New sump plan!

[Kio707]

I want to get the water level higher in my sump..how could I go about that?
It's not a top-off and it's not a water change just make the water level higher about 6-7 inches
Would I add saltwater or freshwater?

Either or. The fresh won't really mess with ur salinity...

 

[armyman16]

Either or. The fresh won't really mess with ur salinity...

Well I went ahead and added saltwater, salinity was at 1.022 so I figured it would raise it some!
And I have completed my refugium!!

 

[armyman16]

Move the filter tray to the bottom with a filter pad on it then added one piece of live rock then a "baseball size" clump if chaeto(my good friend works at my lfs so this was his idea of a baseball size clump!) bought some plexiglass but haven't gotten it cut yet so I just have the light on by a clamp so that I could take a picture and look at it but here it is!

 

[Flreefer]

Looks pretty good army man!!
Hope your B-day went well.
If you raise up your water, you have to make sure that if power goes out, you've either got a siphon break( which can be just a hole in the outflow tube below the water line in the DT) or there Is enough space in the sump to receive all the water siphoned out of the DT. Either way will work, if not, you get a big mess on the floor!
The only other thing I would suggest is to try to minimize the amount of bubbles entering your refugium. I've noticed that trapped air among the plants will cause die off. I made a deflector shield out of plexiglas, so bubbles would go to the top at the entrance of the refugium. A piece of filter floss would serve the same purpose though, as long as it was regularly changed or cleaned, it wouldn't be an organics problem.
Other than that, I think it looks great, good work!

 

[armyman16]

Looks pretty good army man!!
Hope your B-day went well.
If you raise up your water, you have to make sure that if power goes out, you've either got a siphon break( which can be just a hole in the outflow tube below the water line in the DT) or there Is enough space in the sump to receive all the water siphoned out of the DT. Either way will work, if not, you get a big mess on the floor!
The only other thing I would suggest is to try to minimize the amount of bubbles entering your refugium. I've noticed that trapped air among the plants will cause die off. I made a deflector shield out of plexiglas, so bubbles would go to the top at the entrance of the refugium. A piece of filter floss would serve the same purpose though, as long as it was regularly changed or cleaned, it wouldn't be an organics problem.
Other than that, I think it looks great, good work!

Haha yes! I got some money to put into my aquariums and towards my first car! There is surprisingly enough room! When I had the water level down low last week I tested it Andre water level only rose about 2 inches before the lines on the overflow box were at the bottom..
So if I added just a piece of filter pad where the water from first chamber is entering the second chamber it would get rid of almost all bubbles?
Could you take a pic of your thing that your talking about to stop bubbles?

 

[Flreefer]

Sure, but my refuge might be set-up different as far as where the water enters.
Please excuse the mess, wasn't expecting company!! Lol

View attachment 98925

Water comes in the slot towards the bottom and the shield directs any small bubbles to the surface

 

[armyman16]

Sure, but my refuge might be set-up different as far as where the water enters.
Please excuse the mess, wasn't expecting company!! Lol

Water comes in the slot towards the bottom and the shield directs any small bubbles to the surface

Haha yeah that seems like an easier fix! Where my water comes in at I'd from the top, above the water line so its kind of noisy too! Trying to think of a noise canceling idea as well! Here's a pic of it if you have any ideas
An I don't have any of those long leaves in mine like you do..is that bad?

 

[Flreefer]

I would just put a piece of filter material, that floss stuff that comes in a square pad, right in front of it. It would quiet it down and stop the bubbles. You'd just have to make sure you kept it maintained.
As far as the long stuff in the fuge, It's called Prolifera. I've got Chaeto, Caulerpa, and Prolifera in there. Before I got Chaeto, that's all my LFS had. It all really needs a trim, I'm pretty lax at cutting it back. The only thing my Tangs will eat is the Caulerpa... Figures.
Good luck Armyman!

 

[armyman16]

I would just put a piece of filter material, that floss stuff that comes in a square pad, right in front of it. It would quiet it down and stop the bubbles. You'd just have to make sure you kept it maintained.
As far as the long stuff in the fuge, It's called Prolifera. I've got Chaeto, Caulerpa, and Prolifera in there. Before I got Chaeto, that's all my LFS had. It all really needs a trim, I'm pretty lax at cutting it back. The only thing my Tangs will eat is the Caulerpa... Figures.
Good luck Armyman!

Haha thanks, ive heard chaeto is the easiest to take care of so I think I'll stick with that for now!
When should i start trimming this stuff?

 

[Flreefer]

You just don't want a massive ball, in case it died off and returned all those nutrients back to your tank. The purpose here is for nutrient export. There is no export, if you don't trim and remove it. I let mine grow prob more than I should, but I observe my tank daily, and I like it to look all grown in.

 

[armyman16]

You just don't want a massive ball, in case it died off and returned all those nutrients back to your tank. The purpose here is for nutrient export. There is no export, if you don't trim and remove it. I let mine grow prob more than I should, but I observe my tank daily, and I like it to look all grown in.

Well I've got a pretty huge clump in it right now! Should I trim some off? And they say to give the stuff you trim away to a friend, wouldn't that be just giving them all the nitrates and phosphates?

 

[Flreefer]

Haha... I guess your kinda right. Never thought of it that way . it's nitrates and phosphates with benefits...Lol.
I would just leave it for now, if you see some good growth out of it, then trim some off. It should be fine for now, I would just try to spread it out best you can without breaking it, try to make it less dense so light penetrates.

 

[armyman16]

Haha... I guess your kinda right. Never thought of it that way . it's nitrates and phosphates with benefits...Lol.
I would just leave it for now, if you see some good growth out of it, then trim some off. It should be fine for now, I would just try to spread it out best you can without breaking it, try to make it less dense so light penetrates.

Haha yeah! Well I always thought that it actually "ate" the nitrates and phosphates but apparently it just stores them and grows bigger or something? But doesn't that mean that their always there? Maybe it means for us to cut it to give it more room to grow new chaeto that can absorb more nitrates and phosphates?

 

[Flreefer]

That's right. It's always there, but trapped in the cells of the plant, and cannot get back into the water column unless the plant dies and releases it back into water. We cut and remove it, so that can't happen, and to give if more incentive to grow and remove more. A pruned plant always grows better than an unkept one.

 

[armyman16]

That's right. It's always there, but trapped in the cells of the plant, and cannot get back into the water column unless the plant dies and releases it back into water. We cut and remove it, so that can't happen, and to give if more incentive to grow and remove more. A pruned plant always grows better than an unkept one.

So I just bought me some nitrates and phosphates huh? Haha how long is it supposed to be lighted for?

 

[Flreefer]

Usually the best approach with a refugium, is to light it opposite your DT. When lights go out on the tank, they go on in the refuge. This helps to combat the diurnal PH shift that occurs with all tanks. It won't eliminate the shift, but it will help with it.

 

[armyman16]

Does anyone know how easy it is to cut off a starfish's leg? I'm not a psycho or anything! Haha I was just reading on the Harlequin Shrimp earlier today and read that some people keep a few big starfish in their refugium and cut off one leg everytime they want to feed their harlequin shrimp...has anyone ever done this?