need help going all out on my 55 gallon

[Reef of Eden]

Hey folks! hows it going?

I finally got the green light to get crazy with my aquarium at the house i live at.

I have been successfully keeping my aggressive FOWLR tank for about a year now.
with a really high survival rate!

I need help making plans. I have never done a sump, or a refugium, or Automatic Top Off, but those are all things I'd love to do, to improve to the quality of life for my tank inhabitants.

Things I have already:
55 gal AGA
Coralife 48 Inch Aqualight W/ 4-65W Straight Pin Base
AquaC Remora Hang-On Protein Skimmer w/ Drain Fitting + Maxi-Jet 1200 Pump
Fluval 305 (which I hope I can eliminate)
direct water line access with 24gpd RO Unit
and direct drainage lines

What I'd like to do:
setup a sump/refugium all one tank (maybe a 40gal?), have a drain at the bottom for easy water change, and some how possibly utilize the protein skimmer i already have inside the sump.
have an automatic top off with my RO unit, and setup a brute tank system for making saltwater.
I'd like to use something llike this to take water out of the main tank and possibly have an inline UV sterilizer before it gets to the sump.


any help AT ALL would be sooooo appreciated. I have very little idea what i'm doing as I have never done anything this advanced with aquariums.

[bebitte70]

First you would need to know if you can drill your tank as personally I don't siphon overflows.

[stagger19]

Chances are you can drill the back, but NOT the bottom as this will surely be tempered on a 55

Im getting ready to do a sump on my 55, and I have an aqua-c Remora as well. I was planning on putting this into the sump, using the maxi-jet 1200 and just use longer tubing so the pump rest on the bottom of the sump and feeds up to the input on the skimmer. If you check the in sump version, this is how they are setup.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_Aquari...rchin_pro.html

You would just need a way to support it so it doesnt fall over, and a way to channel the water down a slide to keep the noise down.

Im thinking of just putting mine agaist the side of the sump, and using a bungee cord or something simalir to hold it upright, and coming up with mouting a container under the discharge area with a tube to eliminate water splashing and the noise.

[kgross]

What you want to do is not to hard to do. First you need an overflow for the main tank, or you need to drill it if possible for an internal overflow. After that you will need the tank for your sump. Just make some baffles to put in it, make a small section for your skimmer. Leave a large section for your fuge and a small section for your return pump.

On your canister filter, you will not need it at all, trade it for a return pump.

On your water changes. How much water do you want to be able to change? If you make a large fuge section it will not leave much water in the skimmer section or return section for water changes.

ATO. You will want either a float valve or 2 float switches or all the above. Mount them on the last baffle in the return section to control the water level. Pretty easy to do it all, but hard to explain since you are asking for a lot of info in one post. What I would suggest is try to do some reading on sumps/fuges etc and then post specific questions that will be a lot easier to answer.

Kim