Aqua Clear 500 = Refugium?

[macman7010]

I just added an Eheim Pro II canister Filter to my reef tank and was thinking about what to do with my existing Aqua Clear 500 that has been on the tanl for some time. I was thinking about adding some mineral mud and live sand and putting a glass top over it with a 10 ten what compact flourascent light and making it a small refugium.

Has anyone ever done this, there is some room in an Aqua Clear 500 and it already has lots of pods in the sponge?

 

[klam]

It is a popular mod to turn the aquaclears HOB into a fuge, Lots of people who own nano tanks do this.

 

[MYTY1705]

Can you do the same with an emperor 400 filter?? take out the Media baskets and the biowheels?

 

[sirfishmaster]

i use an emporor 400 with no media & no bio wheels...just basically water circulation


doug

 

[MYTY1705]

can you add lr rubble, macro, pods, and a light?? or would that restrict the flow of the water too much

 

[ellisz]

I think you could do it to any HOB filter as long as the flow through the chambers was not so much as to stir up the sand. Some put a piece of acrylic in between the chambers to keep this from happening.

That being said, I have a Whisper filter I use as a fuge on my 10 gal. All I did was add a bit of sand, some small rock and cheato. When I moved it recently, I had to clean the pump up a bit since a bit of sand was in the pump chamber but started back up.

Just depends on whether or not the size of the filter will benefit the tank it is on. This filter on my 75 gal would not be much.

HTH

 

[klam]

Size of tanks does play a big role. That's why a lot of people with nano tanks do this mod and plus it can be done cheaply without any extra plumbing or modification to the tank.