DIY? Sump and refigium?

G

Goldie

Any one have any links. I was looking at one earlier but i didnt quite understand it.

Can you have the refrigium attatched to the sump is that how it works? Like an extra compartment.
 
http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

A refuguim can be a compartment of a sump, or it can be totally stand alone.

(I keep my sump and refguguims as totally seperate tanks personally, but I like doing things different... :wink: )
 
That is the site i was looking at. I guess the part i am confused with is where stuff goes so to speak. Like i know you put everything down there do you put it in the refrigium or is there a seperate compartment baised on what you want that everything else goes in? KWIM?
Jennifer
 
MANY ways of doing it... You can make the refuguim a compartment in the sump. Then, split the return from your tank so that most of the water goes straight to the sump, the rest goes to the refuguim, then overflows into the sump.

Or, you can have a separate pump sending water to the refuguim, and have it overflow into the sump...

Or... Many many many ways of skinning this proverbial cat...

I'd offer to let you come over and see how it all works on my system, but you're in New Mexico, and I'm in Lousisiana... :wink: But, Matt's idea of asking someone near you to let you see their system is an excellent suggestion, once you see one in person it'll all make a LOT more sense...
 
Well i have seen tri's and he has his also set up as a separate compartment. I am just looking into this for a future tank i hate that there are so many ugly unnatrual things that you see in mine...

I will spend some more time reasearching.... i just wanted to see if there were any "designs" of different things just to get a general idea of what some people do.
 
As the others have indicated there are many designs.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/refugdes9.htm - shows one of the simplest, but there is a great deal of information on all the other FAQ pages.
 
@fperkins wrote:
As the others have indicated there are many designs. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/refugdes9.htm - shows one of the simplest said:
Thanks! Thats what i was looking for! Just different designs.

Another thing does the size of your set up need to vary on the size of your tank?
Click to expand...
 
@Goldie wrote:
Another thing does the size of your set up need to vary on the size of your tank? said:
The size of the sump needs to be big enough to handle all the back flow water from your system during a power outage, so indirectly, yes, the sump needs to be proportional to the size of your system.

As far as your refuguim, it too really needs to be in proportion to the size of your display... IMHO, a refuguim should be at least 20% the volume of your display system for greatest effectiveness...
Click to expand...
 
When I started researching, i just went to the local fish store and looked in their show tanks. They have various refugium setups in the reef show tanks. The Melev "sump F" (which I am building for my 120G new tank), has really good pics of how it would be set up.
 
My mom wants to go buy a tank and start from the begining. She is talking about going to go buy just a 100+- tank, then building the stand and everything else ourselves. We are a very handy family. This would also stay at her house if/when i ever move.
 
The best way is to go to a fish store and just look. The employees will come down on you like vultures, makes you wonder if they get commission for selling you overpriced equipment.

You can just look at the brands that they have and copy it at home with acrylic or glass.

Also a lot of lfs have display tanks and nearly all have sumps underneath if you want to see it in action.
 
I did this on my last tank (30G RR) and now on my new 58 RR...

10G tank (I know it's a tad small bit there isn't much room in the stand) put in an acrylic divider about 3/4 of the way to the top, about 3 " from the end where a bac-pak draws it's water and the return goes along w/the feed from the auto-top-off.

At the other end a piece of acrylic about 2/3 to the top where the return pump is housed and the switch for the auto-top-off is mounted via lighting "egg-crate".

In the middle about 3" sand bed and calurpa floating and growing. Critters grow along w/denitrifing sand bed and stops the micro bubbles from returning to the tank. The output of the skimmer is directed here as well.

There isn't a whole lot of room for water during a power outage so make sure your anti-siphon is never clogged (ask me how I know).

It's a little more expensive but use 1/4+" acrylic rather than 1/8" or 3/16", the lighter has a tendency to bow under pressure stressing your silicon job.

Good luck!
 
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