Sump/Refugium Suggestions

D

ddimberio

New member
Guys....

I need some sump/refugium suggestions. I will be building my new dream tank soon and could use some good advice. The tank will measure 72" x 30 wide x 24 tall. It will be built in a wall with a room behind it that will house a sink (hopefully - could have plumbing issues) RO/DI and vats. I have flow figured out..I am going with 1 wavysea return and 2 tunze 6101 powerheads - maybe to add another tunze in the future. Probably a single 6 foot fixture that will hang in the room from the ceiling (ideas here as well).

I currently have my eye on the ADHI 60 refugium/sump from champion lighting. It will easily house my the ASM G-4x skimmer I am going with. Anyhow, any suggestions or ideas would be very helpful.

Cheers, DD
 
Petwarehouse has 2 huge acrylic sump in there store right now for $150.
What are you wanting to know? Lighting? what kind of sump? If your looking for a specific setup in general where you plan to house everything in it( heaters, skimmer, filtersock, etc..) you might want to just make your own out of a used tank which you can usually come across cheap from time to time. Or if you have the room for it, you could use a rubber maid pond liner which works well also. For the refugium part you want low flow. You dont necessarily want high flow. You could build a sump seperate and have the refugium plumbed into the return side of the sump.
As for Lighting- you dont need any high tech lighting. The 65w 6500k PC light (light of america) from homedepot work great and the are only $35. Just suspend them around 6" above the water. The replacement bulbs are only $15 and they are almost always in stock.
 
The sump I saw at petware house had a crack in it, but maybe Jim from Sea Dwellers could fix it. I have seen his work before when tanks were broken that he fixed. He does nice work. But for $150, for a huge sump that could house anything you want, it is a good deal.
 
Thanks for the thoughts guys....I checked those out - there is some potential but they would need alot of modification.
 
Lights

Lights

Hey Dave, I also have a 6' tank (125) I was going to go with a 6' light. But, my tank has a center brace, and I was worried about shadowing.

Some of the configs. of the 6ft lights usually end up having a light right over that center brace.
So I went w/ 2- 3footers. They came with suspension kits. I was able to pack 4 -150HQI and 8-39w T-5 above my tank, and they fit nice

84117HQI_light.bmp


Fuzz.
 
For lighting, since its going to be hidden just do a retro, they are alot cheaper and you have more of a choice as to what you want. You can get raw MH ballasts for less then 50.oo each and then all you would need is bulbs and reflectors. Probably looking at maybe 500 total compared to about 1000.oo for the complete unit.

For sump, just buy a glass tank and put the baffles in where you want them. Again, its probably going to be a lot cheaper.
 
Why would you run MH on a sump? You using it as a frag tank aswell? Sorry thats the lighting I thought you were wanting to know about. Just for growing Caulpra and stuff.
 
I was refering for MH on the main tank, as far as fuge lighting, just go to a home store and get a power compact bulb with a 55-6500k temp rating and use a cheap shop light. Should only cost 10.00
 
Thanks Josh...I'll take a look. Again..I appreciate all of the insight.

BTW, it looks as though I will only be able to run an RO/DI line in to my aquarium room. I will have a salt vat in there as well as a freshwater vat for top offs. I will have to put a big utility sink in the backroom, unfinished part of my basement. Only a short walk from the room the aquarium will be in.

Not ideal, but better than the maintenance workout I had on my last tank (180). I had all equimpent downstairs and the tank was upstairs in the family room. That was a pain lugging buckets of water up the stairs every water change and top offs!
 
Make sure you run a dehumidifier in a basement, or have fans going. I've heard some bad stories. I dont know how much water is too much for evaporation to ruin things, but its something to consider. I had 5 tanks at my old house in the basement, but the basement was open with 1800sq ft. I didnt have any problems, but if your sealing off a room, I would run a fan.
 
Man, I am just curious as to what your guys' electric bills are like?
That is why I was seriously considering buying a Solaris or Galileo light when I moved to a much bigger tank...those HQI's eat up some serious wattage...the problem is that the Solaris light is also ASTRONOMICALLY priced - absolutely ridiculous.
 
I HATE ALL OF THE PRICE GOUGING THAT GOES ON IN THIS HOBBY - ESPECIALLY FOR PARTS THAT ARE MADE IN CHINA. THE MARKUP IS SIMPLY LUDICROUS.

-Chris
 
Where is a good place to buy retrofit kits...I think I am going to make my own hood for my cheapie 29g AGA. The retrofit kits I saw in the DFS catalog were pricey to me - $400 for a retrofit kit??? Might build a new stand while I am at it to increase water capacity - to put in a 30g sump/fuge.

-Chris
 
DIYReef.com is probably going to be your cheapest route for a kit. If you are wanting to do MH, go to BusinessLights.com and get one of their magnetic ballasts and then all you need is a bulb and reflector.
 
i got my MH kit from oceanencounter.com. It was less than 150 for everything. Also i think it is petplace.com i found nova T5 kits for under $100
 
Not sure what I am going to do for lighting...Either 2 metal halide fixtures with actinics built-in, or perhaps, the new LED fixtures. If they were just 25% cheaper I would seriously consider them.

Besides, do you think 1 72 inch Solaris fixture (the latest version) would sufficiently light my tank? 6 x 24 high x 30 wide?
 
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