Rift Lake Cichlids
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The Reef Refugium

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Post by addicted2cichlid Mon Dec 21, 2009 2:11 am

my home made refugiun is a 3ft x 13" x 16" standard 30gallon all glass aquarium with 3 baffles siliconed in.

The Reef Refugium DSC03422

E Shopps siphon overflow box takes water down to refugium
The Reef Refugium DSC03161

Water then goes into a 100 micron socks, finely polishing the water. in this first chamber the water is also exposed to my 2 protein skimmers...

The Reef Refugium DSC03424

water goes over the first baffle and goes through the refugium, a slower flow mini aquarium i use to grow out Cheatomorpha, a type of macro algae used to sponge up nitrate and nutrients as it grows. i also use this chamber to acclimate new fish and corals in too. i have crushed coral and refugium mud in there to help keep calcium levels (and a few others) where i want them to be and assist ph to remain stable.



the water then goes over the 2nd baffle and goes through a chemipure pouch and some course sponge to dissapate any possible bubbles from going into the return pump. water is returned by a mag drive 500. with the head height figured it is pushing about 330GPH through the sump/refugium.

The Reef Refugium DSC03157


Last edited by addicted2cichlid on Wed Dec 23, 2009 3:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Post by Aura Tue Dec 22, 2009 12:37 pm

Nice job. I don't think I'd be able to put something like that together and have it actually work.
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Post by Scott Tue Dec 22, 2009 8:55 pm

I just did a bit of quick research on the siphon overflow box.

1 question: What happens when the power goes out for a bit?

please let me know if I am wrong here. The way I figure it, once the pump stops, the overflow box will empty into the sump with the water level in the tank dropping below the intake gates. The siphon should then be broken. Now just for S&G's, the pump comes back on, pumping water from the sump back to the main tank. With no siphone to return water to the sump, the main tank would overflow. Then, the sump is empty and the pump runs dry and burns up.

I am not Mr. negative but I am worried about this issue with any siphone style overflow. How do you deal with this situation?
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Post by Drake-tripod Tue Dec 22, 2009 9:15 pm

it would prolly over flow and all you do is hope your around Very Happy
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Post by bulldogg7 Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:46 pm

the outside box has a standpipe, once the water level drops to the top of the standpipe the flow stops, leaving the u-tube still full of water. Starts right back up.
there's a good diagram here, near the bottom of the page http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=1222040
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Post by addicted2cichlid Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:33 pm

bulldogg7 wrote:the outside box has a standpipe, once the water level drops to the top of the standpipe the flow stops, leaving the u-tube still full of water. Starts right back up.
there's a good diagram here, near the bottom of the page http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=1222040


yea exactly. no overflowing on my most demanding and time invested aquarium. power can go out and come back on with or without me there... as long as ur sump has the extra volume... like mine when i shut off the fuge pump i get a bit of backsiphon from my return, raises my sump like 2". but the overflow box only takes water level in main tank to the actual overflow level, which in my tank isnt even below the trim line. i gauge my back siphon at mabey 1 gallon.
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Post by Scott Wed Dec 23, 2009 12:21 pm

Thanks for the link Bull. That helps clear up my concern. It looks like a pretty good system and I will be thinkng about it. I want to build a refug/sump so I'll see if this will work for me.

Addict - how big is the display tank the refug is connected too? How many gallons in the refugium? I'm thinking 20ish???
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Post by addicted2cichlid Wed Dec 23, 2009 3:58 pm

Scott wrote:Thanks for the link Bull. That helps clear up my concern. It looks like a pretty good system and I will be thinkng about it. I want to build a refug/sump so I'll see if this will work for me.

Addict - how big is the display tank the refug is connected too? How many gallons in the refugium? I'm thinking 20ish???

display tank is a 33Long 48"x13"x13"- about 22 gallons of actual water

refugium is a standard 30 gallon 36"x13"x16"- about 20 gallons of actual water
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