Refugiums

[Guest yrachmael]

Does anyone have, or can anyone help me with the scematics for a refugium?  Not a 'hang-on' but a fairly large sized unit ~ 20-40 gallons.

 

The basic idea is to use a surplus glass tank and add fittings, dividers etc using acrylic and PVC.

 

If someone is knowledgable in this and I can build a working model then the idea would be to make the specs and parts public here.

[michaelg]

The easiest thing is just to setup an seperate tank plumbed with some sort of drain.  Lots of ways to do this depending on the tank- though in this case if you can procure an acrylic one, all the better.  It is slightly more complicated if you want a dual sump/refugium as then you need to baffle things off.  Nathan (aquariareview) put up some plans here on the website not too long ago that were fit to a 55 gallon dual sump refugium, though can be adapted to any size to be honest.  I have always done them line in and line out- simple.  The key to a well functioning refugium is in the seed that starts it, and to feed it during the initial period to really get the population going.  IMO they can be quite an educational tank and lots of fun to observe.  I don't like to rely on them for food removal but only dissolved matter waste removal that is easily taken up by plants.  I am no longer running a refugium, though all three tanks are just booming with bugs and I can only attribute it to a) livestock selection and b) feeding well.