heisenberg
New member
Hi everyone. First thread here, hope it gets some conversation going. 
I have a modest reef in a BC29 and I want to expand my volume to add an above-tank refugium for Chaeto growth/nutrient export, and pod reproduction. I would normally think to place it below in the stand, but the tank isn't drilled and I don't like to rely on U-tube based siphons. Above-tank also has the added benefit of letting water and pods gently flow back into the display without a pump in the way, and it's highly visible for observation.
I usually like to research and complete DIY projects on my own but I have been toying with this idea for a while and want to cover all my bases. This seems like the kind of project that if it goes badly, it goes really badly- and floods my living room (although the volume involved here doesn't even touch some of the catastrophes I've read about).
That's why I came here for ideas and advice- anyone ever done one of these before? Any thoughts, opinions, pitfalls, etc?
Here's a VERY rough image that I just whipped up in MS Paint to give an visual idea of what I'm talking about:
And here's the plan so far, off the top of my head:
This fuge is going to be roughly 10 gallons. At first I was going to try a glass tank but I don't want to drill it; the glass on the cheaper, smaller tanks is really thin and looks fragile. Going with acrylic seems like a much better idea. I'll probably get an acrylic tank from GlassCages since I can't find anything on craigslist after a month+ of searching.
There will be two sets of baffles, sized by me and cut by TAP plastics. I'll drill my own holes for send and return with a specialty bit for acrylic; one hole on each end of the tank. Water pumped up from the display will flow up into the refugium through a bulkhead, route above the water level in chamber 1 with PVC, and then be directed downward. I'll drill a small hole in the PVC elbow above the water line for siphon prevention. From the picture above, am I even really going to need 2 sets of baffles? The first set only really serves to prevent catastrophe if the bulkhead or power+siphon prevention fails and it begins to drain back into the tank.
The refugium overflow will be routed similarly; from the bulkhead a 90 degree elbow will point upwards where the overflow will take in water and determine the equilibrium water level during pump operation. How noisy should I expect this to be? It'll be a low volume going through the overflow but I've heard some of these can be pretty loud.
Are pre- and post-bulkhead ball valves a good idea, or not really necessary?
I'll use a strainer on both ends of the overflow path so that snails and other larger critters don't get stuck in the line and impede flow- which could cause a flood. I don't want to use too fine a spacing, though, because one of the major points of this fuge is to provide a source of amphipods for my fish to munch on so they have to be able to get through. I might remove bits of the strainer to allow for larger particles/objects to pass, but nothing large enough to cause a problem.
Water level changes in the third part of the fuge (past the second set of baffles) will determine how much overflow goes into my main tank in the event of a power outage. I'm planning on making this third section as small as the overflow's PVC tubing will allow so long as I can still get hands in there for construction and maintenance. That way I only end up sending volume equal to [height difference] times [surface area] back to the display in a worst-case scenario. I want to avoid any possible cause of flooding... can you spot one that I've overlooked?
A MaxiJet 1200 in chamber 2 of my BC29 sending up ~1.5 feet to the refugium should suffice. Recommendations on alternative pumps? I'll be using clear vinyl tubing past the bulkheads (connected to hosebarb fittings) and want to make sure that the size on the overflow side can handle whatever is pumped up to it. Any ideas on how to appropriately size the overflow tubing? Will 1/2in be enough, or possibly even overkill?
I'm going to drill a new hole for a bulkhead in the plastic false-wall of the display tank while the water is low during a regular WC. It will be going next to the stock pump return in chamber 3. Any advice for drilling this hole? The tank is stocked and running, but during a water change the level goes down low enough that I can quickly drill this without bothering the inhabitants. Will little bits of plastic that may get into the water be a source of trouble?
The overflow from the fuge will pass through the back of the hood and then be plumbed to this false-wall bulkhead, thereby sending all return water from the fuge into the display area. That means the flow from the MJ in chamber 2 of my BC will act in unison with my stock pump to effectively double the flow through my physical filtration, which right now consists of hand-cut pieces of filter floss under the overflow from display tank chamber 1 to chamber 2 that I change bi-daily.
No miracle mud or DSB for now- just a bunch of Chaeto and maybe some LR rubble. I'll just get some simple PC lighting for the macro growth. For the rubble, I'll fill a couple of those green plastic strawberry baskets with it to provide plenty of space for critters to live in without trapping a lot of detritus. Any thoughts regarding the LR rubble?
My Chaetomorpha will be free-floating, but I definitely want to come up with some way of preventing most if not all of it from spilling over into the overflow section of the refugium. Any ideas? Should I have notches cut (or holes drilled) in the first piece of my second set of baffles to slightly strain the water passing towards the overflow?
