refugium

[1package]

OK - the old sump is out, decided this week. I am certain the wife will appreciate that. I currently have a 29g on my 125g, I am using an external little giant pump with it so it takes up about 4 ft., the same as my new 75 g, will take up length wise underneath. This should leave space for everything. I am going to lose the bucket that I was using with floss and go for a partitioned area using lexan and egg crate - speaking of which - first question - Where do I get egg crate? I was on this site today Melve....somebody's reef.com. They had some great examples. I am going to go with the intake on one side with skimmer, refugium on the other side and return pumps in the center and will use a spray bar on the refugium side, with a slightly higher wall. Any thoughts on design or regrets (other than size)?

[LowCel]

You can get egg crate at Lowe's or Home Depot. As for the lexan I would recommend going with glass instead. You can get 1/4" glass cut pretty cheap. I got mine cut at the glass place in Dunbar, can't think of the name though. I used All-Glass silicone, there are others that are safe but I know that it is, I didn't want to chance anything else. If JoMar's doesn't have it in stock they can order it for you.

I believe the best way to set up the sump/refugium is to have the intake come in the same section that the skimmer is in, the next section have the refugium and the final section have the return pump. That way you skim your water as soon as it enters the sump, then your water goes into your refugium, then it goes back to the tank. This way the water will flow thru the refugium and it will carry pods back into the tank. This way it also allows more room for the microbubbles to dissapear before returning to your tank.

[vijaysub]

Hope you guys don't mind me chiming in on your Reef Club forum.

I have my system setup like Lowcel for all the same reasons.
By the way Home Depot & Lowes will cut glass for you.

It sounds like you are going to be running a subersed pump. I would try and avoid this on a reef tank as it may increase the heat pretty dramatically ( I didn't believe it till I did it myself)

Vijay

[MattG]

i second using glass baffles over any type of plastic ones. It will provide a much better hold and the install will be easier IMO.

as far as silicone you can use GE I window and door which can be picked up at any hardware store. Just make sure what you use is 100% silicone with no anti mold/mildew additives. You can suposedly use GE II but i never have. GE II is suppose to be a better hold between glass and plastics so if you decide to go with lexan id use II.

my fuge is setup the same way lowcel's is design wise and im very happy with it.

[hmott]

I agree go glass... I used acrylic and about 2 months later the retaining wall between my return and my refuge caved in, silicone and supper glue gave in under the presure. Horrible mistake using acrylic now I have all kinds of extra support trying to keep that wall up untill I get around to redoing it with glass, 6 inch sand bed is going to be no fun to remove.

I also went with return in the middle mainly because I my refuge to replace my skimmer in removing nutrients eventually. If you run the skimmer before the refuge the refuge doesn't have the nutrients it needs and the macro will not do as well. If you run the skimmer after then the refuge can remove what it can and the macro can do its thing, and the skimmer can run cleanup duty on anything left. If you get lucky you may be able to turn the skimmer back some, or even off eventually.

Of course I don't have any proof on this, just some reading.

[LowCel]

The biggest downside to running the skimmer after the refugium rather than before is that it will also skim out your pods.