Remote display fuge

[xtlosx]

So to get as much filtration as possible, I've gotten the approval for a display fuge right next to my main 150G tank.. I need some advice, and possibly some logistical help from the group!

Size - It should be taller, and something like a 60 cube... I'd like drilled if at all possible to avoid doing a hang on back overflow... Might have to start keeping my eyes pealed for things on CL or here...

Contents - Large ball of Chaeto, other macro, and wife asked about seahorses.... The flow might be way too much for them, but said I would "keep it in mind".

Plumbing - It can either be fed from my return (I have a t'd off ball valve that can feed it) and gravity drain back into the return area... I have some local plumbing help that I could probably request...

What is everyones thoughts? I've seen display fuges in the past, and my wife wants something that looks nice as well as educational for kids..

Thoughts anyone? Bounce your ideas off me... The biggest reason for doing this right now is that the fuge area in my 40B has a DSB, rock, and really chaeto just kinda sits there, not tumbling, and doesn't grow. I want to maximize my biological filtration in the display fuge. Maybe some nice fish in there? Who knows, but something cool as well as practical.

 

[taylor t]

If it was me, I would do a long narrow fuge, and locate it so it's really, really, really easy to work on. Once it starts growing, you'll want to prune it often to keep up with it. I have a 20 long (too small)I made a fuge originally for my 210. Return is split to feed both display and (old) fuge, (old) fuge has 2 bulkheads, and drains into the DT so all the "bugs" could just go "over the falls" into the DT for food. Problem I had, I put the fuge on a shelf, up high, in the corner, (space) a real PITA to maintain. Then cleaning the glass to look in was also a pain. Like everything in this hobby, if you want to stay in it long term, you have to make it super easy, we all get lazy/busy.

Now, a few years later, my 20 long is no longer a fuge... It's turned into just a remote deep sand bed, and just adds 20 gallons of "calm" bacteria with no light. No glass cleaning, nothing living in it, but the DSB is covered in sponge and tiny feathers now, all dark dwellers 24/7.

If I was to design a remote fuge for my tank now, and had the room, I'd use a 55 gallon (4' T5 light or LED), and use LR for the macro's to take root in (no DSB), and make it so I can just walk up and clean it, no ladder, no moving light, no living things to feed, and also use high flow to stop crud from accumulating on the bottom. Just how I'd do it. After time, you will see cool stuff grow in it for the kids, and sometimes, if there's no CUC or fish, cool stuff grows out of the rocks, even rocks you've had in the tank for years. (open top would add/loose a lot of moisture, I'd want mine to have a top to avoid evaperation).

I currently just use a part of one of the 40 breeder sumps I've got for a little "fuge". Works ok. I wish I had more room and time.

Just how I'd do it. Many ways to do it.

 

[xtlosx]

Thanks Taylor, so the idea behind it is to expand the capabilities of my current fuge... My fuge in the 40B was big enough, or so I thought originally... I intentionally made the drain\return areas small'ish to maximize the fuge. Now 8 months later, I need more... more! There's a DSB in there, with some rock, and it's calm so chaeto does not like growing.. There' no real room to add a koralia to jostle the flow around. So the idea I got was....

The wife gave me another 24"x24" or so area right next to the DT for a cube type tank, or something taller for a display fuge.

The remote fuge idea is another idea, and would just need to run some 3/4" pvc into this room (either way I can feed from my return now) and then gravity drain it back. Heck, if it's in this room, I can have several 10G tanks on a shelf and overflow into each other for different filtration..... That seems interesting actually now that I think about it. One can just be a tumbling chaeto tank (10G) one can have a DSB and rock, etc....

I can feed the top tank from my return, it can overflow into the one underneath it, then it can gravity drain back into my "return" or drain area.....