Creation of the fuge pic thread

[pdhenderson]

octopussie

How do you have those fuge's plumbed????

[pdhenderson]

octopussie

How do you have those fuge's plumbed????

[Octopussie]

[Octopussie]

i will be ditching my DSB in a couple months and switching to a fluidized sand filter. my mangroves tont export as much nutrient's as the cheato morpha anyway

[Octopussie]

i will be ditching my DSB and the mangroves in a couple months and switching to a fluidized sand filter . my mangroves dont export as much nutrient's as the cheato morpha anyway.

[psilo]

good lord siphons scare me. I have a 55 with same looking stand as yours and currently just a 10.. would love to add another but i got this 'new' 55g setup with overflow to lose my hob overflow lol... couldnt imagine having to put my faith in a tube again.

any probs ever?

[bergzy]

siphons scare the beezjeebers out of me too!

it's like martha stewart giving me stock 'tips'! something just might go wrong 'one day'!!!

[Octopussie]

never had any problems. i use two 2" pvc siphon tubes and neither has ever broke siphon. works great

[pvtschultz]

I too ran a siphon from my fuge to my sump for a number of years w/o any problems. It did scare me though so I ended up drilling the tanks. The key thing to success is to keep the water flowing into the siphon nice and calm w/o introducing bubbles. If there are never any bubbles, the siphon stands little chance of breaking.

[Keelay]

Originally posted by pvtschultz
I too ran a siphon from my fuge to my sump for a number of years w/o any problems. It did scare me though so I ended up drilling the tanks. The key thing to success is to keep the water flowing into the siphon nice and calm w/o introducing bubbles. If there are never any bubbles, the siphon stands little chance of breaking.

"Little chance" That makes me feel better. If you go with a siphon, you will want a clear section at the top so you can verify that bubbles are not accumulating there. You will want to check it on a regular (weekly maybe) basis.

[waxy]

Siphon tubes...hmmm never done anything like that. Looks like it will overflow somehow, not that it is suppose to because your water level should always be accurate.

[pvtschultz]

Here's how I did it:


There is a small check valve glued in at the top so I could suck all the air out of the tube to start the syphon. Also notice the corner overflow in the fuge on the left side to keep that tank full and then the box sets the pressure differential with the sump. I then used a small ball valve to control the flow and a PH for water movement.

[Octopussie]

the siphon tubes have worked for me but so has alot of things. i been using just regular tap water for three months and i dont evon add dechlorinator and my tank is doing fine. i also got drunk and thaught it would be funny to shoot a fire extinguisher off in the house, there was a thick yellow film accrossed the top of the water and then things wer not so funny. i lost no corals over the whole ordeal. just had to do a water change with that good ol tap water lol.

[ReefSparky]

Originally posted by Keelay
If you go with a siphon, you will want a clear section at the top so you can verify that bubbles are not accumulating there. You will want to check it on a regular (weekly maybe) basis.

words of wisdom

[ReefSparky]

pvtschultz--

that's gotta be some nasty tastin' Amaretto. LOL

[pvtschultz]

Only the finest! I've switched to vodka bottles now, not quite as deceiving.

[ReefSparky]

Sorry about the lack of pics, but I've been putting in some hours at the real job.

First the Cliff Notes:
At first,terrible failure, nothing worked.
Now, everything works like a charm.


I've fit the last baffle on the fuge. I also had it drilled to accomodate the overflow from the display tank, and I gave it a test run. In an attempt to create a leisurely water flow in the fuge, I tried a QuiteOne 1200 as the return. With a 4 ft. head, the pump is supposed to return approx. 150 gal/hr, but the return stream had less force than a waterfountain. The fuge took in water faster than it could return to the display tank, the water level in the main sump (Wet/Dry) would plunge and begin to pump air. If left unattended the fuge would have overflowed within 15 min's.

So I tried my old Rio 1700 and placed that in the fuge. After playing around with the return valve (had to dial it down a bit) I had everything where it was supposed to be.

In a power outage, the wet/dry can accomodate about 5 gals of overflow. The fuge, itself a 10 g tank, operates at 7 gal with room to accomodate nearly 3 gals of overflow safely.

After letting it run for a couple of hours, I pulled the plugs on all pumps and observed. I was stoked to see fuge stops filling almost immediately, and is motionless at about 8 gals. The wet/dry sump becomes still with about 5" below the danger zone. So everything is great. Cant underemphasize the ability to sleep well at night.

Today I'm going to hit a LFS for some chaeto and Home Depot for a clip-on light and bulb.


Pro's:
1. I've just about doubled my tank turnover,
2. I've added more water to the system, stabilizing the chemistry,
3. I've added a good chunk of surface area for O2 uptake,
4. The chaeto will harbor pods for the fish to eat,
5. The chaeto will also compete with tank algae for nutrients.
6. More turbulence in the display tank.

Possible Cons:
1. Water movement in the fuge may be to great.

[ReefSparky]

Well, it's finished for now. On my next dive I'm going to grab enough sand from the reef to create a DSB with critters and pods.







I'll keep everyone posted on how it progresses.