55g Refugium
- Thread starter ReeferMatt
- Start date
So I learned something today. I had this great idea that I was going to caulk in between the baffles of my bubble trap with a piece of aquarium tubing attached to the tip of a caulking gun..... great in theory, disastrous in application. I then decided that I could goop caulk on my pointer finger and smear the seams with the caulk, this too proved less than sucessful due to the size of my hands and the 1.25 inch gap between baffles. I have now resigned to the idea of gooping caulk on all contact sides of the baffle before insertion and then caulking the sides exposed to me, making sure to still caulk all the way around the baffle at least on one side. I am on my middle baffle now and need to let the caulk dry so I can remove the supports holding it up off the bottom of the tank...... My new motto is "to hell with the mess, I have a razor scraper!!"
Ok, so I have now decided to start working my way away from the bio balls. I added a third compartment for a filter bag and protein skimmer. For now my old sump w/bio balls will empty into this chamber via a shelf above the refugium (all this is in my utility room so space is not an issue). I should be getting a load of live rock to supplement the 30 or so pounds I already have on Friday (thanks Boogie). I assume I then slowly remove a few bio balls every week until there are none left, at which point I bypass the old sump and will be running on live rock. Let me know if this is correct and if you have any other suggestions. So far I am planning on a (deep?) sand bed in the middle chamber with some cheato and live rock rubble lit by a CFL bulb and a simple return in the 3rd chamber after the bubble trap. Let me know if you have anything to add and I will post pics as soon as I create a photo bucket account.
Save a few of the bioballs (if they are the sinking type) and leave them in the refugium. Copepods and amphipods like to use them as breeding areas.
I wouldn't worry too much about the silicone on the inner areas of the bubble traps. If you can get silicone on them, great, but there isn't going to be too much pressure
exerted on the panes of glass so one side siliconed well should be fine. And I like Metalsniper's idea of the supports.
I wouldn't worry too much about the silicone on the inner areas of the bubble traps. If you can get silicone on them, great, but there isn't going to be too much pressure
exerted on the panes of glass so one side siliconed well should be fine. And I like Metalsniper's idea of the supports.
For chaeto I would post the request here:
http://www.marinecolorado.org/forums/showthread.php?6745-The-Chaeto-Thread
http://www.marinecolorado.org/forums/showthread.php?6745-The-Chaeto-Thread
thanks for the offer though!! I'm wondering if I need a sand bed, I have 3-4 inches of sand in my DT, a remote sand bed might be redundant. What do yall think. 55g refugium on a 90g tank.