Need Help With Fuge

Kevin34 · 11/30/2008, 06:13 PM

I want to turn part of my sump into a fuge to get a good zooplankton population going because I want to try a copperband butterfly in the future. My tank is a 125 and the section of my sump is about 8"X16"X16". Right now I just have some LR rubble, sand, and cheato in there. How can I improve it? I also have a PC light over the sump but havnt seen much growth in the cheato. It's been in there since august.

D to the P · 11/30/2008, 06:21 PM

Has the cheato grown at all and just recently is slowing down in growth, or has it just not grown at all.

If it used to grow well, you might need to cultivate it and remove like half of it.

If it has never grown, the flow going past it might be too fast. Are you running any thing else on the tank that would remove phosphates like a reactor with GFO in it? They can pull away the phosphates that the cheato would otherwise be using.

As far as improving it, you could always just make it bigger by using a ten gallon tank or container next to the sump instead of in it. The amphipods and copepods and cheato should flourish in there because the flow won't be to fast.
You could also try to put in a temporary baffle. If the baffle slowing down the flow helps the growth, than you could just silicone it into place. Otherwise you could just take it out. Not that siliconed acrylic is hard to remove, but it'd be less work.

Kevin34 · 11/30/2008, 06:32 PM

If I got a seperate tank for the fuge would I need to completely redo my plumbing? The fuge section in my sump now is right next to my return pump (mag 18) and the cheato always gets sucked to the foam filter block on the end of the return pump.

D to the P · 11/30/2008, 06:45 PM

If you put the fuge next to the tank, you'll need to plump a PVC Tee into the drain line. On the Tee you'll want to put a ball valve so you can control the amount of flow allowed through the part of the Tee that goes off to the side. You don't want more than about 30% of the water draining from your tank going into the fuge. Otherwise the water will be going through it too fast. Water will go on the path of least resistance, and that's why you put a ball valve on the part of the Tee going to the fuge, and not on the part emptying into the sump.

From there you'll just need to put some baffling into the fuge to slow the water down, and seperate the fuge from the return area. Then have a return pump send the water out of the fuge into the return area of the sump so that the return pump in the sump can send all the water back up to the aquarium. Using PVC might allow you to keep the plumbing easy because you won't have vinyl tubing just lying around.

I know it's kind of a confusing description of how it works, but let me know if you don't get that and I'll see if I can't find any pictures for you.

D to the P · 11/30/2008, 06:53 PM

Here's a thread that was started up a while ago that is very picture and detail intense. You can see how simple some of the designs are, and how easy it should be to install.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1349443

Kevin34 · 11/30/2008, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by D to the P
If you put the fuge next to the tank, you'll need to plump a PVC Tee into the drain line. On the Tee you'll want to put a ball valve so you can control the amount of flow allowed through the part of the Tee that goes off to the side. You don't want more than about 30% of the water draining from your tank going into the fuge. Otherwise the water will be going through it too fast. Water will go on the path of least resistance, and that's why you put a ball valve on the part of the Tee going to the fuge, and not on the part emptying into the sump.

From there you'll just need to put some baffling into the fuge to slow the water down, and seperate the fuge from the return area. Then have a return pump send the water out of the fuge into the return area of the sump so that the return pump in the sump can send all the water back up to the aquarium. Using PVC might allow you to keep the plumbing easy because you won't have vinyl tubing just lying around.

I know it's kind of a confusing description of how it works, but let me know if you don't get that and I'll see if I can't find any pictures for you.

pics would help a lot. the plumbing I have now going from my sump to tank is vinyl tubing. Could I still do all this if the plumbing isnt PVC? I really wish I used PVC to begin with. Is it possible to change out my vinyl tubing with PVC? I dont want to cause a flood haha.

D to the P · 11/30/2008, 07:05 PM

Yeah you could plump a PVC part into the vinyl no problem. You'd just need a barb adapter with a male threaded end so that it could screw into the PVC Tee.

