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Old 10/06/2005, 03:43 PM
barryhc barryhc is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Illinois
Posts: 880
Anthony, I've been researching for a sump/refugium, that I'm designing now to DIY for a couple of months now. I read this entire thread today, very very informative!

My display tank for this is a 27 gal. hex, with 6" of sand and gravel ( 1 1/2" of 1-2mm arag. at the surface ), and lots ( about 35 #'s ) of live rock.

The design as of now, is a 30x18x18 ( 42 gal. ) which is intended to be divided into 3 compartments:

> 15 gal. secondary display

> 10 gal. refugium

> 10 gal. of sump ( several compartments, overflows etc. )

I understand you're not a big fan of "combined sump/refugium" setups, but the whole thing has to sit out in the open, I need ( and want ) the extra display space for compatability issues, plus the 27 is "quite full".

My current set-up uses an overflow to a 16 gal. walmart tub, 450 gph ( "head rated" ) return with anti siphon holes, which only drains 1/2 gal. at power-off.

I understand how to handle the mechanical issues here, but here are the paramaters and questions.

The main tank has about 18 gal. of actual water. The new secondary display will be about 12 gal. actual water, and the refugium portion will be about 8 gal. of actual water.

That means about 30 gal. of display water to 8 gal. of "fuge" water ( or about 25% ). At 450 gph, thats 56 times the "fuge" volume per hour, 25 times the main display volume per hour, and 37 times the secondary display volume per hour.

>All the animals are happy now with the 25 times per hour in the main display, but what about that 56 times in the "fuge"?

I'm looking to grow Chaeto most likely, and hopefully lots of little "feeder critters".

The main display is handling itself pretty well in terms of nitrate already( it is rather heavily stocked ) at less than 2ppm, and Phosphate has finally dropped to less than 1 ppm and is on its
way down. I will probably run several inches of sand-gravel in the secondary display, so it should nearly handle itself in terms of nutrients.

>I can cut down the flow rate pretty easy in the fuge, while I'm still designing if need be. Should I?

What sand, gravel, mud, you name it, is appropriate in the refugium, if I'm looking to grow macro for export, and "critters" to feed?

Are there any caveats here that you see me falling into?

Thanks, barryhc
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