Just to make sure I'm doing this right

[vinny2261]

I would find something that will fit under your tank. Depending if you are going with a internal pump or external pump. You can use a exsiting tank and chamber it with glass and silicon or you could have a acrylic box made to your specifications. As far as sizes for the different areas everyone seems to design to thier specfic needs and budget. I usually make a place for the drain area. This is a box or a partion with the drain going to the bottom. This area gives the water a place to let some of the bubbles escape. Then I place another partion for a additional bubble trap then a short small partion to direct the water up so it does not wash out the sand of the refugium area. After the refugium area there are a couple of more baffles for bubble traps. You can also add areas for your media bags, skimmer, etc.

 

[Jeather]

Sorry I should have said I already have a sump. Thanks for the help though.

 

[badger126]

Hey congratulations on getting everything set up and running well! As far as what's next it looks like you need to finish your refugium by adding macroalgae if nutrient export is your goal. Do you have any live rock in your refugium? Sand bed? if so how deep? Do you have a light on it yet?
As soon as you have no ammonias or nitrites and an acceptable nitrate level you should be good to add a few fish. Just take things slow and don't make the mistakes that I have haha.
Dead rock can start a mini cycle by the addition of dead organic material. If there is much dead stuff on there it can overload your bio-filter and the bacteria can't remove ammonias fast enough. The bacteria then has to multiply to handle the increased bio-load.

 

[jrgilles]

I just got a my tank set up (75 display, 50 gallon sump, soon to add in a 20 gal fuge (hopefully this weekend.)

From what I've researched, boiling rock is not a good idea, the air trapped inside expands, and it can fracture your rock into pieces.

It appears what you would want to do it 'cook' your rock. You would do this by keeping the rock in complete blackness (probably with a powerhead?) for a month or 2. The bacteria will multiply and take out all the organics.

If you were to boil it, all the bacteria deep in the rock would be gone and not come back, from my understanding. You would be able to repopulate the outside of the rock to filter out nitrates, nitrites, etc., but the cultures deep inside that remove the phosphorus, etc. would be damaged beyond repair.

I'm kind of a noob, so just repeating what I've read on the internet and stuff I was told by the guys at Barrier Reef in renton, who seem to know their stuff very well.

rob

rob

 

[badger126]

Get some pics up for us!