24 Gallon Aquapod Refugium - Suggestions please.

[ReefGirlSara]

I am finally about to set up my 24 g Aquapod. My stand is almost done. I'm debating whether I should make a fuge in the back compartment, or put a 5-10 gallon sump in the stand. My main concern with putting it in the back compartment is that I want to use the stock hood, so I don't know how I would get any light in there. Does anyone have a similar set up? I'd love to see some pics and some details of how you did it.

Or, if I put it below in a sump inside the stand, I don't know the first thing about doing this. I will have about 18x20 inches to work with (max). If anyone has any suggestions of what to do from start to finish, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, if you have run across any links that would be helpful in the general design process and set-up of a fuge, that would be good too. Do you usually put a sand bed in a fuge, or just macro algea? If it will have sand, how do you keep the sand out of the return pump? Also, anybody know of a good thin skimmer for this project? It can be tall, but needs to be pretty skinny.

Thanks!
-Sara

[MalHavoc]

The big issue with a sump is that you'll have to modify the AP to accomodate the overflow, or drill it, or something, in order to drain water down to it. With an overflow box, you'll almost certainly end up with something that won't work that well with your stock AP hood. Have you checked out our Nano forum for suggestions?

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=75

Someone has probably modified an AP to allow for a refugium in the back, probably by nipping a section of the hood out with a dremel or something, and then using a clip on light to light it.

[reefergeorge]

No need to nip the hood. The back black part is just vinyl. You can use a razor blade and remove a section. Mont a light on the outside of the back. I did this with my 12 and love it.

[zotzer]

I did the same on my 12G...cut away part of the vinyl and hung a small coralife fixture on the back, which I keep on a reverse light cycle.

Since the 12G is small, I made a fuge out of the two middle compartments and have the light hung horizontally. You could probably pick one chamber for the fuge and hang the light vertically.

Tracy

[ReefGirlSara]

That's some great advice!! Thanks. Zotzer- what kind of coralife fixture do you mean? About how much are they?

Thanks again!

[ReefGirlSara]

do either of you have pics of the whole back area of your tanks?