think 40mm should be cool, but 50mm might be safer and quiter, not to sure tho.

 

[Navarre]

The problem with it being placed under the tank is the damage that return pump will cause copopods. A refugium is a great source of live food for the main tank and if the water is gravity fed back into the tank then pods and amphipods will fall safely into the main tank to be eaten as live food. If the tank is under the main tank then the pods have to enter the tank via the return pup and this usually kills them. )

 

[bob`_your_dog]

AAHH, so there's a reason for everything. My bad

 

[fraservet]

Also, the 4ft tank is currently empty, and I should be able to get it drilled easily.
The main tank is full of water and fish, not to mention being too heavy even when empty to take to be drilled.
I would rather not have an overflow box.

 

[Opcn]

I'd toss the bioballs from the first compartment and just use filter floss (or layers of coarse media pads), then remove the coarse media from all the other places, filter floss has greater surface area than bioballs anyways (media pads aswell) and you can rinse it out every month or so by doing a 5 gallon water change and shakeing it out in the waste water. The thing about the coarse filter pads is that they may slow down the pods on there journey to your tank and as they get clogged fewwer and fewwer pods will get throught

 

[ostrow]

Pump won't damage 90% of pods, and the 10% it does will still be tasty treats for the fish and corals. See Dr. Ron Shimek on this.

The real problem would be getting the water back up. If the pump fails, your fuge gets inundated with overflow water and you get a flood. The way you have it, if the OR fails (and believe me, in a saltwater tank it will), you get gravity flow into the tank from the fuge. Hope you have a sump below to capture the extra.....

And before anyone asks, the difference is the sump tank is normally half to 1/3 full of water (if you have more, you should reduce...so it can caputure extra water in even tof a pump failure), while fuge is normally enitrely full.

 

[fraservet]

The reason for the bioballs in the first compartment is that this is what is recommended on the miracle mud website to remove bubbles - I believe Navarre has theorised that it acts as a Nitrate producer also.

I will probably remove the filter material between compartments and replace it with some sort of mesh.

In terms of possible problems, hopefully a fairly large diameter return pipe will reduce the chances of a blockage - I could always have 2 returns to be on the safe side.
Pump failure would not cause a major problem, as the pipe going into the refugium will end fairly high, so that once a small amount of water passes to the main tank, the syphon will be broken.

 

[Opcn]

Maybe the smallest pods wont be hurt by the impeller; But the impellers on pumps sized right for a 55 gallon sump would really do a number on anything over say 3mm.

 

[Great Lakes]

The addition of a refugium is a great idea. IF the only spot you have is underneath, so be it. Optimal however, is above the main display.

When placed above, you can also adjust your flow rate easier. Refugium are usually a more tranquil environment.

This slower flow rate would make me think about a 40mm pipe for the return.
I think it would be overkill for your turnover rate. Yet you never know what the tanks future could hold and 40mm is a good general purpose size. I would drill it to accept 40mm the reduce it to say about 25mm. This would give you a litle more velocity for additional current in the display.

Something to consider with 40mm would be plumbing an end chamber into the refugium and incorporating a 10 to 20 litre surge return. This will make you feel even more like a mad scientist, have your friends and family shaking their heads at your obsession more than they already do, and garner oohs an ahhs of your reefkeeping peers.

This is, after all, the worlds greatest Tim Allen hobby.

GL

 

[fraservet]

Something to consider with 40mm would be plumbing an end chamber into the refugium and incorporating a 10 to 20 litre surge return. This will make you feel even more like a mad scientist, have your friends and family shaking their heads at your obsession more than they already do, and garner oohs an ahhs of your reefkeeping peers.

Sorry, not sure exactly what you mean/how this would work.

If you could give details, or provide a diagram that would be great.

 

[Opcn]

You drill a 44 mm hole in the tank then have a section of 4o mm pipe comeing out, then a fitting thats 40 mm on one side and 25 on the other, then have the 25 leading from the fitting down to the tank