Converting Wet/Dry to Refugium

[Natterjak]

I'm currently in the process of converting my wet/dry to a fuge. I've finally finished removing all the bio balls, and have a small amount of LR rubble in there.

One of the things I've noticed is an increase in noise since removing the bio balls - our wet dry is set up with an acrylic lid that has a bulkhead in it, and the hose from the overflow goes into this bulkhead. Without the bioballs, the water from the tank is now just "falling" into the water in the wet/dry, making a lot of noise. Would it be a bad idea to just remove the acrylic cover and put the hose directly into the sump?

Also, I'd like to keep some Chaetomorpha in the fuge, and am trying to find some relatively cheap lighting for it. Would this light work?

http://www.innovativelights.com/fixtures/Fixtures_45.html

I also read in another thread that Walmart carries an LOA light that might also work?

TIA

 

[seaham358]

I have a old WD as a sump....Did not have the top so I just hooked the overflow from the tank to some PVC and run that into the WD so it goes under the water. No noise at all.... Should work out fine for you.
The light Should work.... Im sure someone that has a LOA will pipe up about that...

 

[Natterjak]

Okay, sounds good, I'll have to see if I can find some PVC to fit.

 

[Natterjak]

Added the PVC, worked like a charm.

Do I need a sand bed in there, or is the LR rubble sufficient? The way the baffles are set up in the wet dry would make it difficult to have a sand bed, unless I can somehow stack the sand up on one end, away from the baffles.

 

[seaham358]

Sand is not needed you can just use LR.... Do you plan on caluerpa? If so what kind. Glad to hear that PVC worked.

 

[Natterjak]

I've got a wad of Chaetomorpha in there right now.

Since getting a light in there I noticed all these white, gooey looking clumps in there. I'm not sure what they are, they don't seem to move.