Sump / refugium help

[the dewd]

I want to build a 30 gallon reef system with a 60 gallon sump. I will build a refugium into the middle of the 60 gallon. This is my first refugium.

I have had a 55 gallon reef / Predator tank for 3 months or so. I wanted to have the new tank set up for more of an invertebrate science project.

 

[K9coral]

Hi,
Looks like you got everything you need. Good luck.


Btw, whats the question?

 

[the dewd]

what type of algae is the best right now? Is there books out there that you would recommend? What kind of pump should I get for the return to the display tank? I want to keep as much life as possible going into the main tank. Would it be possible to put a small holding area in the sump? I f so should I put it before or after the refugium? Stuff like that.

 

[K9coral]

I dont know all the answers but.... I have a 100 gallon tank that is supported by the following:

150lbs live sand
1 small Skilter Filter
2 large (over 2lbs each) Chaeto Algae bunches
2 large "water mover" pumps (approx. 1400 gph total)

I have had no large algae outbreaks, I dose aragamilk per their directions once per day or every other day. I have 2 250watt 14k bulbs over the tank.

I have every type of clam. I have acros that have doubled in size (almost lol) over the last year. I have a lobo brain that has receeded but he was under the chaeto for about 3 weeks.

I hope this helps
:!:

 

[Anonymous]

I agree that is sounds like you have everything already.

chaeto is a good choice. I also like caulerpa profilera but it can go sexual.

with good light and calcium halimeda is an excellent choice in the display area.


As you already know sumps can cause floods. And with a 30g display it would be hard to have an in tank refug which is my personal preference. So the usual testing to insure safe operation is necessary.

I also use crushed oyster shells in my DIY filter box. With a nightly ph drop is helps buffer calcium carbonate.

Just saw the pics. FWIW I would be very tempted to reverse your setup and use the 60g for the display. Just a thought.

 

[Anonymous]

I also use crushed oyster shells in my DIY filter box. With a nightly ph drop is helps buffer calcium carbonate.

Bob, I think it would be better if you didn't include this in just about every post you make.

Bob has produced no evidence that the oyster shells buffer calcium. There are many lengthy threads on the subject if anyone is interested.

 

[Anonymous]

what type of algae is the best right now?

Cheato is in vogue because it is non invasive.

Is there books out there that you would recommend?

The Reef Aquarium Vols 1 and 2.

What kind of pump should I get for the return to the display tank?

How much flow do you want? Do you want and internal or external pump?

Would it be possible to put a small holding area in the sump? I f so should I put it before or after the refugium? Stuff like that.

What is the holding area for?

 

[SnowManSnow]

I also recommend Julian Sprung's book "The Reef Aquarium" vol. 1 and 2. In my opinion they are probably some of the more informative books out there. The books are a bit dated, but they are still EXCELLENT resources on almost anything youd care to know about. I would check EBAY to see if you can pick up the volumes for a discounted price. I think I payed $50 for BOTH volumes there.

B :lol:

 

[the dewd]

I wanted a holding area so that when I got new fish or inverts I could drop them in an area that I could easly Watch and capture if there was a problem. I want to put peices of acrylic in the 60 gallon to section off the areas. A section for the protien skimmer and overflow socks, a section for the refuguim, a section for the return pump and i want to add a fish and intert holding section.

As far as the pump is conserned, I have read about pumps that dont use impellars. Is there a pump I can afford, that wont kill all life that passes through it and I still want to circulate the water around 10 to 15 times an hour or so.

 

[Anonymous]

Water pumps really don't damage much of the smaller lifeforms because of the way they operate, just stay away from powerheads in the refugium and you'll be fine. The larger the pump the less likely it will kill anything. Baby Clownfish go through my water pumps occationally and they're fine.

As far as the holding area, I recommend a quaranteen tank instead. If you place a diseased fish in your sump or refugium you could cause problems with fish in the display tank. Q-Tanks are pretty cheap and well worth the effort.

 

[Ben1]

As you already know sumps can cause floods.

Have you ever had a sump, sumps don't cause floods. Sumps flood when people do stupid things, I havent had a sump flood yet. With my new 40 a few feet from the bed I set it up with a stockman and it is very quite.

A 60 gal sump is good, this will allow you to use a good part of it for the fuge. I would divide it in half and use half as the sump and the other 30 gal as the fuge. Just go to HD and buy some acrylic sheet and some silicone sealent to bond the acrylic to the glass sump. If you want to make bonds from arylic to arylic then use weld-on 16.

If you want to have an in sump pump try a mag 9.5 with two outlets plumbed, after head loss you should get about the right flow from this. I got one from the Mag drive outlet on ebay for 54$ including shipping and it was brand new as far as I could tell.

 

[Mihai]

what type of algae is the best right now?

Chaetomorpha - grows fast under good light, is very hardy and has no holdfast = easy to control its spread.

Is there books out there that you would recommend?

Conscientious marine aquarist by Bob Fenner
Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman

What kind of pump should I get for the return to the display tank?

An external one if you have the space - they'll heat your water less than the submersibles.

I want to keep as much life as possible going into the main tank.

You should consider how much polution each living thing puts out. You can fill the 30 gal with corals to the brim and you'll not go over the system's capacity. However, fish polute a lot and you want to keep those in check. You need your filtration to match or exceed your polutants. So, if you want lots of polutants you also want
- lots of live rock
- perhaps a deep sand bed
- a very good skimmer
- algae export

Would it be possible to put a small holding area in the sump? I f so should I put it before or after the refugium? Stuff like that.

What is that a holding area? I hope not a "quarantine tank" If this is what you meant - forget it, it doesn't do it's job - you don't want the water from the quarantine tank mixed with the one in the display.

M.

 

[the dewd]

Thanx for the help Mihai,

I have read The new marine aquarium By Mike peletta, The conscientious marine aquarist by Robert Fenner, Aquarium corals by Eric Borneman, and I am reading natural reef aquariums by John Tullock.

The holding area is for fish that are being jerks to the others or Keeping an eye on a new fish making it easeyer to catch to put into a quarintine tank if neccessary for treatment.

This Sump / refug will be in my closet. Here is what I think. What do you think?

Ian

 

[Mihai]

Get rid of the holding area - you can't keep a fish in there if it doesn't want to stay there. You also should not quarantine stuff in your sump.

Finally, I think that the return pump area is too small for my taste: I like to have a bit of buffer space before my pump runs dry.

M.

 

[K9coral]

No point in a quarantine in the same water as the regular tank. Use the space for something else.

 

[the dewd]

Is this a better design?

 

[Anonymous]

Yes

You might want to read up on baffles, use the Search engine and check a few related threads here at RDO, there are some nice designs already being shown here.

 

[Mihai]

I like it much more than before. I agree - you'll need some baffles, either one after the skimmer and three after the fuge, or three after the skimmer and one after the fuge.

M.

 

[the dewd]

What are baffles? I see people talking about them but never a picture or illistration to show the workings. From what i gather they are a sort of bubble defuser. Either an under-over type of divider or an actual peice of plumbing. I was going to drill holes into the divider between the sump and the refuguim, where the water line should be. and I was going to use a dual sock intake from the overflow to the sump. Is that a baffle? I'm baffled...

 

[Anonymous]

dewd, use the search engine. Go to the top of this page, click on Search, type "baffles" into the empty field, then click on the search area fields, and search only in General Reefkeeping. An entire LIST of threads on this subject will be shown to you. There is really wayy to much information for anyone to go into detail again, it's really all already there.

Read on.