I want to add a homemade fuge.

Gluestick

Gluestick

New member
I am interesting in adding a refugium to my tank for natural algae control and also a self replenishing food source.
I would like to make this a DIY project, to save some money, and for educational purposes! :lol:
Here's what I have:
A 90 gal RR tank with the model 3 sump by AGA. With all the stuff I have in the sump, there really is no room for baffles or the like. I would like to make some sort of outside fuge, but I'm not sure how to connect, or plumb it. PS, my husband is a plumber, so if I tell him what I need, he can get it for me.
I don't even know how to go about this.... If anyone has experience with this sort of this and could help me through this it would be great! I would gladly give some frags to someone (when I aquire any of value that are ready for fragging!) who is really willing to help me!
 
i made one with a clear rubber maide tote from walmart, drilled a hole in the sump and the new tote, connected it with a bulkhead, which i think i ordered from fosters and smith. theres about 6 inches of southdown sand in the fuge for a DSB and then i put cheato, caulerpa, and mangrove trees in there. the water from the tank flows into the fuge and out the bulkhead into the sump. worked great for me! let me know if you have any more questions.
 
I don't know if I feel comfortable drilling my sump. I pretty much want the sump to be completely seperate, the water somehow gets into the fuge from the sump and then flows back into the sump. Does that sound unrealistic?
 
What you use depends completely on how big you want it to be.

Placement is as much a part of function as it is a part of aesthetics.

For the preservation of the micro-fauna (pods and other bugs) that will live in the fuge I prefer a hang on fuge attached to the main tank. Water can be pumped with a small powerhead (minijet 404 or 606) for a smaller fuge or a larger powerhead like a maxi-jet 900 or 1200. The powerhead resides in the main tank and pumps water into the refugium. Gravity allows the fuge to drain back into the main tank allowing pods and such to get into the main tank without having to go through the physical trauma of a pump impeller.

For my first DIY fuge I used an old supreme aquamaster external filter box. I cut two baffles out of a rubbermaid ice container which I glued in at each end. I drilled it at each end for a piece of 1/2" pvc pipe to go through it and I cemented pvc elbows on each piece of pvc both inside and out. I attached a barbed fitting on the right side and a piece of clear tubing attached the barb to a minijet 606 that came in a bucket of instant ocean.

I put some live rock rubble and live sand in the center compartment and some assorted macroalgae. It ran for a couple of years until it developed a leak that shorted out an outlet a couple of months ago.

Fortunately I had purchased a fuge off ebay just after putting the diy unit on line. I never installed it because of the great result I got from my ghetto DIY unit. When the leak occurred I had to go into emergency mode to get the other unit online. I put the old diy unit in my sump so the sand and pods wouldn't die. The ebay unit is pumped with a maxijet 1200 I had ordered from premiumaquatics along with 5 lbs of their sludge (or whatever they call it).

All things considered you could say the DIY fuge was a freebie because I just used stuff that was gathering dust. If I had to put a true price on it considering the minijet pump purchased from a local store, a few PVC fittings and an 8 foot section of 1/2" pipe and a couple of small rubbermaids, a foot of hose and a barbed fitting you are probably looking between $25 and $35.

The one I bought on ebay ran me around $70.00 shipped. The seller (acryliccity) has gotten more expensive over the years though. His designs have gotten better too.

I am very tired and am going to go to sleep. If you'd like I can post pictures on Sunday when i will next be at the computer. Otherwise you can drop me a Pm and I can email you some hi-res pics.

HTH

Adam
 
Awesome, thanks for the ideas. I will take into consideration the hang on fuge, although I have so much room under my cabinet and would like to take advantage of that. If you have pics handy, please email them to shaunandval@juno.com
Thanks
Valerie
 
I'll do that tonight. My plans have changed drastically for the weekend.

I was on my way to my office this afternoon and narrowly missed rear ending someone that stopped short in front of me just as my left tires went through some standing water. Unfortunately when I stopped short in my Hyundai the poor lady in the GMC Envoy behind me had to use my Hyundai to stop when her left tires went through the water.

I feel bad for only because I personally would put 80 percent of the blame on the village of Vernon Hills for setting up their islands so poorly that the sprinklers (which don't need to be running because it's going to storm tonight or tomorrow) run off onto the roadway. It's very wasteful of a natural resource. It is costly to residents of the town (my mother). And anyone that knows anything about lawn and garden care knows that you water after sunset or an hour before dawn so you don't loose your water to evaporation before the ground can absorb it.

My neck is starting to tense up and I am about to head out to the ambi-center to get a prescription of muscle relaxers. Then I'll zone out in front of the computer after I take some pictures. If I am too drugged it will be tomorrow morning.

Adam
 
If I added the links correctly first we have a pic of my Hang on fuge. Sorry it isn't a better view but the tank has a smoked back.

It's about 20 inches wide. Water goes in with a maxijet 1200 on the left. There is a baffle and then the center chamber which is around 16 inches wide. Water ejects through the right and drains into the aquarium with gravity.

hobfuge1.jpg


This is the ghetto fuge. Not much to look at but hubba hubba, how about that hand model showing it off. :rolleyes:
ghettofuge.jpg


I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Adam
 
Thanks a lot, I'll definetly take that idea into consideration.
Do you have a hard time getting in back of the aquarium? I don't have much space between the wall in my living room and the back of the tank...
 
Whaledriver, thanks a ton for the link, that's really great. Do you have one? Four inches wide, that's awesome. I wonder if you could take the skimmer out for more room? Or I would have double skimming! :-)
 
I placed my fuge above my main tank but not directly over, that way it wasnt in the way of my main. Anyway, i fed it from my main return in my sump. I simply branched off the return and put a ball valve on. This "fuge feed" was hung over the side of the fuge. I have the fuge ( a 40 gal. breeder) drilled at the top opposite end of the feed, which (by gravity) dumps back into the main. This way, none of the plankton produced in the fuge have to pass through an impeller. I run a reverse light cycle on the fuge to help stablize the ph. I have some rock rubble and some caulerpa and chaetomorpha growing like mad. I used to have a problem with algae in the main display before i added this fuge. BTW...i have two very fat manderins in my main. The fuge is crawling with critters! :)
 
:-( that's a really good deal, but i think it may be too long for my 90 RR. The overflow may get in the way. I'm searching on google for a similar one, but can't find anything close to that price! bummer!!!
 
If you want to grow plankton in youre fuge to feed youre fish and corals, I think you will need a bigger fuge. If youre main is a 90 gal., maybe a 20 gal would suffice.
 
That all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Any fuge should help somewhat. But as a plakton generator, I think it should be at least 20 percent of youre main display. JMHO. It is working for me.
 
i have a RR 25 gallonish tank for my frags that dumps back into the sump by gravity after being pumped in there with a small powerhead. if u can find one that already has an over flow, its a simple way to add a fuge on to your tank with out having to drill anything.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8068991#post8068991 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gluestick
What do you mean by plankton - bugs and stuff or phyto?
Click to expand...

Zooplankton...amphipods / copepods etc. Yes "bugs".
 
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