55g sump

[Sea Hunter]

I was thinking of converting it to a refugium. The only problem is I have my berlin skimmer and my return pump inside the sump now. any ideas of how much it would cost to make, like what type of lighting and I beleive it has to have live sand at the bottom?

 

[NYBen]

you could partition the 55 so that it's half sum, half refugium. It could be done with plate galss cut to fit or even acrylic / plexi-glass, they cut it to any dimension at Lowes and it's fairly reasonable. As far as lighting, most people run some sort of work light (clamp on types) with about a 6500k bulb (correct me if i'm wrong, but I'm sure I have read of others using that bulb). I have seen others use 48" shop lights. Setting up the refugium should be fairly inexpensive. I will be putting a couple of inches of sand in mine, but an not going to go crazy. I have seens pics of some with 6-7" of sand, it just seems like overkill to me. Hope this helps.

 

[upstatedave]

I use 1/4 plate glass for partitions...3 makes for a good bubble trap.....I also run the 65k light from Home depot..as shown in melevs threads....my chaeto is growing like crazy using that bulb....I got the bulb that looks like a flood light..that way you don't need to run the reflector...I also have sand in the fuge...about 2 inches seems to work...I agree with Ben that a very deep sand bed seems like overkill..just need a place for the critters to live..there is a pic of my old sump in my gallery....I have replaced the 20g with a 40g

 

[Sea Hunter]

Thanks for the info guys. That'll be on my to do list after I get my calcium reactor up and running and maybe a RO. lol. so many things I would like to get, so little money. lol.