sumps/ refugium

randy · 10-26-2006, 08:24 PM

i have a 46 gallon bow front and i am making a reef tank and have a mechanicAL filter now and i am thinking of a more natural filter. i am planning of making it out of a tank. does anybody now who to make
and any pictures would help and how do you determine how big and even drawings. i thing you put sand or live rock and even i seen green stuff in some pictures of a sump

ahill3780 · 10-26-2006, 08:32 PM

Hey Randy,

First you'll need the sump tank itself, an overflow to pull water from the tank in a constant siphon, and a pump in the sump to return the water back up to the tank.

The sump should be at least 1/4 to 2/3 the size of your tank to be safe. Optimal sump setups for biological filtration call for sumps that are 1/2 again as large as your main display.

There are several posts throughout this forum that discuss this subject and have many of the answers you are looking for. Try doing a search for Sumps or Refugiums to pull up a list of the threads that discuss this.

Come back with any questions you still have after reading through the available material and I'll take your questions from there. Of course I hope others will still contribute their suggestions in the meantime.

HTH,
Aaron

gm333 · 10-26-2006, 08:36 PM

Will have to dig and see if I still have all the pics for the refugium I made for my 46BF. I used a cpr 60 overflow and a 15 long tank, with a mag 7 return pump.

saltwaterdude · 10-26-2006, 11:23 PM

it is really help ful to have a refugium in your reef tank.
but i dont think it is nessisary to have a sump in any tank. if you did build the sump all it would do is help however i think that a refugium is a deffinate nessesity.

gm333 · 10-29-2006, 09:55 AM

Here is a link on how I made my refugium for my 46bf. (Mods this is a link to a forum that no longer can accept posts it is only an archive forum.)
Diy refugium! - Page 4 - Chat Aquariums