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View Full Version : Future refugium plans - adding after sump construction?


Crazed
07/01/2009, 10:25 AM
Hey all! I was just thinking today (a rarity! :lol: ). When I designed my sump, I was kind of an idiot and never put in an area for a refugium. I was thinking that farther down the road, with a reef tank, more likely than not I'm going to be dying to have a refugium. I don't know whole lot about the types of macroalgae you put in there (anyone have a good introductory link?) but I do know about the denitrifying capabilities, and seeing as the nitrates in my tank have been keeping around 10, I think I'm going to need one when I get to the point of adding corals.

The problem is I'm not too keen on making an entirely new sump. It's working very well (although the water level had to be raised higher to help with microbubbles, evaporation vibration noise; so it's the same level in all the compartments now). Plus, since I have a 70 gallon tank that is 25'' deep and 36'' long, I don't know if would have room to even add a fuge horizontally. So, what do you think of this idea:

http://the-polyglot.net/uploads/other/aquarium/fuge-idea.png

Basically, my thought is to stick an acrylic box right on top of the sump, resting on the top of the tank (would that be safe for a glass aquarium being used as a sump)?, with another piece of acrylic sloped into either the return or the skimmer area (which is better?) to drain water out and prevent noise.

That way, the only thing I'd have to change is the drain plumbing and add a light. If you think the stress of another 10 gallons (is that enogh?) of water on top of glass tank is too much, I could support it with PVC struts in the middle of the sump tank. What do you think?

Thanks! :D