refugium questions

[Steveb]

I am setting up a 36 gallon (approx) refugium... 36x16x16

It is plumbed off of the sump for my 90 gallon tank. The refugium is gravity fed.

1 - recommendations for flow rate through the refugium (I was thinking about mag 5)
2 - lighting (I have 4x31 w T5 HO 10k daylight bulbs over it)
3 - 6" sand bed, sand + rock rubble, or use RDSB?
4 - chaeto seems to be the macro of choice - what some some of the sea grasses?

Thanks,

Steve

[Losungen]

500gph for a refugium is quite abit, personally I'd want around a third of that. They don't make 31w t5s, in NO or HO.

[Steveb]

The lights are:
30 Inch Coralife

Aqualight Dual Lamp High Output Fixture
30"fixture
2x 31 watt lamps
2 piece adjustable leg set

kind of goofy setup but let me get more light over the water.

[bergzy]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=462212

anthony calfo talks about flow rate through refugium.

my refugiums get s a min of 30x turnover per hour to 150x turnover, which is the highest i ever flowed through. with the mag 5 on your refugium...you would get about 13x turnover...which is okay and you should see great chaeto growth. just use a lot of light for no more than 18 hours per day...preferably on a reverse cycle to your main lights.

with very high, non-laminar flow...all i saw was amazing chaeto growth...which is my maco of choice for nutrient export. doesnt go sexual, no hold fast formation and is noninvasive. what else could you ask for in a macro for nutrient export. oh yeah, it grows fast and is easily harvested too!

[Steveb]

Thanks for the link to the article. I searched not sure how I missed it.... It sounds like they are opting for light in the 5100k range. The bulbs I have are 10,000k daylight. You think those will be too blue (too much actinic) for chaeto?

[bergzy]

Originally Posted by baringcs

Thanks for the link to the article. I searched not sure how I missed it.... It sounds like they are opting for light in the 5100k range. The bulbs I have are 10,000k daylight. You think those will be too blue (too much actinic) for chaeto?

chaeto, i think and and pretty sure, prefer the 5100K to 6500K range. the light i use is a lights of america 65w cf 6550 with a cri about 85? (something like that). so, it is very ideal for chaeto growth.

i get the lights when they are available at costco for $10. it comes with fixture, ballast, cover and bulb. the same light at home depot is $35+ and a replacement bulb is $20 as well.

thus, the costco light has done wonders for my refugiums.

here is a typical set up for my refugiums. no rubble, no sand...nothing but chaeto in there. i have a remote deep sand bed set up elsewhere. it is just my opinion and experience that i prefer to not have a deep sand bed, rubble etc in a macro grow out area. i like to keep the deep sand bed and rubble dark for the shy critters to do their thing!

yep! you see it correctly...my macro grow out containers is nothing more than a 5g bucket that receives a flow between 300gph to 600gph depending on the pump i have on had. the lights of america light sits perfectly on top. i also drill vent holes in the ballast and bulb area to let excess heat dissipate. this fuge is not meant to win beauty contests. it is meant for pure function and economy.



this is what two weeks of growth gets:


note that the bucket is completely opaque...which means that it is full of chaeto.

here is what i like to achieve with my bucket fuges...rotational chaeto growth!



hope this helps a little.

[Steveb]

Very cool Ben thanks for info and pics - I have a hard decision to make now. Scrap the pretty fuge and go w/something that looks to take up less space and is most likely more functional or try to adapt mine using the lights you recommended. Wish I had not purchased the Corallifes already - oh well the kids want tanks of their own....

Are you essentially pumping water down the side of the buket and then have a return at about the same level?

[basestring]

Hi,

I also want to build a Refugium, but I don't have the space near my tank.
The planing is to build one at the otherside of the room, against the window at the south side of the house, this way it will have Natural day light, with added light.

my question is how to build it so that water from my sump will be pump to the refugium and back without the refugium to overflow? it need to pump water for about 5 meter to and 5 metes back

I have a 500 Liter reef tank. what is the minimum size I need to build? or is a bucket sized enough like the Picture above?

