how to start a reef tank

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cfasulo

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Dec 21, 2006
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I am inheriting everything you need to hook up a reef tank. what is the purpose of a refrigium sorry if i spelled it wrong..

Its my great uncles and he only trusted it to me. So i would really like some help guys. i believe its only a 35 gallon tank..
 

Reefscape

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the refugium ( fuge ) serves a few purposes..you can store equipment in threre so its not cluttering your display tank up, you can use it as natural filtration by the use of a deep sand bed + live rock rubble + macro algae..The macro algae removes nitrates and phosphates which in a marine tank its an absolute must if you have the chance to get a sump / fuge up and running, and in the rock and deep sand bed there will be pods growing in there which will in the future provide substinance for the tank inhabitants..

Any chance you could list what you actually have and then we can probably help better with any questions you may have..

Welcome to the forums

Niko
 

cfasulo

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Well i am actually going to pick it up on friday. So i will post it then. so if i use a refugium i have to put live rock and live sand in there as well as the display tank. i know these are silly questions. i have a freshwater cichlid tank but never tried salt water before.
 

Reefscape

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Yes, the deep sand bed is really dependant on how the sump is configured..Usually best to go for about 4 - 6 inches of sand, then some small chunks of live rock ( rubble, not large pieces ) on to the sand bed..

And yes, you do need this aswell as the live rock in the display tank..You actually need sand in the main display, a lot of people run the main tanks with a bare bottom, but this is down to personal preference..

Niko
 

cfasulo

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i like the live rock and live sand in the display.. so what else can i put in the refugium. how does that get hook into the main display tank. What type of equipment can i put in the refugium?
 

Reefscape

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Yeah, me too..i think both give it a more natural look...obviously peoples pref's are different..

With reagards to equipment in the fuge...You can have the skimmer, the heater in there...Then all that is left in the display is powerheads and the plumbing from the fuge..So its a very minimalistic view inside the tank..

Which brings me onto the next part of connecting the sump to the main..Now, this is where it does get complicated..as there are so many ways to do this..What you are best off doing is putting together a list of the tank and sump/fuge sizes, and photo's if you can and the people that monitor that forum more so can best advise you..I currently have a threda running on there, it can be viewed here...

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90172

This is my plumbing setup and part of the full setup i am building as a diy project at the moment..

Hope this info helps you out a little..

Niko
 

cfasulo

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the plumbing doesnt look too complicated but how do you get it to flow from the tank into the fuge and back into the tank. Also whats the over flow box?
 

Reefscape

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Hi there..

Basicly, an overflow box is box that bridges over the wall of the tank and uses syphon and gravity to pull water from the main display tank down into the sump tank.

The water then passes through the pump and is returned back to the tank via a submerged or external pump and pipe work as in my diagrame.

A little bit more info about overflow boxes can be found here..

http://www.bestfish.com/tips/081299.html

Hope that helps a little

Niko
 

cfasulo

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Dec 21, 2006
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Thanks that helped alot. so lets say i have a cannister filter do i hook that up to plumbing coming out of the overflow box then into the refugium then back into the tank.?
 
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