My monster refugium

[MVlk]

Gonna start this thread early. Have not finished it yet, but wanted to document my trials, failures and hopeful success in the end project. This will also be my first shot at posting photos.

I currently have the Marineland Model 3 sump under my tank. This sump is meant to be for biological/mechanical filtration only. It does have room for a protein skimmer, but it is a small space only. Not a great choice for what I want. Live and learn!

I currently am fighting a little algae outbreak and my nitrates are high at 20ppm. My solution was to build a small refugium from a tall pet food container. This sort of worked, but I consider it a failure or at least not my ultimate solution.

• Plastic was too brittle and I ultimately worried about it cracking later.
• Even though it was only the size of a medium waste bucket, it made the are under my tank too cramped.
• Return was 1" and just seemed to not keep up well enough with the pump even at a low flow. I worried about overflowing.

With this in mind, I am on to plan two. I am going to move my tank from my main level to my finished basement. I have a good interior wall that backs on to a unfinished portion of the basement. In that room I have plenty of room to house a monster sump/refugium. I just installed a laundry tub for aquarium needs and will install a RO/DI system on it within the week.

The room should allow all the space I need and be very convenient for maintenance. I just purchased the new 100 gal Rubbermaid container today at the Tractor Supply store for $75. Build updates to follow...

Pictures:

The failed version tested in my new laundry sink...

Failed version under tank...

New Rubbermaid 100 Gal sump at start...

Current shot of Right of tank. At night so just dusk lighting. (Hides algae too :D)

Tank Left...

 

[Keaton]

Nice thread. That is indeed a monster fuge. What did that big rubbermaid thing cost?

 

[XxKnuckleheadxX]

nice setup.. let me know how its going. im doing a DIY fuge/refugium. curious on your schematic? mind sharing?

 

[JAG107]

This is a great post! I love the rubbermaid tub, I sure wish I had space for that!

 

[d2mini]

That rubbermaid tub is more than twice the size of my display tank. :)

 

[MVlk]

The tub was only 75$ which I consider a bargin for the volume. Probably will add another $75 at least in misc plumbing supplies.

I am probably going to work out bringing the water in first. Once I have a setup for that, I will relocate my tank and use the sump as a holding pen for live rock and fish during the move. After the tank is moved, I will finalize the refugium design.

I do not have a formal design as of yet. I am still searching old posts for ideas. I am also still deciding if I want to place my skimmer in the tub or leave as a seperate piece or even attach as HOB to the sump. One other post used the same tub and had the skimmer inside... I do not know if I will do the same. The biggest drawback is that is one more thing to figure out. And as per my other posts, I am still wrestling with my skimmer choice.

I may just keep it simple for now. Have some basic setup to get water in without introducing bubbles to the refugium and then just drop my current two return pumps directly in. Add some macro algea, live rock and simple lighting. That would get me going and then I could refine it as I go.

 

[yote]

Now thats a hell of a refugium.

 

[MVlk]

Took a trip to the hardware store today to get the plumbing for the feed lines into the sump. Think I have it mostly figured out and hope to have it roughed out within a few days.

Problem I am facing is height. Specifically, the opening of the stand is just shy of 25". The top of the sump is just proud of 25". So, no way to to keep the pipes level unless I take the pipe through the side of the sump, which I was going to avoid.

Anyone see a problem with the intake going back up about 4-6 inches before entering the sump? (I would use 45's to reduce the bends) This is still plenty below the water line of the tank and probably puts it just even with the bottom of the tank. Or should I just pipe it directly into the tub? The later would certainly be more simple but I would loose some flexibility with a bubble trap setup.

Thoughts and comment welcome as always.

 

[yote]

Any way you raise the fuge so it can gravity feed back to the sump?

 

[MVlk]

Yote, The new tub is going to be a sump/fuge. I will have nothing else hooked to the tank. Tank will feed to the sump from the pre-drilled overflows through the wall and into the sump. The height issue is between the two. Do you think that will be an issue?

--

I am working on a template to divide up the sump to make a very traditional three bay design. Is a little tricky since the sump is not a rectangle. Am needing to create a trapezoid for the dividers. Will take photos as soon as I have something mocked up.

 

[yote]

I dont think the hight would be much of an issue,if any at all.

 

[MVlk]

Thanks, I hope it will not be. I suppose if it is, I will not really loose much if I need to reconfigure.

I am finalizing the templates for the dividers for the sump. Will then have a local shop cut the for me. Hopefully will have this part done within the week and will then order my new Skimmer and be ready to move my tank and hook up the new sump.

 

[MVlk]

Finished the template last night for the dividers and brought it by GlassCages.com to cut one for final fit/testing. It fits pretty well in all the locations I would place it. Gap is probably no more than 1/8" at any point.

My new concern is the attachment. They gave me a tube of Weld-On Solvent Cement for joining acrylic. (FYI, the tub is HDPE Type 2 plastic) Seems like it is not as forgiving as a silicone would be. I am not sure given the size of the tub and its rigidity I could easily get a good joint on all sides. I am wondering if there is a different attachment method available that is more forgiving? If I have a gap left at any place, like the rounded corners which have a fudge factor, will a dab of silicone work?

Or should I ditch the divided design and just go for a single area. This would definitely preclude me from using sand. Also, the locations I am limited to placing the dividers would force a fairly small area on the ends. This would probably eliminate adding a skimmer directly in the sump. Should I not worry about doing this and just get an external skimmer. I was going to go for the Octopus NW 200

Test Divider

Divider in Sump. Thinking of doing 3 on the incoming side and two on the return.

 

[MVlk]

More research completed. From what I have found, the tub plastic (HDPE Type 2) seems to be nearly impossible to glue anything to. The only glue I have found seems to be 3M Scotch-Weld Structural Plastic Adhesive DP-8010. Might do the trick, but the applicator gun is over 50$. That with the cost of the dividers starts adding up and defeats one of my main goals of cheap.

Unless anyone has some suggestions, I am thinking I will go back to a simple single chamber design and house the skimmer externally.

 

[daugherty]

what about using an aquastick or some other kind of epoxy. i got some just like it at the hardware store and used that to seal my baffles in my sump since silicone does not hold well on acrylic. and they do not move

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3728+3961&pcatid=3961

 

[MVlk]

I actually laughed at first when I read your reply... Not at the suggestion itself, but for the fact I have some of the similar stuff 'As Seen On TV' sold by Billy Mays. The kind I have does not indicate it is safe for aquarium use, so I think I will head to PetSmart or my LFS this afternoon and see if they have the Instant Ocean stuff.

Thx for the idea.

 

[MVlk]

I have finished 90% of the plumping. Remaining pieces will be glued once the stand is in place after the move. Depending on how I finalize the innards of the refugium/sump, I may adapt the inlet pipe. Right now it I plan as is; Dry fit, slant cut on end and wholes drilled. If I do not end up with bubble traps before the return, I will design one around the inlet with larger diameter tubing and/or a bucket.

I purchased some of the epoxy putty suggested yesterday. Tonight I will try it or the acrylic solvent to see if I can get the sample divider attached.

Plumbing inside the aquarium maintenance room.

Pluming for under the stand. Left side shows the finished end to attach 1" flex hose to. Right side will have same setup with a longer 1 1/2" pipe to extend that side further to account for where it enters the stand.

 

[daugherty]

looks good hope the epoxy works good

 

[JAG107]

everything is looking real good, keep it up!

 

[MVlk]

Last night I tried the acrylic solvent cement. When I checked this morning the bond was non-existent. I was able to pull the divider out with no effort. Once I cleanup the fialed cement, I will try the aquastick epoxy.