Your refugium is in the sump. In the middle chamber of the sump you want to have about 3" of sand. Its called a DSB. Then youll want to have as much LR and algae as you can fit in there. Thats basically a simple refugium. The algae also provides shelter for copepods and other foods for mandarins etc.
120 Gallon Saltwater Tank Questions
- Thread starter jshep105
- Start date
You can have a refugium within the sump if you want; you'll get the best of both worlds while saving money.
As for the equipment and such, I know that you can special order standard & sump-ready aquariums from PetCo's website. For example, a standard 120 gallon aquarium with black trim & no extras will run you $429.99 + tax from them since you can get it shipped to the store to save you a ton of money on shipping. I did notice that they don't offer overflows on 120 gallons for some reason, though, and I'm not sure if it's a site error or something else. For the sand, just get the plain aragonite sand that I mentioned before; you'll save a couple of bucks over purchasing the dirty "live" sand (which isn't live at all considering that the bacteria can't survive in the sealed bag).
EDIT: Looks like cichlid_king beat me to the refugium part.
A slightly more complicated way to do it would be to have two side-by-side chambers for the refugium with one chamber holding the DSB & live rock while the other holds the chaeto algae. The DSB chamber gets low flow while the chaeto chamber gets high flow; this arrangement allows the chaeto to get the high flow that it needs for optimum growth, e.g. faster phosphate & nitrate removal, while preventing your DSB from getting washed away into your pump.
As for the equipment and such, I know that you can special order standard & sump-ready aquariums from PetCo's website. For example, a standard 120 gallon aquarium with black trim & no extras will run you $429.99 + tax from them since you can get it shipped to the store to save you a ton of money on shipping. I did notice that they don't offer overflows on 120 gallons for some reason, though, and I'm not sure if it's a site error or something else. For the sand, just get the plain aragonite sand that I mentioned before; you'll save a couple of bucks over purchasing the dirty "live" sand (which isn't live at all considering that the bacteria can't survive in the sealed bag).
EDIT: Looks like cichlid_king beat me to the refugium part.
A slightly more complicated way to do it would be to have two side-by-side chambers for the refugium with one chamber holding the DSB & live rock while the other holds the chaeto algae. The DSB chamber gets low flow while the chaeto chamber gets high flow; this arrangement allows the chaeto to get the high flow that it needs for optimum growth, e.g. faster phosphate & nitrate removal, while preventing your DSB from getting washed away into your pump.You can have a refugium within the sump if you want; you'll get the best of both worlds while saving money.
As for the equipment and such, I know that you can special order standard & sump-ready aquariums from PetCo's website. For example, a standard 120 gallon aquarium with black trim & no extras will run you $429.99 + tax from them since you can get it shipped to the store to save you a ton of money on shipping. I did notice that they don't offer overflows on 120 gallons for some reason, though, and I'm not sure if it's a site error or something else. For the sand, just get the plain aragonite sand that I mentioned before; you'll save a couple of bucks over purchasing the dirty "live" sand (which isn't live at all considering that the bacteria can't survive in the sealed bag).
EDIT: Looks like cichlid_king beat me to the refugium part.
You explained it a little bit more in depth though. Probably why I beat you to it ;-)
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You can have a refugium within the sump if you want; you'll get the best of both worlds while saving money.
As for the equipment and such, I know that you can special order standard & sump-ready aquariums from PetCo's website. For example, a standard 120 gallon aquarium with black trim & no extras will run you $429.99 + tax from them since you can get it shipped to the store to save you a ton of money on shipping. I did notice that they don't offer overflows on 120 gallons for some reason, though, and I'm not sure if it's a site error or something else. For the sand, just get the plain aragonite sand that I mentioned before; you'll save a couple of bucks over purchasing the dirty "live" sand (which isn't live at all considering that the bacteria can't survive in the sealed bag).
EDIT: Looks like cichlid_king beat me to the refugium part.
Yea I have checked this out on Petco's website as well about a week ago and could not figure out why the 120 gallon did not have an option for an overflow either. $429.99 seems a bit high but it might just be what I have to pay...I have heard about people getting a 120g tank from petsmart for $300. About 2-3 months ago, I saw one at petsmart for $350 and was a kit. And thanks for reminding me about the sand, I forgot already haha. How many pounds of sand do you think I will need? 120 lbs.? All of the equipment is going to bring me above my budget as I was expecting. Now I just have to find a good DIY sump and refugium guide.
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Go with that kit if PetSmart can get it for you; there's no sense in paying more for less. As for the sand, I'm not sure how many pounds you will need to get the ideal coverage; I would just buy 60 lbs. to start and add more if that's not enough. As for a sump & refugium guide, here's one for the technical details, and here's another for the basic design (the middle section is where the refugium goes).
There are a lot of good videos on youtube on how to make diy sumps. I'm sure there are quite a few threads on mfk aswell. All of my sumps have been diy and they have all worked excellently. For a 120gal you would probably only need about 90 to 100lbs of sand for a good sand bed for all of the burrowers.
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Ok so I went to Petsmart today to see if they sold 120 gallon tanks. I talked to the manager and he said they do but they sold it earlier this week and that he will be getting another one in this tuesday. I asked him how much they are and he said he thinks they sell for $250 or $300 which beats petco's price by a lot. Now all I have to do is wait until Tuesday...
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Wow, that's a great deal! I'm going to have to see if the one by me can get one because I've wanted a 120 gallon for a while.
Yea I know. I just hope the guy was right about the price...and I would just call around because my closest Petsmart doesn't even sell them ever. I only had to travel a few extra minutes so it was no big deal...
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