Adding Refuge To Setup - Am I Doing This Right?

dankolle

dankolle

Reefing newb
So I have been wanting to do this for some time now...and I am finally taking the plunge. I have a container that will hold 7 gallons for a small fuge I want to create. I want to give pods a great area to live so they can feed my anthias and Mandarin!

I am also going to be adding some live sand to the bottom of my sump...I get waste built up on the bottom of the acrylic and it is a PITA to get it out of there so I am hoping to recruit some crabs and bacteria to help me.

Here is a very crude diagram of what I am going to be doing...am I getting this right?

fuge.jpg
 
the flow is correct but adding sand and rubble will only increase detritus and create more nitrate, cheato likes to tumble for full lighting, pods like cheato
 
How do I deal with the waste in the bottom of my sump? It builds up...this is two weeks worth and I have to completely tear down the sump to get rid of it...

0112011114.jpg
 
I get that in the bottom of my sump. I periodically take a turkey baster or a powerhead connected to some tubing and suck it all out.
 
You'll have that waste in there even if you put sand. The only thing the sand will do is make it less noticeable.
 
Mine looks close to the same way. I think I'd rather keep the glass bottom and know it can be easily cleaned rather than have the junk get lost in sand.
 
Yeah, that is why I don't use sand in my fuge. There's going to be crud that settles on the bottom. It's easier to clean it off of glass than sand. And I think you'd need a lot of crabs to take care of it. It's easy enough just to suck it out.
 
I am currently in the process of bonding the PVC to the plastic container...and I am wondering about the epoxy I used on the under-side of the container. It is standard epoxy but on the back it says "for use on non-potable water". I am wondering if they are worried about it leaching into the water or if this is a CYA warning in-case someone did get sick from it.

I have not put a layer on the inside of the container yet so if someone knows if I am safe to use epoxy that will be fully cured before entering my system please let me know!!
 
Can you tell us the brand that you used?

Although it's usually recommended to use epoxy that is for potable water, I haven't always followed that rule myself when there have been slim pickings at the hardware store, and everything seems to have turned out okay. Just avoid the brands that have metals added for strength.
 
I've never used that type of epoxy. I've only used the putty kind (used for plumbing). Maybe someone else will chime in that has experience with the liquid.
 
epoxy is not a great item for acrylic, it might work on the pvc but a little iffy on the acrylic, weld on 16 will dissolve bond both
 
that would be a safe and good way to go, the container is probably, epoxy will stick for a while but as it cures it will pop off, its like silicon on plastic its really just vacuum holding it, if theres any chance of it causing damage by leaking use the bulkhead, if its ok to leak try it and see how long it holds, these #s will be on the container somewhere, identify then search for a compatible glue?

1. Know your plastics. Plastic items are marked with a resin identification coding system (the number surrounded by arrows), which stand for:
1 polyethyelene terephthalate (PETE)
2 high-density polyethylene (HDPE)
3 vinyl, polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
4 low-density polyethylene (LDPE)
5 polypropylene (PP)
6 polystyrene (PS)
7 other (includes polycarbonate, acrylic, polylactic acid, fiberglass)

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