help me set up my refrugium!

euphoricgear · #1 12/09/2006, 03:22 AM

i want to build a refrugium out of a 10-20gal glass tank.
i have a sump that have the skimmer in there and the pump to put the water back to the main tank.

i was thinking of replacing the bio balls with live rock and algea.
would that be better than having another thank just for regrugium purposes?

if i do decide to have another tank, then i would need to get another pump to go back in the main tank right?

and last question. i want to have pods so that i can get a mandarin goby in the tank, so if i have a refrugium then how can i get the pods to go to the main tank?

do i have to siphon them out or will the pump absorb them?
how fast do they multiply?
what other living things can i keep in the refrugium?

thanks in advance

Nasty Wendy · #2 12/09/2006, 06:28 AM

The best way IMO is to incorporate it into your sump.
I cannot think of any way to use a seperate tank and not need an engineering degree to make it work. Maybe someone else will chime in with a good way to add a completely seperate refugium. The balancing act of preventing a potential flood gets complicated with a sperate tank.......I'm assuming you are putting underneath the main tank.

Scuba Oz · #3 12/09/2006, 06:32 AM

Having a fuge is always a plus for a system, yes you will need a pump for it or run a "Y" pipe in your overflow line and do a gravity flow. There are many ways to do it, need to know more on how your current system is set up.

Pods will need to be introduced into your system at first, and if you keep a healthy section of macro-algea for them to live in they should start to re-produce. You might have to boost the population from time to time.

Getting rid of the bio-balls is a good idea, make sure you do it slowly, dont take them all out at once, remove about a 1/4 of them at a water change until they are gone, and you could slowly add live rock rubble in their place.

HTH

euphoricgear · #4 12/10/2006, 04:07 AM

i was thiniking that if i take out the bioballs, instead of putting live rock, what if i start putting caulerpa or whatever?

will pods grow in caulerpa too? i've been hearing alot about this chaeuto?

rkelman · #5 12/10/2006, 06:45 AM

Pods will just "Happen" they will get back into the main tank via the pump. I'd go with Chaeto. Caulerpa may go sexual and over run your tank..

piquesegue · #6 12/10/2006, 08:09 AM

Hi,
have a look here to see how i did to set up my refugium:

http://www.piquesegue.space-blogs.com

Well, it's all in French but looking the pictures will maybe help.
There is NO pump in the refugium, water goes back in the main tank by... gravity

Hopeful Reefer · #7 12/10/2006, 09:17 AM

There is another method...the elevated method...

This really depends on your stand, available space, etc...the theory behind an elevated fuge is this...pods that do grow and enter a tank via the return pump from below will very likely be chopped to pieces...with an elevated fuge, water flow via gravity back in to your main tank...and pods with it...they will be alive and swimming if you look carefully...

The water can get pumped in to the overflow fuge through a small powerhead since there won't be a whole lot of head or flow this way...and, have the fuge lit by a light on an opposite cycle from your tank...a small, normal flourescent bulb and fixture from HD or Lowes works well...don't have to put a ton of light in the fuge for it to grow...

I'm currently setting up my 75g so it will have an overflow elevated refugium...your pods have a better chance of getting in to your show tank this way...

Hope that helps...

SaltyDr · #8 12/10/2006, 05:49 PM

Here's what I'm doing for mine. I have a 75G and have a 10G fuge and separate sump. You need to cut a hole in the 10G tank near the top, use a bulkhead and connect this to the sump with PVC pipe. The tank will have to be a little higher than the sump. You will need a separate pump to pump water from the sump to the refugium which will then drain back to the sump. A small 100gph pump is fine. You can then buy a 10 clamp on utility light from Home Depot and you are good to go. Hope this helps.

euphoricgear · #9 12/11/2006, 04:20 AM

SaltyDR -- thanks i kinda get the idea. im running a chiller in the sump right now and it gets water from the sump, goes through the chiller and returns back in the sump.

i was thinking of getting your idea and run the out from the chiller to the refrugium but i dont know what i need to drill a hole in a glass aquarium.

can i just use those platic containers that you can get at target to put stuff in? they're cheap but i dont know if they get brittle in time. i know that if you leave it out and the sun gets to it then it gets brittle.

what do you think?

thanks

jdm01 · #10 12/11/2006, 06:04 AM

Here is a link to my sump/fuge. The sump/fuge picture is up toward the top of the page.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...89#post8716889

I took the bio-balls out slowly and replaced them with live rock rubble. Probably overkill since I have about 110 lbs of LR in the main display, but it never hurts. As you can see I split the center part of the sump into 2 parts, one for the LR and the other for the macro. The light source runs on an opposite light schedule and is an 18 watt power compact unit. It runs about 12 hours at night. It was a pretty simple setup. It was very inexpensive, easy to do, and since it was in the sump there was no additional engineering work that had to be done. I do not have pods yet, but they will make their way to the display via the return pump.