75 gallon diy wet/dry/refugium

[Eric99]

Items used: AGA sealant, 1/2" Polycarbonate, 2 Aquaclear 110 sponges, 5 gallons of Bioballs, Filter Pad, Ammo-Carb, 40 lbs of Eco Complete gravel, 2 Quiet One 3000 pumps and 2 350 watt Titanium heaters. I have a 24" twin tube striplight for the plants-Plants and uv sterilizer to come soon!

Also there is alot of air getting into the hoses. Should I ditch the flex hoses for clear ones?

 

[Flash]

Cool project. Thanks for sharing.

 

[jdstooge]

Awsome sump. 1 have a hundred gallon tank with 20 gallon overflow. i just used a20 gallon long with a filter box and balls. I might if its ok steal your design and set mine up like that its awsome

 

[Eric99]

Awsome sump. 1 have a hundred gallon tank with 20 gallon overflow. i just used a20 gallon long with a filter box and balls. I might if its ok steal your design and set mine up like that its awsome

Anyone is free to use my design. It is a sweet setup. Don't forget though that I will also be putting low light plants in the sump. This has not been a cheap diy project for me. The Polycarbonate sheet was a little over $200 with shipping. This is much nicer than Plexiglass. A guesstimate of the total cost is probably over $400 so far not including the tank or the plants to come. This will out perform any of the wet/dry's that I have seen so far!

 

[FSM]

How big is the tank? With 700 watts of heating, it must be pretty massive.

 

[Eric99]

The tank is a 180. You seem to think that 700 watts is too much?

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

What kind of over flow are you running. If you can switch to a durso stand pipe set-up it will stop alot of the air bubbles. I am guessing you have just straight overflows. And for the heaters I think they are right onthe spot. Most manufactureers say 2-3 watts per gallon and you have a 180gallon tank and a 75 gallon sump, thats 255 gallons total volume capacity. So 255 x 3= 765watts would be the max. So you are right in the middle of the 2-3 watt range. You could do it with less but I would not want the extra strain on the heaters.

 

[Eric99]

I am using the aga overflows. I think they might be letting too much air in. You can also tell this by looking at the last picture I posted here. I think that the flex hoses could have something to do with that as well. The 75 gallon sump is only 1/3 full of water. Those heaters are real nice now-they only come on for a little while and go off. What's even nicer is that all of my heaters,etc are located in the sump so my tank has a clean look now!

 

[Eric99]

Also my water is cloudy. It has been for almost 3 days. I think the new sand has something to do with that. Any suggestions on this one?

 

[smpage]

Also my water is cloudy. It has been for almost 3 days. I think the new sand has something to do with that. Any suggestions on this one?

what kind of sand did you use? Did you rinse the sand before putting it in? have you done any water changes since putting in the sand?