Sump refugium questions

[Tealah]

Ok, so my plan is to turn part of our 20L sump into a refugium. Based on the pictures I posted, is it even possible? If so, how should I go about it?

Right now we have Miracle Mud in the bottom of it - I honestly don't know what it's for but Travis (my husband) bought it on the advise of a guy from a LFS in Spokane and never explained it to me, haha. Normally there would be a skimmer in the first partition of the sump tank but I took it off to clean it and as of when I took the photos I hadn't put it back in. It's a Red Sea Prizm... I plan on getting a better one when we have the money, it's just what came with the tank. The flow in the tank is pretty high right now, the return pump is pretty strong. I'm putting a slower one on tonight to see how well it works.

The display tank (55 gallon) has about 60 lbs of LR and about 2" of sand. I plan on getting more sand as I can afford it. Nitrites and Ammonia are 0, pH is about 8.4, nitates are pretty high (about 15ish?), those are all the test kits I have right now.

I'm sure that's all way more information than was necessary. :lol:

So the pics.
The whole setup
The 20L sump
The first compartment
The second compartment
The last few compartments and return pump

So what do you think?

 

[ret25yo]

i used a mop bucket for the sand and cheato and the return pump on the outside of the bucket for my 20 g sump.

 

[Minus The Ich]

For a quick Refugium you could put some cheato in one the compartments with a light over it. I use a 125 watt flood light from home depot which grows chaeto very well. It is realy best to have the fug seperate from the sump but it doesn't look like you have too much extra room so I would try it and see how it works. You will have to make sure it doesn't get into the pump chamber and clog your pump.

Those nitrates are pretty high and I don't know if the refugium will help that. Has your tank cycled completely? Is your live rock alive? Maybe more live rock or live sand would help. You might also want to be careful about lowering the flow, sometimes lower flow leads to cyano.

 

[theJ]

It doesnt look like you have any equipment in there, are you planning on putting a skimmer or heaters in? If not, you could use both chambers for a fuge, just toss a big ol ball of chaeto in there with some lights! The more chaeto the better.

If you ARE going to toss some equipment down there, that will change how your fuge turns out

 

[Tealah]

Those nitrates are pretty high and I don't know if the refugium will help that. Has your tank cycled completely? Is your live rock alive? Maybe more live rock or live sand would help. You might also want to be careful about lowering the flow, sometimes lower flow leads to cyano.

The nitrates have been insanely high since we got the tank, but everything has been thriving and I haven't had a problem with algae, so I'm beginning to think that maybe my test kit is giving me bad readings... I'm going to pick up a new test on Sunday just to be sure. I agree with needing more live rock and live sand, I don't have nearly as much as I'd like in the display tank, plus I wanted to set up a quarantine tank, etc... so I'm definately getting more. I changed my mind about a slower pump, I changed the angle of the tube from the overflow and it's working for me now.

It doesnt look like you have any equipment in there, are you planning on putting a skimmer or heaters in? If not, you could use both chambers for a fuge, just toss a big ol ball of chaeto in there with some lights! The more chaeto the better.

If you ARE going to toss some equipment down there, that will change how your fuge turns out

I was going to put a skimmer in it, but mine broke last night when I was trying to put it back together after I cleaned it... ... just talked to my husband on the phone and he doesn't think we need one so unless I can get another one really cheap it's not going to happen. I'll be taking your advice then about using both chambers. Now, about chaeto, is it the best thing I can put in there? Would I be able to put one kind, like chaeto, in one chamber and a different kind (calupera? however it's spelled) in the other? Or would that be bad?

 

[theJ]

I would stay away from calupera, in case it decided to spawn on you or escaped into your main tank, that stuff is hard to get rid of. Chaeto is the most common most likely to how easy it is to care for (you don't), and it grows fast.

That being said, I would rather have a skimmer than a ball of chaeto, just my opinion

 

[billaweed]

Hey Tealah,

This is a picture of my 20 gallon sump with refugium. Matts128 custom made it for me. In the picture you can see my inlet on the left with refugium in the back. In the front is where the water flows through a hole in the refugium, over and under baffles, then to my return. Its a pretty sweet get-up. I dont know if this is what your wanting but just to give you an idea.

20 Gallon sump/refugium

 

[theJ]

Heres mine:

video

 

[billaweed]

jarrod.. what size return pump are you using?

 

[Tealah]

So, chaeto just kind of... floats there? Like a big ball of green yarn? I thought it would, I don't know... have roots or something. :shock: Although I guess it's not really a plant, I just pictured it that way. billaweed, that setup is more or less what I had in mind, thanks for the picture - it'll help me with visualizing what I want.

By the way, am I weird for taking pictures to record test results for my tank? See? My nitrates went down a little since yesterday, so maybe my nitrate test isn't bad... but I might have stirred up a lot of gunk in the sand bed catching the fish I gave away on Sunday. lol.

 

[theJ]

jarrod.. what size return pump are you using?

A little mag 9.5, hooked up to an OM squirt 2 way

Telah: Yep it just sits there Its best if it rolls over and over like in that vvideo link in my last post, but thats not always easy to do. It's supposed to keep detritus from settling and rotting in the chaeto, but I though they liked that stuff anyway

 

[Tealah]

Oh, and I'm a little worried that my water flow might be too fast for pods in the refugium... do you think that would be a problem?

 

[theJ]

how many GPH are you pushing into your sump? Be sure to calculate head loss

 

[billaweed]

how many gph does that mag 9.5 put out?

 

[theJ]

how many gph does that mag 9.5 put out?

That would be about 950 before head loss, but with head loss, about 500gph. I am thinking of upgrading, but there is plenty of flow in the display with the seios and maxis!

 

[billaweed]

nice.... just curious.. where did you get your tek light? I'm thinking about upgrading to more lighting

 

[Tealah]

What lengths am I measuring for that calculator?

 

[theJ]

Telah, your hose length from your return pump, and all the bends or elbows you have in it

Billaweed, I got it from sunlight supply and i love it!

 

[Tealah]

That's what I thought but I wasn't sure. Thanks for your patience. I'm not normally a total idiot, but I just finished my final for one of my courses, so I'm a little fried, lol.

 

[theJ]

No worries Before you know it you will be teaching others about head loss