Diy aquaclear refugium help

[Wings4wheels]

Ok, I am new to the sitee, and have been keeping fish for 20 yrs. I am finally making the leap from fresh to salt and have some questions about possibly building a diy refugium out of one our two aquaclear 500s that I have lasting around. I am planning a 90 gallon fowlr tank. Will run a couple of canister filters, and use live sand and live rock (and eventually add a skimmer).

So, I am curious if adding 1 or 2 of these little refugiums to this size tank will even make a difference (i like the idea that I could put some macro algae in there, and that most of the pods I grow in there should survive the ride into the tank unlike a fuge placed under the tank). If so, I am curious about the baffles in these fuges. I have seen a couple of instructions online, and can't quite figure out how these baffles are placed, and how high they should be. Does the water flow over, then under? Should they be higher our lower than the return? Also, the instructions seem to use super glue, and I didnt think that was safe.

Thanks for the help,

Wings4wheels

 

[carey]

Hi, Welcome to the forum!! And welcome to the salty side of things LOL

Is there any reason you're sticking with canister filters and not a sump/refugium? Do you not have room underneath the tank for one or are you just more comfortable with canisters?

 

[Wings4wheels]

Well, I already have them, so its definitely cheaper! Plus my stand has a support in the middle, so I would be stuck with a fuge that would be less than 24" and I really want it to supply the tank with extra pods (for possible pod eating future purchases), and have read that a majority of pods do not survive the trip through the pump back to the tank.

 

[carey]

I have a canister on my 55g and I have a super supply of pods in that tank. The only caveat when using a canister in saltwater is that it HAS to be maintained religiously. Like every week or two or the nitrates build up in there quite easily.

On my 125g I have a full sump with refugium and skimmer and I have an obscene amount of pods crawling around in the tank. I think more pods than people assume get through the pumps.

Getting an excessive amount of rock is also good in place of a refugium so that the pods have a safe place to call home and multiply in/on.

Have you tried youtube for the aquaclear fuge mods? I hear there are quite a few really good videos on there.

The other option is to get a hang on back refugium like these

Reef Aquarium Filtration: AquaFuge External Hang-On Refugium

Filtration - Reef - Hang On Refugium with Protein Skimmer

 

[Wings4wheels]

I can clean out a can a week. Thought the fuge may be cheaper than dropping $600 on all that live rock right away. I bought 60lbs of live sand, and thought I would get as much rock as I could afford now and add more as time went on.

 

[carey]

You don't have to have all live rock. You can add mostly base rock and seed it with some live rock. For example you can add 100lbs of base rock at about $2.50 a lb and then 20 lbs of live rock. You can even make that margin higher in favor of the base rock. When you cycle you will pretty much be making the dead rock "live" over a few weeks time.

 

[Wings4wheels]

Is it correct that I should avoid tufa and lace rock as the base stuff? Heard that it is bad. Do I need more sand, and does it need ti be live a w

 

[carey]

Sand will also become live as you cycle and as time goes by. No need to waste your money on "live sand" .

I am not familiar with the rock types you listed, here is a link for the base rock that I use

http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?p...ategory_id=15&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=34

 

[Wings4wheels]

Ok, thanks for the link on the rock! Looks awesome! What kind of sand should I look for to match with what I already have. I have 3 20lb bags of nature's ocean bio-activ live argonite reef sand (natural white)?

 

[Wings4wheels]

Here is a pic of what I have.

 

[Nubster]

Here's how I did my AC 70 when I had my 10g nano. I filled it with a few inches of sand, my heater, and LR. Seemed to work well for me.

 

[Wings4wheels]

So, it looks,like the water comes on to the intake chamber, then under the baffle?

 

[Nubster]

Right...that way the water has to go from the bottom up, past the sand and rocks and heater before exiting the filter.