So in another thread we heard from anew member that is running a 10g sump/fuge combo on his 29g display tank. We all know how much of a PITA a 10g sump is let alone sectioning it off to make a fuge too, so I thought it would be a good idea to start a conversation here discussing different options for seperating the 2.
OK - my first idea is to seperate the two outside of the tank stand…
My tank drains in to a 29g sump which houses a couple media reactors and my skimmer.
I pump from my sump to a 20g refugium set slightly higher than my display tank. I ‘T’ off the return pump (mag9.5) so that I can control the flow to the refugium. I don’t use a pump to get the water from the refugium to the DT, I drilled the tank, added a bulk head and some plumbing and gravity feed the water back to the DT. With a 1’ drop and a 3’ run back to the DT I pick up enough inertia to create a good bit of flow from my return.
This set up enables controllable flow through the fuge, so I can experiment with faster or slower flow, as well as being able to add significant water volume to my overall system.
Newbie, reporting in GolfC
I have the tools to forge my own acrylic tank, so creating a hang-on-back setup that’s custom to my layout will not be a problem. What would be an optimum size for a refugium for my 29gallon?
When I remove the partition in my 10 gallon sump (for the existing fuge), do you think that there will be enough reserve water to make my life a little easier?
Last question: What is the most desireable macroalgae for a mostly reef setup for the size tank I have?
Thank you for your help in advance, I’m hoping to get some good input from your wealth of knowledge lol
The goal of any fuge is to make it as big as possible. If you’re diong a HOB style I’d make it as wide as the tank (30") as tall as the tank, and a few inches deep (usually the darn walls get in the way of making them too deep, so we settle for tall).
As far as macro - I prefer cheato - it’s cheap (free for the asking usually), grows under normal lighting so no need for fancy expensive fuge ligting, doesn’t go sexual (I don’t think) and does a good job of pulling nitrates out of the water.
Oh and I almost forgot.
When you take the seperators out of the 10g, leave a section for your skimmer to sit in. Make the baffle at whatever the ideal water level height for your skimmer is so your skimmer will also perform optimally, just make the section big enough for the skimmers footprint, I think you will find significanlty less hassel after you make the sump seciton a little bigger.
I think that HOB would be best, no extra pumps needed. I can make it as wide as my tank, minus the space that my overflow utilizes.
Cheato? Neato . . . my LFS has been out for over a week now, they should be getting some in today. I’m looking forward to picking it up. I’ve got a light for the fuge, it screws in like a normal light bulb but it is fluorescent w/ half actinic and half 6500k light. I thought it would do the trick quite nicely, let me know if I’m wrong?
Here’s the pic of my sump baffel setup as of right now. I have a bubble trap, with the water level set at 8". I have an ASM Mini-G, but it came with no instructions. Do you happen to know the proper operating depth? I can adjust the tube, but wasn’t sure how much water it should be sitting in. The middle is currently for my pump, and the right side is for the fuge.
from what I can see the operating water level should be between 6-10" - of course with an ASM you can fine tune it with the stand pipe, or you can get really fancy and do the gate valve mod.
You can see the gate valve mod in my pic above. Which is your LFS anyway?
Premium Aquatics is right down the street from me in Newark De. They have been pretty helpful and open with sharing information, and have taught me the meaning of the word “patience”. They seem to be concerned with the wellbeing of their livestock and have been aiding me in leveling out my chemical concentrations to prepare me for my future coral.
Flog me for being off topic, but is this months meeting being held at William penn in New Castle?
[quote=“dajohnson02, post:8, topic:4127”]
Premium Aquatics is right down the street from me in Newark De. They have been pretty helpful and open with sharing information, and have taught me the meaning of the word “patience”. They seem to be concerned with the wellbeing of their livestock and have been aiding me in leveling out my chemical concentrations to prepare me for my future coral.
Flog me for being off topic, but is this months meeting being held at William penn in New Castle?[/quote]
That’s a good store - most of the staff are members of this club. I personally like what they’ve done with the web site.
All of our normal monthly meetings are at William Penn HS.
“All of our normal monthly meetings are at William Penn HS.”
the problem is with Craig as moderator, the word NORMAL doesn’t apply.
[quote=“moliken, post:10, topic:4127”]
“All of our normal monthly meetings are at William Penn HS.”
the problem is with Craig as moderator, the word NORMAL doesn’t apply.[/quote]
Good point!!!
It would be like using “continence” and “Paul” in the same sentence.
here is a picture of my 65gal reef with a 20gal fuge, both sharing a common sump, and return pump in the stand under the 65, I also prefer the cheato if you like I am always glad to help layout plans for your project. As always advice is free
I sectioned mine off with 3/32 glass from HD Its a ltitle thin but mine has been up for a while and the First baffle is filled with live rock. I even tapped the glass with the rock by accadent and it never broke. The next two thin ones have media.I cut the Glass to size pefect fit for 10 gal and placed little peices of mask tape from the sheet of glaas to the wall of the tank top in all four corners and it locks it in place I caulk the sides let it dry remove tape and caulk bottoms Only problen I overlooked was I was limited to types of skimmers now I so gave up my fuge and put a in sump skimmer. But the set up works great my water is allways clear.
I poseted this video before of it but here it is Refugium sump - YouTube
[quote=“Reefer, post:13, topic:4127”]
I sectioned mine off with 3/32 glass from HD …as I was limited to types of skimmers now I so gave up my fuge and put a in sump skimmer. .[/quote]
And that is one of the biggest problems with trying to make a 10g sump/fuge combo - not enough space.
So in order to skim you have to run fugeless, if you want a fuge you’re stuck with a crappy HOB skimmer.
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:14, topic:4127”]
And that is one of the biggest problems with trying to make a 10g sump/fuge combo - not enough space.
So in order to skim you have to run fugeless, if you want a fuge you’re stuck with a crappy HOB skimmer.[/quote]
I disagree. Depending on the size of the skimmer it can be done. A 10 gallon is approx 24 inches long. With carefull planning it can be done. My first sump/fuge was a 10 gallon w/ a red sea (POS) skimmer. I would put the skimmer and the input in the same space. Water would move to the fuge 2nd and then the return. Cheato is always available and with a simple grow light 6500K you can grow it well.
There are a few things to keep in mind.
• Build the sump as large as you can possibly accommodate. The larger the better.
• Consider all of your needs before you start building, measure it twice. Moving a baffle sucks
• There must be enough excess space to house any water that drains out of the display, the plumbing and the skimmer, in the event of a power outage.
• Inlet chamber need only be large enough to house the inlet pipes and the skimmer.
• Bubble trap baffles if used should be 1†apart (or more) - I would not use on a 10 gallon.*
• Refugium section should house at least 10% of the display tank’s total volume. (55g tank = 5.5g Refugium)
• Return section must house enough water to cover 24 hours of evaporative loss without exposing the return pump.
*Bubble traps work but I removed mine. As the tank matures their are usually no noticeable bubbles. Most of the bubbles I have noticed come from plumbing and pumps sucking air.