I'll be sure to document progress in this thread when it comes time to build.
I have a modest reef in a BC29 and I want to expand my volume to add an above-tank refugium for Chaeto growth/nutrient export, and pod reproduction. I would normally think to place it below in the stand, but the tank isn't drilled and I don't like to rely on U-tube based siphons. Above-tank also has the added benefit of letting water and pods gently flow back into the display without a pump in the way, and it's highly visible for observation.
I usually like to research and complete DIY projects on my own but I have been toying with this idea for a while and want to cover all my bases. This seems like the kind of project that if it goes badly, it goes really badly- and floods my living room (although the volume involved here doesn't even touch some of the catastrophes I've read about).
That's why I came here for ideas and advice- anyone ever done one of these before? Any thoughts, opinions, pitfalls, etc?
Here's a VERY rough image that I just whipped up in MS Paint to give an visual idea of what I'm talking about:
And here's the plan so far, off the top of my head:
This fuge is going to be roughly 10 gallons. At first I was going to try a glass tank but I don't want to drill it; the glass on the cheaper, smaller tanks is really thin and looks fragile. Going with acrylic seems like a much better idea. I'll probably get an acrylic tank from GlassCages since I can't find anything on craigslist after a month+ of searching.
There will be two sets of baffles, sized by me and cut by TAP plastics. I'll drill my own holes for send and return with a specialty bit for acrylic; one hole on each end of the tank. Water pumped up from the display will flow up into the refugium through a bulkhead, route above the water level in chamber 1 with PVC, and then be directed downward. I'll drill a small hole in the PVC elbow above the water line for siphon prevention. From the picture above, am I even really going to need 2 sets of baffles? The first set only really serves to prevent catastrophe if the bulkhead or power+siphon prevention fails and it begins to drain back into the tank.
The refugium overflow will be routed similarly; from the bulkhead a 90 degree elbow will point upwards where the overflow will take in water and determine the equilibrium water level during pump operation. How noisy should I expect this to be? It'll be a low volume going through the overflow but I've heard some of these can be pretty loud.
Are pre- and post-bulkhead ball valves a good idea, or not really necessary?
I'll use a strainer on both ends of the overflow path so that snails and other larger critters don't get stuck in the line and impede flow- which could cause a flood. I don't want to use too fine a spacing, though, because one of the major points of this fuge is to provide a source of amphipods for my fish to munch on so they have to be able to get through. I might remove bits of the strainer to allow for larger particles/objects to pass, but nothing large enough to cause a problem.
Water level changes in the third part of the fuge (past the second set of baffles) will determine how much overflow goes into my main tank in the event of a power outage. I'm planning on making this third section as small as the overflow's PVC tubing will allow so long as I can still get hands in there for construction and maintenance. That way I only end up sending volume equal to [height difference] times [surface area] back to the display in a worst-case scenario. I want to avoid any possible cause of flooding... can you spot one that I've overlooked?
A MaxiJet 1200 in chamber 2 of my BC29 sending up ~1.5 feet to the refugium should suffice. Recommendations on alternative pumps? I'll be using clear vinyl tubing past the bulkheads (connected to hosebarb fittings) and want to make sure that the size on the overflow side can handle whatever is pumped up to it. Any ideas on how to appropriately size the overflow tubing? Will 1/2in be enough, or possibly even overkill?
I'm going to drill a new hole for a bulkhead in the plastic false-wall of the display tank while the water is low during a regular WC. It will be going next to the stock pump return in chamber 3. Any advice for drilling this hole? The tank is stocked and running, but during a water change the level goes down low enough that I can quickly drill this without bothering the inhabitants. Will little bits of plastic that may get into the water be a source of trouble?
The overflow from the fuge will pass through the back of the hood and then be plumbed to this false-wall bulkhead, thereby sending all return water from the fuge into the display area. That means the flow from the MJ in chamber 2 of my BC will act in unison with my stock pump to effectively double the flow through my physical filtration, which right now consists of hand-cut pieces of filter floss under the overflow from display tank chamber 1 to chamber 2 that I change bi-daily.
No miracle mud or DSB for now- just a bunch of Chaeto and maybe some LR rubble. I'll just get some simple PC lighting for the macro growth. For the rubble, I'll fill a couple of those green plastic strawberry baskets with it to provide plenty of space for critters to live in without trapping a lot of detritus. Any thoughts regarding the LR rubble?
My Chaetomorpha will be free-floating, but I definitely want to come up with some way of preventing most if not all of it from spilling over into the overflow section of the refugium. Any ideas? Should I have notches cut (or holes drilled) in the first piece of my second set of baffles to slightly strain the water passing towards the overflow?
I'll be sure to document progress in this thread when it comes time to build.
