fuge design

[Newreeflady]

"I suspect that anything is better than nothing, but from all the reading I've done (some from VERY knowledgable sources) say 10% of your system volume is the minimum size for a fuge for it to have any meaningful benefit."

Hmmm.... makes me wonder if I should bother. I was only allotting a small section (7" by 12" on total water volume of 65 gal) perhaps I'm just dreaming and this is totally worthless...

-A

 

[fatrip]

"I suspect that anything is better than nothing, but from all the reading I've done (some from VERY knowledgable sources) say 10% of your system volume is the minimum size for a fuge for it to have any meaningful benefit."

Hmmm.... makes me wonder if I should bother. I was only allotting a small section (7" by 12" on total water volume of 65 gal) perhaps I'm just dreaming and this is totally worthless...

-A

well it seems that any amount of algae in the tank would be beneficial for nutrient exportation as well as a place to have a none predatory environment for lil guys to live.

 

[jacksonpt]

I agree. I think if you were talking about converting a HOB power filter into a fuge then I might agree, but 7x12 is big enough to house a fair bit of algae and a lot of good critters. It may not be the ideal, but I think it's far from worthless.

 

[Piazzon12]

I would not do that. I think people normally put the fuge return to the main tank bypassing the skimmer so that all the critters get into the main tank, right? This was my plan.
-A

In either case the pods would have to go through a pump to get to the main tank... yes in one case it could be two pumps, but if pods cant survive a pump then the whole system would never work anyways

 

[nwrogers]

In either case the pods would have to go through a pump to get to the main tank... yes in one case it could be two pumps, but if pods cant survive a pump then the whole system would never work anyways

Exactly. The prop won't kill them it just takes them on a sweet water ride. The only danger is getting skimmed out but you would be surprised how crafty those little buggers are. I would suspect very few pods will actually get skimmed out. I don't know this for sure I am just guessing...

 

[reefscape15]

I would opt to not have the fuge run through the skimmer for two reasons. One, the skimmer will end up sucking up some of the pods and various other lifeforms that should be finding their way to the display. Two, having pods and overflow water from the fuge will have your skimmer working to clean both the display and fuge section. I understand that with the common practice of oversizing your skimmer you should not have to worry about it being overworked, but skimming the fuge water will take somewhat away the efficiancy of it skimming your display water.

I hope that made some sence!

 

[Piazzon12]

I still respectfully disagree... that fuge water is going to make it's way to the skimmer one way or another, so the amount of "work" the skimmer does would not change at all.
If I put a drop of blue food coloring in the fuge, the whole tank would turn blue regardless of how it was plumbed.
I see no benefit for the of the fuge overflowing to the return, but I do see the negative of microbubbles.

 

[fatrip]

the water that is going to the fuge has already gone throught the skimmer part once. plus the fuge really isnt for pod population, that is what you LR in the tank should be for. The fuge is designed to export excess nutriens that normal mechanical filtration take out of the water. How it pains me to say this I would have to agree with adam....J/k adam...

 

[reefscape15]

Yes I do see what you are saying. I'd still rather have my skimmer section before the fuge section just to keep extra detritus out of the fuge. I guess it really would matter all that much, but just how I'd personally do it. It's pretty hard to argue with Adam after seeing his tank!

 

[Piazzon12]

Believe me guys, there are always a million ways to do things... although some people will tell you otherwise. Also, there is alot of mis-information out there as well. Just do what makes sense to you... I always have. I originally kept a mixed reef (including several SPS) with only PC's and unmodified MJ power heads, fed only from tap water. Was it the best? No, but in my case it worked, and it fit my budget at the time.

 

[jacksonpt]

I'm going to be cutting and gluing baffles tomorrow - anything I need to know going into this? Seems pretty straight forward, but having never done it before...

 

[fatrip]

Yes I do see what you are saying. I'd still rather have my skimmer section before the fuge section just to keep extra detritus out of the fuge. I guess it really would matter all that much, but just how I'd personally do it. It's pretty hard to argue with Adam after seeing his tank!

looking at his design it does go through the skimmer section first and throught the return pump back into the fuge.

Jackson, since its a sump really doesnt need to be pretty so no need to use 90 angles just get something that will hold the baffles up right and silicone from one side then bottom to the other. have some damp rages on hand as well as they make a nice smothing tool for laying beads that you can get at lowes.

 

[jacksonpt]

So, in case you didn't know, I have a slight tendency to over think things sometimes. I think I'm over thinking this here... or at the very least, making it overly complex.

So why wouldn't this work?

I've got a closed loop for my flow, so take flow in the display out of this conversation. Water drains into the skimmer section, flows over the baffle into the fuge, then is pumped back to the display by the return pump. The ball valve will allow me to control flow through the fuge, so there is no reason to split the return (right?). Between the baffle, the low flow rate and the macro aglae, microbubbles shouldn't be an issue.

Am I missing anything?

 

[Piazzon12]

The only thing I see is that it will be a pain to keep macro out/off of the return pump... or maybe you've thought of that

 

[jacksonpt]

Good point... Some egg crate or something simple over the intake to the pump should work, no?

 

[fatrip]

also lowering the pump so when you have evap the pump wont run dry. some egg create should work prolly cross it so the wholes are smaller depending on the macro algae you use.

 

[jacksonpt]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions - I love conversations like these... weighing the pros and cons of a particular method.

I ended up going with the last version, but I'm adding a shorter baffle on the return end, just to keep sand and macro away from the pump. I'm not going to glue it in. I cut the baffle and a couple of 1" x 8" spacers. I glued the baffle to the spaces, and the pressure from teh sand will keep them pressed against the end of the tank. This baffle is lower than the skimmer/fuge baffle, so the water level will remain constant for the skimmer, but fluctuate everywhere else.

On a somewhat related note... I've read A LOT about how people had problems siliconing acrylic baffles in glass tanks. Granted I'm still waiting for 1 side to cure, but I can't imagine what people are doing with their sumps. I'm fairly certain that I could pick up my sump by the baffle without any trouble.

Pictures to come this weekend once everythign is cured, cleaned up and hopefully holding water.

 

[fatrip]

you used acrylic baffles? you will have trouble with the silicone pealing from the acrylic because it doesn't bond to the acrylic, as well as the acrylic bends under water weight and will flex so that the silicone peals from the acrylic. just my experiences.

 

[reefscape15]

You can take some 100grit sandpaper and scuff the edges of the acrylic to help it adhere to the silicone. You can use something thicker than 1/4" acrylic too to help avoid the bending. Flow shouldn't be high enough through a sump to really put a ton of stress on the baffles anyways.

 

[jacksonpt]

flow will be very low, not worried about that at all. The weight/pressure of the sand from the fuge on the other hand...