Hi all! Been a long time reading all these posts, but in short, I haven't posted much.
I have an idea or problem depending on how you look at it. I have a 30 gal Finnex M-Tank. It has been running over 2 years with very little problems. I had some thinks break or go bad on it but again nothing that couldn't be fixed easily.
I have the old style tank in which there is a sump for the skimmer and sump for the return pump and a refugium. The flow of water goes into the left side if your facing the front of the tank through the skimmer chamber, into the pump sump and from the pump back out into a "T" fitting which diverts part of the return flow into the refugium with a control valve for water flow. I run a Rio Hyper FLow 10H which I beleive is about 600gph. I have mostly all corals, tried fish but it didn't work to well so I kept corals and easy inhabitants for now. I do regular water changes with Reef Cystals and dose E-Bonics 2-part and Purple-up. Simple and it works great. I had a skimmer for a long time but since removed it and found the tank to be a bit better without it but I am still thinking of putting it back on. Just old habits from experience.
Ok, here is the deal. The refugium is not as big that I wish it was. My algae after 2 years of running this tank is growing over into the main tank constantly and with all the ugly algae it produces to keep the main clean it is now causing problems. Trimming it constanly helps but it is not doing the trick. Red, green, brown are are creeping into the tank. I think the design of this particular tank never took into consideration about overgrowth.
What I been reading on here is a PVC overflow/sump that I can make from the local hardware store. I have a 15 gallon acrylic sump that I would like to use as a new refugium and skimmer sump. Plumping to and from is easy but given the Finnex tank it set up to have a flow that goes through the refugium, I wonder if anyone has done something like this mod or could give me an idea. Keep in mind that there is a "T" on the return pump in the tank now that diverts water to the refugium so I almost will have to keep this set-up so the water flow stays constant with the design of the tank. I want to use 3/4" PVC and the rio pump. I also want to put in a float switch if anyone knows how to make one or recommend one so that if the sump goes out I do not have any floods. I figure I can use the "old" refugium as another mini-sump or just a filter bay.
Hope this helps, kinda long but it has been an idea of mine for awhile to maybe make this tank run better.
I have an idea or problem depending on how you look at it. I have a 30 gal Finnex M-Tank. It has been running over 2 years with very little problems. I had some thinks break or go bad on it but again nothing that couldn't be fixed easily.
I have the old style tank in which there is a sump for the skimmer and sump for the return pump and a refugium. The flow of water goes into the left side if your facing the front of the tank through the skimmer chamber, into the pump sump and from the pump back out into a "T" fitting which diverts part of the return flow into the refugium with a control valve for water flow. I run a Rio Hyper FLow 10H which I beleive is about 600gph. I have mostly all corals, tried fish but it didn't work to well so I kept corals and easy inhabitants for now. I do regular water changes with Reef Cystals and dose E-Bonics 2-part and Purple-up. Simple and it works great. I had a skimmer for a long time but since removed it and found the tank to be a bit better without it but I am still thinking of putting it back on. Just old habits from experience.
Ok, here is the deal. The refugium is not as big that I wish it was. My algae after 2 years of running this tank is growing over into the main tank constantly and with all the ugly algae it produces to keep the main clean it is now causing problems. Trimming it constanly helps but it is not doing the trick. Red, green, brown are are creeping into the tank. I think the design of this particular tank never took into consideration about overgrowth.
What I been reading on here is a PVC overflow/sump that I can make from the local hardware store. I have a 15 gallon acrylic sump that I would like to use as a new refugium and skimmer sump. Plumping to and from is easy but given the Finnex tank it set up to have a flow that goes through the refugium, I wonder if anyone has done something like this mod or could give me an idea. Keep in mind that there is a "T" on the return pump in the tank now that diverts water to the refugium so I almost will have to keep this set-up so the water flow stays constant with the design of the tank. I want to use 3/4" PVC and the rio pump. I also want to put in a float switch if anyone knows how to make one or recommend one so that if the sump goes out I do not have any floods. I figure I can use the "old" refugium as another mini-sump or just a filter bay.
Hope this helps, kinda long but it has been an idea of mine for awhile to maybe make this tank run better.
