| Tank Setup | ||
| 20 Gallon (long) aquarium 30"x 12" x 12" | x 1 | |
| CurrentUSA Dual Satellite Power Compact Fluorescent Lighting Fixture | x 1 | |
| SunPaq Dual 65 Watt 6,700K/10,000K Daylight bulb | x 1 | |
| SunPaq Dual 65 Watt 420nm/460nm Actinic bulb | x 1 | |
| Maxi-Jet 900 Submersible Power Head | x 2 | |
| Maxi-Jet 600 Submersible Power Head | x 1 | |
| Hydor-Flo Deflector | x 2 | |
| Visi-Therm Stealth Heater (75 Watt) | x 1 | |
| Coralife Digital Thermometer | x 1 | |
| Instant Ocean Synthetic Sea Salt | ~8 cups | |
| CaribSea Arag-Alive Live Sand (Indo-Pacific) | 20 lbs | |
| Reefer Rocks Collector's Grade Base Rock from Florida | 15 lbs | |
| Pacific East Aquaculture Premium Grade Fiji Live Rock | 15 lbs | |
| DIY Refugium Build | ||
| As you may have noticed my nano reef tank does not incorporate any external filtration, such as a protein skimmer or wet/dry filter, which remove unwanted nutrients that enter the system through food that is fed to the fish and corals or by die-off in the tank. In the past these excess nutrients have been battled with moderate success by limiting the amount of food fed and by performing weekly 20% water changes. In order to further limit the amount of nutrients present in the system and increase water quality and volume I decided to create a refugium out of an old 5½ gallon tank that I had sitting around. This refugium will contain plants and animals that will aid the tank by soaking up nutrients and by protecting beneficial creatures that would be eaten or harrassed in the display tank. The process of creating a refugium was started by first determining how it would be plumbed into the display tank. Because this tank resides at work, the main design constraint was to ensure that there would be virtually no chance for the refugium to cause a flood. This constraint led me to choose to have the refugium elevated above the display tank and overflow into it from the side, thus eliminating the need to have two pumps monitored by tricky and undependable float switches. In order to implement this design a hole needed to be drilled into the 5 gallon tank to facilitate a one inch bulkhead required to create the overflow into the display tank. This hole was drilled into the tank using a 45mm diamond-encrusted hole saw and a drill press. Once finished, the bulkhead was fitted into place and a slip-on screen and slip-on elbow were added to it, as seen in the pictures below. |
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The next step was to design and create a custom stand to elevate the overflow just above the main tank. This stand needed to be the same length and width of the refugium tank (16"L x 8"W), and just high enough so that the overflow fits over the edge of the display tank (6.5"H). |
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Once the stand was completed the refugium was cleaned and plumbed into the system by feeding it with a Maxi-Jet 600 power head located in the display tank. A pair of ¼" thick acrylic baffles were created and installed using the Pressure-locking Baffle design with moderate success. After monitoring the system for a couple weeks several modifications were made in order to reduce the large amount of evaporation that was occurring. First, a 6 inch section of 1" diameter hose was fitted over the end of the overflow to reduce splatter. This was followed by the creation of a custom-made tank cover fabricated from part of the remaining sheet of ¼" thick acrylic used to make the baffles. |
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With the baffles in place I then added approximately 30 lbs of sugar-sized aragonite sand to the refugium to create a 4 inch deep sand bed to foster anaerobic bacteria that will break nitrates down into harmless nitrogen gas. After the sand had mostly settled and the water had begun to clear up, a large ball of chaetomorph macro algae was added, as well as a 9" Coralife Aqualight Mini power compact lighting fixture. The lighting fixture was plugged into a heavy-duty analog timer from Home Depot in order to set the refugium lights on a cycle that is opposite of the display tank's lighting fixture. The nearly finished refugium can be seen below -- all that is left to do is to add some sand-stirring critters to make sure detritus makes its way to the anoxic zone. |
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A special thanks goes to my brother-in-law and all-around handyman, Rob, whose help was essential for getting this project done. He designed and built the custom stand, as well as provided the drill press for drilling the glass. Thanks, Rob! |
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