Enclosed Refugium (is this a good idea?)

[bendavis]

Ok, so I've seen a few Macro Algae Reactors and thought it would be a good idea to build one. the more and more I started to plan out the build in my head the more it started to look like an oddly plumbed enclosed refugium. I wanted to share the idea with you guys and see if you've seen it before and if you think it'll work.

My tank is a 6g Fluval edge with the top removed. I don't want the added stress of any Hang-On-Back equipment and I don't have room for an overflow. The beauty of this design is getting the added water volume and the benefits of macro algae and a safe space for pods and such to grow without having any complex plumbing to try to work on my desk. It would operate on a single powerhead and I assume the flow rate would be ~75 GPH. Placement in relation to the tank would be irrelevant since a siphon wouldn't be maintained after a power outage and worst case scenario would have the water in the lines return to the tank.

The Basics:

Build an 8x8" cube out of 1/4" acrylic. The top panel gets drilled for a 4" PVC cleanout. The plug for the cleanout gets drilled for 2x 3/8th Barbed hose adapters - one centered and connected to a length of PVC that drops near the bottom of the tank and the other simply installed in the cap. Then I build 2 simple arrays of LEDs and reflectors to attach to 2 sides of the cube, paint the back wall black and leave the front panel for viewing. then throw in some cheato and critters and run the water line from the powerhead and the return back into the tank.

Concept Visualization:



So what do you guys think?

 

[ericarenee]

oxygen depletion comes to my mind when i look at that. I am not sure what kind of filtration in the tank i am assuming it has a built in filter on back of it.

I think the added water volume would be good as well as macro algae.But not so sure about oxygen levels If you could build a air pump into the design and have the outlet of the fuge to dump into a chamber in the tanks filter with a air catching baffle (if this makes sense) would be the best best ..


I have a a 6 foot long refugium on my tank totally open top

 

[bendavis]

This would add about 2 gallons of water to the system, do you think the oxygen requirements would increase so much? Plus, isn't one of the byproducts of cheato's growth oxygen?

(actual questions, not arguing)

 

[ericarenee]

This would add about 2 gallons of water to the system, do you think the oxygen requirements would increase so much? Plus, isn't one of the byproducts of cheato's growth oxygen?

(actual questions, not arguing)

only bring 2 gallons my guess is it would be ok. For some reason even thou you posted measurements i was thinking much larger volume..I am actually in the process of relocating my refugium from basement to a display area under my reef tank.. my fuge now is a 55 gallon drum split long ways with both sides connected.. i have caulerpa in mine and some cheato ..

So i assume you will be fine. they actually have chaeto reactors out there like that

Give it a try and see how it works..

 

[mcgyvr]

yep.. its a reactor..

 

[bendavis]

It's based off the reactors I've seen, but I was trying to bring a "best of both worlds" idea together with a refugium. If it ends up being somewhat attractive I can place it somewhere on my desk as another display, if it's ugly I can hide it under my desk. The flow rate would be much lower than a typical reactor though so I'm not sure how much benefit I would get from it. The entire system volume would increase by about 25% though and I'm hoping it will help stabilize the system even further. Technically this tank has been running for 4 years now with a recent 100% water change and a new sandbed so it is already pretty efficient. Just hoping this would help eliminate the algae in the display.

 

[uncleof6]

2 gallons of additional volume is not going to help the stability at all. If you want to improve the stability, you need to get up around 40+ gallons. Beyond that, stability improvement is in the order of doubling and tripling the volume, not a few gallons here and there"”as such expectations are unrealistic.

The pico/nano pros and cons aside, the minimum size a marine aquarium should be is 40+ gallons. This is entirely for stability reasons, as well as many marine critters require tanks in the 30 - 40 gallon size, with 60 gallons being better. These are well established minimum requirements.

Also a 2 gallon "chaeto reactor" is not going to accomplish much of anything, especially with a minuscule flow rate. As far as the "reactor" being sealed, sure algae release oxygen in the process of photosynthesis, however they require carbon dioxide, so you could easily run low on carbon dioxide. Best source of CO₂ is... yep you guessed it: open to the atmosphere.

There are exceptions to every rule or principle, however, they are exceptions"”not the rule/principle.

 

[laverda]

oxygen depletion comes to my mind when i look at that. I am not sure what kind of filtration in the tank i am assuming it has a built in filter on back of it.

I think the added water volume would be good as well as macro algae.But not so sure about oxygen levels If you could build a air pump into the design and have the outlet of the fuge to dump into a chamber in the tanks filter with a air catching baffle (if this makes sense) would be the best best ..


I have a a 6 foot long refugium on my tank totally open top

Oxygen depletion is not going to be sn issue at all. Macro algae uses CO2 not oxygen.

 

[laverda]

For a tank that small, water changes are the easiest way to control nutrients.