mattsilvester
Team RC
Hi Folks,
Further to some research I have been doing into phosphate and nitrate reduction, I have come up with a few idea’s for modifying my system to help control these â€"œ this basically will involve:
1. A dedicated remote DSB for nitrate management, maintained in darkness, with pre-filtered (mechanical) water, and high flow â€"œ as per the “DSB in a bucket†thread.
2. A dedicated algae refugium for phosphate management. Apart from the macro, I am not sure about how this will be set up.
3. A dedicated equipment sump into which everything will drain (i.e. display, remote DSB and rfefugium)
4. A large RO and salt water make up storage tank(s).
What I wish to discuss is how best to set up each item individually, but primarily, how I should link it all together. I propose to locate all this in a dedicated room (a small shed, outside). Space will be tight, but it should be adequate (the biggest shed I can fit is 6’x6’.
I have 3 no. all glass tanks that can be used â€"œ 48â€Âx18â€Âx20â€Â, 44â€Âx18â€Âx15â€Â, 48â€Âx12â€Âx12â€Â. I intend to use the first as the main sump, the second as the refugium, and the last as the DSB. DSB is the most simple, so I’ll start there:
DSB - 48â€Âx12â€Âx12â€Â, bulkhead each end â€"œ ¾†in and 2†out, fill with 8†of aragonite sugar fine sand, with 2-3†of pre-filtered water flowing over it, hopefully quite rapidly. This is modelled on the example given in the “DSB in a bucket†thread i.e. the 55 gal tank for a 2,000 gal system.
Refugium. 44â€Âx15â€Âx18†illuminated with twin T5 lighting with reflectors (or similar). Obviously I will need some form of substrate to anchor the macro to….. I’ve got a 2 gallon bucket of “dead†LR rubble â€"œ that could be used â€"œ or would I be better off with sand and a few lumps of LR, for biodiversity etc.?
Sump â€"œ 48x18x20 â€"œ gonna do a basic arrangement here â€"œ waste water in, mechanical filter, then skimmer. Next chamber, pump to refugium and DSB. Also feeds to calcium reactor etc. Last chamber â€"œ returns from refugium, dsb, calcium, kalk, heaters etc and return pump to display.
My initial thoughts centre around position of the skimmer, RDSB and refugium. Skimmer first, remove as much as possible. The next bit is tricky. I have read that the two limiting factors for growth (hence nutrient export) for macro algae are phosphate and nitrate. That is to say in order for it to grow (and remove nitrate and phosphate) there needs to be a supply of BOTH. So, should the nitrate be totally depleted by some other means, then the macro will not grow, and if it does not grow it will not “harvest†the phosphate……… am I on the right track here? A further assumption is that if one pumps water through a remote DSB then the water leaving will have much less nitrate that the water entering. Putting these two assumptions together, does it follow on to say that it would not be suitable to fee the refugium with water from the DSB, is phosphate removal is the ultimate goal? i.e. perhaps it’s a better idea to feed the DSB with water from the refugium â€"œ but then you are introducing possible detritus i.e. its no longer “prefiltered†â€"œ for if you did you defeat half the purpose of the refugium (i.e. critters etc). So, should I look at pumping water to both the DSB AND the refugium separately? What kind of flow should I put through both?
Diagrams to follow â€"œ but I know people have tried this type of thing before â€"œ so thoughts and input please.
Regards,
Matt
Further to some research I have been doing into phosphate and nitrate reduction, I have come up with a few idea’s for modifying my system to help control these â€"œ this basically will involve:
1. A dedicated remote DSB for nitrate management, maintained in darkness, with pre-filtered (mechanical) water, and high flow â€"œ as per the “DSB in a bucket†thread.
2. A dedicated algae refugium for phosphate management. Apart from the macro, I am not sure about how this will be set up.
3. A dedicated equipment sump into which everything will drain (i.e. display, remote DSB and rfefugium)
4. A large RO and salt water make up storage tank(s).
What I wish to discuss is how best to set up each item individually, but primarily, how I should link it all together. I propose to locate all this in a dedicated room (a small shed, outside). Space will be tight, but it should be adequate (the biggest shed I can fit is 6’x6’.
I have 3 no. all glass tanks that can be used â€"œ 48â€Âx18â€Âx20â€Â, 44â€Âx18â€Âx15â€Â, 48â€Âx12â€Âx12â€Â. I intend to use the first as the main sump, the second as the refugium, and the last as the DSB. DSB is the most simple, so I’ll start there:
DSB - 48â€Âx12â€Âx12â€Â, bulkhead each end â€"œ ¾†in and 2†out, fill with 8†of aragonite sugar fine sand, with 2-3†of pre-filtered water flowing over it, hopefully quite rapidly. This is modelled on the example given in the “DSB in a bucket†thread i.e. the 55 gal tank for a 2,000 gal system.
Refugium. 44â€Âx15â€Âx18†illuminated with twin T5 lighting with reflectors (or similar). Obviously I will need some form of substrate to anchor the macro to….. I’ve got a 2 gallon bucket of “dead†LR rubble â€"œ that could be used â€"œ or would I be better off with sand and a few lumps of LR, for biodiversity etc.?
Sump â€"œ 48x18x20 â€"œ gonna do a basic arrangement here â€"œ waste water in, mechanical filter, then skimmer. Next chamber, pump to refugium and DSB. Also feeds to calcium reactor etc. Last chamber â€"œ returns from refugium, dsb, calcium, kalk, heaters etc and return pump to display.
My initial thoughts centre around position of the skimmer, RDSB and refugium. Skimmer first, remove as much as possible. The next bit is tricky. I have read that the two limiting factors for growth (hence nutrient export) for macro algae are phosphate and nitrate. That is to say in order for it to grow (and remove nitrate and phosphate) there needs to be a supply of BOTH. So, should the nitrate be totally depleted by some other means, then the macro will not grow, and if it does not grow it will not “harvest†the phosphate……… am I on the right track here? A further assumption is that if one pumps water through a remote DSB then the water leaving will have much less nitrate that the water entering. Putting these two assumptions together, does it follow on to say that it would not be suitable to fee the refugium with water from the DSB, is phosphate removal is the ultimate goal? i.e. perhaps it’s a better idea to feed the DSB with water from the refugium â€"œ but then you are introducing possible detritus i.e. its no longer “prefiltered†â€"œ for if you did you defeat half the purpose of the refugium (i.e. critters etc). So, should I look at pumping water to both the DSB AND the refugium separately? What kind of flow should I put through both?
Diagrams to follow â€"œ but I know people have tried this type of thing before â€"œ so thoughts and input please.
Regards,
Matt
