daytonajim00
Community Member
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2018
- Messages
- 26
- Reaction score
- 75
This is a little redundant as I have posted my refugium in my 'member tanks' thread https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...f-to-the-backwaters-tank.358415/#post-4724872, but I wanted to give this unique refugium/sump a little spotlight because of how happy I have been with the design.
The idea was to have a display refugium that hid equiptment in rear chambers. I call it 'wrapping' because the larger refugium chamber is in full view from the front of my system.
There is about a 9" difference in elevations between the 2 tanks and circulation works fine. The refugium/sump (20gallon tall) design works as follows: Water drains from the main tank into the first chamber 'skimmer chamber'. Then it passes underneath into the refugium. Water flows around, up, and over the far right side, into the return chamber after passing under a single-baffle bubble trap. I'm able to put media (mechanical foam filter and a bag of carbon) in the 1" single bubble trap. I also run a small 9w circulation pump in the refugium to add a little more eddy current.
I plan to further upgrade the refugium with a better skimmer (I had this Instant Ocean one laying around), some branching rock, and an assortment of macro. I have a few snails in there with an abundant pod population. I went BB which is great for cleanings. The light fixture I made from 1/2" EMT pipe, a light socket, and aluminum lampshade which houses a CFL. The skimmer and light are on a schedule from my DIY Raspberry Pi controller which also works great. I have a DIY guide on the Reef Pi controller going here https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/j...ld-tutorial-with-reef-pi.387296/#post-4696693. Big shout out to Ranjib for sharing the work on Reef Pi controllers!
The idea was to have a display refugium that hid equiptment in rear chambers. I call it 'wrapping' because the larger refugium chamber is in full view from the front of my system.
There is about a 9" difference in elevations between the 2 tanks and circulation works fine. The refugium/sump (20gallon tall) design works as follows: Water drains from the main tank into the first chamber 'skimmer chamber'. Then it passes underneath into the refugium. Water flows around, up, and over the far right side, into the return chamber after passing under a single-baffle bubble trap. I'm able to put media (mechanical foam filter and a bag of carbon) in the 1" single bubble trap. I also run a small 9w circulation pump in the refugium to add a little more eddy current.
I plan to further upgrade the refugium with a better skimmer (I had this Instant Ocean one laying around), some branching rock, and an assortment of macro. I have a few snails in there with an abundant pod population. I went BB which is great for cleanings. The light fixture I made from 1/2" EMT pipe, a light socket, and aluminum lampshade which houses a CFL. The skimmer and light are on a schedule from my DIY Raspberry Pi controller which also works great. I have a DIY guide on the Reef Pi controller going here https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/j...ld-tutorial-with-reef-pi.387296/#post-4696693. Big shout out to Ranjib for sharing the work on Reef Pi controllers!