Also I need to buy a Chiller before summer, can I build the chiller next to the Refugium and let it cool the water that get pumped back to the Sump? or at a extra pump in the Refugium so that the water from the refugium get cooled? what would be best?

[Steveb]

basestring - I think you are going to have to let gravity do the work for you either going from your sump down to the refugium or pump up to the refugium and then let gravity drain water back to your sump. In my case my tank drains into a sump that has skimmer, heaters, probes etc. Its about 30" off of the floor. I then have a drain 3/4 of the way up the side of the sump that allows water to drain into the refugium at floor level via gravity. I then pump water back from the refugium into the sump. The sump also has an overflow that allows water to be pumped back into the display tank. I will handle the water flow in the tank via 4 Hydor Koralia controllable 12v pumps.

IMHO you could incorporate the pumping of water from the refugium through a (might want some type of pre-filter or UV?) chiller and then back to your sump or tank - you are going to need pressure so I dont think having it sit on the drain side would work to well.

[Markbb]

Hello All,

After seeing the pics above of the refugium in the pail I am thinking of doing the same thing for a new 90gal build that I am starting. I was toying with the idea of daisy chaining 3 pails one for skimmer, one for fuge, one for return pump. Seems like a nice modular solution.. What, if any, is the best way to bulkhead a over flow in a cylindrical pail? Or is this idea just nuts and should I stick to my normal 29 gal glass fuge setup that I have used before.

Mark

[Steveb]

I believe Uniseal, Flexible Bulkheads Tank Adapters would work or you can probably flatten out the side w/a regular bulk head. I think there is a thread about that on RC (pro's & con's of uniseal vs. regular bulkhead on buckets).

I can't tell from Ben's pics because he has all that great Kaeto growing and in the way. ;-)

[Markbb]

Thanks Baring.... that is what I needed to know..appreciate the help

[bergzy]

i use both uniseals and bulk heads on my bucket fuges. i actually found 1" bulkheads work very good with the 5g buckets. uniseals also do an okay job. i found uniseals dribble a little due to the thinness of the bucket wall.

one thing to remember if you are using a 5g bucket for external use is to note that there are 2 ribs near the top of the bucket. now, you want as much volume in your bucket AND you want the uniseals/bulkhead to seal well. thus, if the bucket bows, there may be a risk of leakage. thus, i do not remove any section of the top rib to make room for the bulkheads.

to put the bulkheads onto the bucket. all i do is measure the edge of the bulkhead as close to the top rib as possible and then trim the lower rib to where the bulk heads would be.

using bulkheads is staright forward...just tighten them up and youre good to go.

with uniseal, i push the pipe all the way through to get a good seal.

to get rotational flow?

easy!!! well, it took me a little fiddling to achieve this but here it is:

- i use 1/2" pvc to feed the fuge. whether a bulkhead or uniseal, i get a section of pipe to as close to the middle as the bucket as possible. i then put a 90 degree elbow on there that points to the closest wall. find the angle that will hit the hit and direct down to the bottom of the bucket. this creates a rotational flow. it grow chaeto very quickly because it exposes all parts of the bundle to the light and gets great flow.

healthy chaeto can take a lot of flow. what it doesnt like is direct jet pummeling, like say from a powerhead. thus, i use dispersed and deflected flow to circulate and rotate the chaeto.

yes, you dont have to rotate chaeto to get great growth but for me, bucket refugiums fiddling and refinement have been a part of my fun reef hobby. i found that a properly functioning 5g bucket is more than sufficient for my system that is 350g adjusted volume. for those wanting a 'gross' volume, it is probably 500g.

i also made a 5g external zeo reactor and used a 5g for a calfo rdsb.

let me know if i can be of any help.