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peiji 
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 Topic: Refugiums/Sump design advantages
Posted: April 28 2003 at 8:26am |
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I'm a little bit confused by all the sump designs out there. I've seen some pics and links to some pretty elaborate sumps. Can anyone explain the advantages of so many different compartments or what makes a particular design better? I bought a used sump that is reall nothing more than an acrylic box at this point with a hole in the top for a sock. I was just going to use it as a refugium with my HOB skimmer and call it good. Would anyone suggest I add anything to it or design it differently? Pics would be nice of your own sump setups. BTW, I have a 46g bowfront. Susy, I remember yours was a pretty simple and effective setup. Could you send me some pics? I should probably just come look at it more closely sometime.
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Jared Page
Highland, UT
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jfinch
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Posted: April 28 2003 at 8:31am |
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I've got a refugium question too... How important is it to eliminate bubbles from the water entering the fuge? Bubbles shouldn't really matter, if you're not growing sponges, should they?
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Adam Blundell
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Joined: June 24 2002
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Posted: April 28 2003 at 8:47am |
Peiji- This is just my opinion on this. I don't really know if all the stuff we do with sumps make a big difference or not. But their are many people who have lots of opinions on how they should be set up. We will be discussing the many ways, and advantages to them during our June meeting (and a little during the DIY meeting)
JFinch- I don't think it is important to rid the air bubbles. On the contrary, I think they are beneficial to have. But, others may disagree.
Adam
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rfoote
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Posted: April 28 2003 at 8:52am |
Don't think it would be a problem in a refugium, but I've heard that bubbles bother fish gills. I have no idea if this is true or not and haven't experienced it, just what I've heard. Would bubbles also cause salt creep? I wouldn't think its a problem if the baffles were after the refugium to prevent the bubbles going into the main tank. But like you said if you don't have sponges maybe it isn't an issue at all?
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peiji
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Posted: April 28 2003 at 9:07am |
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Ok. you're already getting ahead of me. What are baffles and why wouldn't you want bubbles in the main tank? Is that the whole reason behind the elaborate designs? To reduce bubbles?
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Jared Page
Highland, UT
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: April 28 2003 at 9:21am |
I think bubbles in the main tank are great. But, that is just me.
Baffles are like dividers that channel the water in the desired direction. This is an area I've got lots of practice (I didn't say expertise) in. We will go over this in June if you can wait that long. Basically you create channels in your sump so that the water flows around and around and around so you get more linear movement per gallon flow.
The other usage of baffles is to compartmentalize the sump. That way you can have a refugia, a skimmer, a wet dry, a chemical, or whatever else separated from one another.
I hope this helps,
Adam
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Suzy
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Posted: April 28 2003 at 1:44pm |
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Hi, Jared! Our sump is just a rectangle box with a couple of pieces of acrylic placed in the corner to try to keep gravel out of the skimmer pump. The lights are on/off opposite the main tank. Right now I'm using it as a cynobacteria refuge. I let it grow amok there, it's less in the main tank that way. I'm thinking, that way I can continue to overfeed.......(Marks out of town, right?.....
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WhiteReef
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Joined: September 03 2002
Location: Magna, UT
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Posted: April 29 2003 at 12:18pm |
As far as bubbles in the main tank, it can be a bad thing if you have any plating type corals (montipora cap.). This is due to a congregation of bubbles on the under side of the coral that can cause tissue to die off. Also this can cause live rock to have 'bad spots', meaning that you have an excess of bubbles on the rock and it causes die off. Another issue is that you get salt spray when the bubbles break the surface. This will cause salt creep to increase.
Sumps should be simple and meet the needs that they were designed for. So the real question is what do you expect the sump to do for the aquarium?
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Richard
Former 47G Column Reef, Magna
20" x 18" x 31"H
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