diy refugium questions

[aiko670]

I'm building a refugium out of a 40gal breeder for my new 120gal tank and have a few questions...I've had reef tanks for years but this is my first time experimenting with a refugium, I want to make sure I get it right the first time.

1)Should the skimmer be b4 the refugium or after?(I bought a kit from USA_Aquatics on Ebay, seems nice but I haven't put it together yet.)

2)how much water should I push through the refugium/hr

3)My tank has 2 overflows, can I use one for the refugium and the other to create a closed loop with a SCWD that I already have?

4)If I can't split them should I have my tank drilled in the middle to accomodate another drain? I found a glass guy who would drill a 1" hole for $25.00

5)How much live sand should I use and should I use any sort of mud.

Sorry for all the questions any help would be appreciated!

 

[Len]

1) Skimmer definitely before the refugium. There's no sense skimming the good planktonic life from the refugium

2) Refugiums don't need an enormous amount of flow. A good turnover rate of about 10x is sufficient in most cases. So for a 40 gallon volume, 300-400 gallons will work.

3) Sure, you can use the overflow in that fashion, but I'm not sure it's a good idea to recirculate the surface water of the tank. Ideally, you want to draw the water from below. Also, if there is bubbles in the overflow (from water falling down, for instance), your recirc pump will chop these bubbles up and release a lot of tiny air bubbles into the tank.

4) You can have it drilled in the middle for the recirc pump's inlet. You can also simply run pvc down to the desired length from over the top of the tank (avoids drilling .... drilling always has some risks involved).

5) If you're referring to how much sand in the fuge, there's no exact science to it. I myself would go with 3-4" of sand (at least 20% of which is high quality live sand). I hate mud based products but others have had success with it.

 

[aiko670]

Great, thanks for the help.

One last question... What about light? Do I need 50/50 and actinic and what about schedules?

Thx again!
Adam

 

[Len]

Adam, lights can be of "mediocre" quality. Some full spectrum (white/daylight) bulbs will do great. Actinics and 50/50 isn't necessary. I'd run the lighting schedule on a reverse photoperiod: when your tank's lights are off, your fuge light comes on, and etc.

 

[Rob Top]

$25 a hole seems high. You can get a bit on ebay for about $13 shipped. As Len said there is always some risk in drilling. Personally I have gotten over the fear of messing up and am drilling holes in everything.

 

[LA-Lawman]

are u running the fuge as your sump or addtional to the sump.... if so i recomend using a micron sock. alot of people dont use them but they help remove the particulate matter form the water column and also reduce bubbles in the sump.. less bubbles is the best.

take a look at my site if u havent seen a micron sock setup... i like this methd the best.

 

[aiko670]

I've been planning on running this as my sump, that's why I've tried to go as large as I can and want to do the closed loop for extra circulation. I'm limited to space because I'm building a 120gal AG into what used to be a 4'Lx30"deep closet. I won't be able to get behind it or under it in a basement. As a matter a fact I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with my chiller. I might put it in the crawl space directly below hung from the rafters so it's not on the ground.

As for the socks I heard you shouldn't filter out the particulate matter b4 a fuge because it feeds the fuge? Is that wrong or just a different school of thought. Personally I hate the though of detritus......

BTW, I'm scared sh!tle$$ to drill my own tank especially a brand new 120.
I might be willing to drill my own sump for a return pump but I'll probably just go submersiable....

Thanks again for all the advise!