Refugium:

[caseykell21]

Can someone give me an idea of what i need to do a refugium for my 29 gallon tank. It will be 10 gallons. overflow box substrate etc. help please.
casey

[caseykell21]

brand names will help alot to thanks for the help guys.
casey

[mogurnda]

Boy, that can be a lot of things.

One option, if you have the space, is to have the fuge above the main tank. You can use a little 200-300 gph powerhead to get water to the fuge, and have the fuge drilled to allow water to flow back to the main tank. That way, you won't need to mess with siphon overflows.

If you have the fuge under the tank, something like the CPR overflow box will work to get the water to the fuge. Depending on the height, you'll probably want something like a Danner mag 5 pump to use as a return.

For lights, about 40 watts of 5000 K PC lights would do the trick nicely. Are you planning to buy a canopy or DIY?

I'd probably do a DSB in there, for biological diversity if nothing else. About 40 lbs of sand would be about right. Brand name? Any fine aragonite sand will do. Even silica sand is OK, but you may as well spend a little extra for a small tank. Seeding it from sand from a local reefer, IPSF.com, inland aquatics, or other source would kickstart the diversity.

In my experience, the best macroalgae for a fuge is chaetomorpha, aka brillo pad or spaghetti algae. Grows well, doesn't go sexual or invade, and makes a nice home for pods and mysis shrimp.

[caseykell21]

it will be under the tank sort of. I have a satellite 65w power compact will that work? i have a powerhead circulating the water and it blew the sand around. I emptied the sand, it was garden sand. why did it blow sand everywhere. how do i make sure the my fuge will not over flow.

[mogurnda]

The satellite fixtre will work fine. Macros seem to do better with somewhat lower color temps, so you might want to replace the lamp.

Sand usually takes some time to properly settle. Until then, it is easily stirred up by powerheads, and aiming them directly at the sandbed is just asking for trouble.

If you are using an overflow box, water will not flow if the return pump is not running. This page from melevsreef should help explain things. It's almost exactly what you are trying to do. http://www.melevsreef.com/sump.html

[caseykell21]

it is a 50/50 bulb in the lamp

[caseykell21]

will this affect anything? do i just put the return pump in the refugium? do you know anymore sights or articles that may help me? and so ill stop calling you mighty moe, what is your name?

[Crown Royal]

AC500 HOB filter + desk lamp + some LR and sand = perfect little 'fuge.

[mogurnda]

will this affect anything? do i just put the return pump in the refugium? do you know anymore sights or articles that may help me? and so ill stop calling you mighty moe, what is your name?Call me Curly. Actually, you can call me Dave, Mog, Mo, whatever.

Yeah, just put the submersible pump in the fuge. A baffle to keep the sand away from the pump will help. That can be made from a piece of plexiglass and glued in with silicone sealer.

The 50/50 bulb will be OK, but macroalgae seem to like lower K values better. www.ahsupply.com has 5000 K bulbs, and you local shop may have them as well.

Have you poked around melev's site beyond the one page I linked. It has tons of info.

[caseykell21]

can i add the thing around the pump with it full? What is a good overflow box.

[mogurnda]

Is the refugium already filled?

[caseykell21]

it has 25 lbs of aragonite a heater powerhead. nothing living in it i guess i got confused on the directions.