I'm not saying you can't do it with vinyl, but it might look cleaner if you do it with PVC. But that link should give you an idea of what others are doing. Like I said, it doesn't need to be pretty, just functional.

11/30/2008, 06:13 PM	#1
Kevin34 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 178	Need Help With Fuge I want to turn part of my sump into a fuge to get a good zooplankton population going because I want to try a copperband butterfly in the future. My tank is a 125 and the section of my sump is about 8"X16"X16". Right now I just have some LR rubble, sand, and cheato in there. How can I improve it? I also have a PC light over the sump but havnt seen much growth in the cheato. It's been in there since august.

11/30/2008, 06:21 PM	#2
D to the P Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Amishville, USA Posts: 2,047	Has the cheato grown at all and just recently is slowing down in growth, or has it just not grown at all. If it used to grow well, you might need to cultivate it and remove like half of it. If it has never grown, the flow going past it might be too fast. Are you running any thing else on the tank that would remove phosphates like a reactor with GFO in it? They can pull away the phosphates that the cheato would otherwise be using. As far as improving it, you could always just make it bigger by using a ten gallon tank or container next to the sump instead of in it. The amphipods and copepods and cheato should flourish in there because the flow won't be to fast. You could also try to put in a temporary baffle. If the baffle slowing down the flow helps the growth, than you could just silicone it into place. Otherwise you could just take it out. Not that siliconed acrylic is hard to remove, but it'd be less work. __________________ Nature V.S. Nurture: Nature Always Wins. Current Tank Info: 12 gallon Aquapod reef with LED's, multiple nano's at work.

11/30/2008, 06:45 PM	#4
D to the P Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Amishville, USA Posts: 2,047	If you put the fuge next to the tank, you'll need to plump a PVC Tee into the drain line. On the Tee you'll want to put a ball valve so you can control the amount of flow allowed through the part of the Tee that goes off to the side. You don't want more than about 30% of the water draining from your tank going into the fuge. Otherwise the water will be going through it too fast. Water will go on the path of least resistance, and that's why you put a ball valve on the part of the Tee going to the fuge, and not on the part emptying into the sump. From there you'll just need to put some baffling into the fuge to slow the water down, and seperate the fuge from the return area. Then have a return pump send the water out of the fuge into the return area of the sump so that the return pump in the sump can send all the water back up to the aquarium. Using PVC might allow you to keep the plumbing easy because you won't have vinyl tubing just lying around. I know it's kind of a confusing description of how it works, but let me know if you don't get that and I'll see if I can't find any pictures for you. __________________ Nature V.S. Nurture: Nature Always Wins. Current Tank Info: 12 gallon Aquapod reef with LED's, multiple nano's at work.

11/30/2008, 06:53 PM	#5
D to the P Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Amishville, USA Posts: 2,047	Here's a thread that was started up a while ago that is very picture and detail intense. You can see how simple some of the designs are, and how easy it should be to install. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1349443 __________________ Nature V.S. Nurture: Nature Always Wins. Current Tank Info: 12 gallon Aquapod reef with LED's, multiple nano's at work.

11/30/2008, 07:05 PM	#7
D to the P Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Amishville, USA Posts: 2,047	Yeah you could plump a PVC part into the vinyl no problem. You'd just need a barb adapter with a male threaded end so that it could screw into the PVC Tee. I'm not saying you can't do it with vinyl, but it might look cleaner if you do it with PVC. But that link should give you an idea of what others are doing. Like I said, it doesn't need to be pretty, just functional. __________________ Nature V.S. Nurture: Nature Always Wins. Current Tank Info: 12 gallon Aquapod reef with LED's, multiple nano's at work.

11/30/2008, 06:32 PM	#3
Kevin34 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 178	If I got a seperate tank for the fuge would I need to completely redo my plumbing? The fuge section in my sump now is right next to my return pump (mag 18) and the cheato always gets sucked to the foam filter block on the end of the return pump.