OK here is whats happening with my 150gallon FOWLR. I am making a 55 gallon wetdry/sump. I want to know all the flaws about my design so please let me know. Read everything carefully so you don't miss anything. I want to know everything now before I began construction. I have all materials but don't want to start until I knwo for sure.
Heres how it is goign to work. You can see in the pic below the water flows in from two 1.5" pipes into completly submerged bioballs. I am keeping them submereged because I was told this can prevent it from becoming a "nitrate factory". The bio balls will be held against the glass with eggcrate and the section will only be 3" big. Then the next section will be 12" x 12" for my protein skimmer. I haven't purchased one yet although I assume 1 foot by 1 foot will be sufficient for any skimmer.
Now my first acrylic baffle comes in. It will be 12" tall and will lead into my refugium. I plan on keeping a 3"-4" Crushed Coral bed with some live rock and macro algae. The refuge will be roughly 2 feet long and 1 foot wide. Now is the bubble trap part. The first baffle is going to be 11.5" tall. I was told to make it a little smaller then the one before the refuge. I don't know why but this guy was telling me its better for the refuge if it's a little lower. After that there will be a baffle that is from the top leaving two inches at the bottom and then another one exactly like the previous one at 11.5". I have left about 7" for my pump to return a 1" line back to my tank. I made my baffles 12" and 11.5" because I want my water level to be 1 foot high in the tank leaving the top 6" for power outage safety. I calculated that I need about 14 gallons of safety room in the sump and that is only 6 inches although I left 7-8 inches just incase.
K heres the pic
I have some quetsions
1.) How does it look???
2.) is it really true about one baffle must be higher then the other one in the refuge???? The second and third baffle are both 11.5" is that fine??? or does the third one need to be 11"???
3.) My pump will be a quite one 4000 which pumps 1100gph but with 4 feet of head I assume maybe around 800 gph. Will this be way to much flow for my refuge??
4.) I choose to use CC for my substrate in the refuge but live sand in the tank. Is this fine????? people say CC is bad for nitrates although in a refuge it won't really be able to collect debris since the pad before the bioballs will collect debris and the refuge will be growing pods and such that will be eating anything else in there. Plus CC is heavier and I won't have to worry about any sand destroying my pump. Can CC work???? or is it a huge no no???
5.) My 65 had CC substrate and I never needed buffers because the PH was always 8.3. Does arag-alive sand buffer to the same amount??? that is why I want CC in either the refuge or tank because I want it's buffering power. Will arag live work just as good???
Heres how it is goign to work. You can see in the pic below the water flows in from two 1.5" pipes into completly submerged bioballs. I am keeping them submereged because I was told this can prevent it from becoming a "nitrate factory". The bio balls will be held against the glass with eggcrate and the section will only be 3" big. Then the next section will be 12" x 12" for my protein skimmer. I haven't purchased one yet although I assume 1 foot by 1 foot will be sufficient for any skimmer.
Now my first acrylic baffle comes in. It will be 12" tall and will lead into my refugium. I plan on keeping a 3"-4" Crushed Coral bed with some live rock and macro algae. The refuge will be roughly 2 feet long and 1 foot wide. Now is the bubble trap part. The first baffle is going to be 11.5" tall. I was told to make it a little smaller then the one before the refuge. I don't know why but this guy was telling me its better for the refuge if it's a little lower. After that there will be a baffle that is from the top leaving two inches at the bottom and then another one exactly like the previous one at 11.5". I have left about 7" for my pump to return a 1" line back to my tank. I made my baffles 12" and 11.5" because I want my water level to be 1 foot high in the tank leaving the top 6" for power outage safety. I calculated that I need about 14 gallons of safety room in the sump and that is only 6 inches although I left 7-8 inches just incase.
K heres the pic
I have some quetsions
1.) How does it look???
2.) is it really true about one baffle must be higher then the other one in the refuge???? The second and third baffle are both 11.5" is that fine??? or does the third one need to be 11"???
3.) My pump will be a quite one 4000 which pumps 1100gph but with 4 feet of head I assume maybe around 800 gph. Will this be way to much flow for my refuge??
4.) I choose to use CC for my substrate in the refuge but live sand in the tank. Is this fine????? people say CC is bad for nitrates although in a refuge it won't really be able to collect debris since the pad before the bioballs will collect debris and the refuge will be growing pods and such that will be eating anything else in there. Plus CC is heavier and I won't have to worry about any sand destroying my pump. Can CC work???? or is it a huge no no???
5.) My 65 had CC substrate and I never needed buffers because the PH was always 8.3. Does arag-alive sand buffer to the same amount??? that is why I want CC in either the refuge or tank because I want it's buffering power. Will arag live work just as good???
