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After Ben and I exchanged some PMs, I am considering adding a "fuge box" or a "chaeto box" in my stand. The initial thought process is that it would be a rectangle container (custom built acrylic box) that would gravity feed into the sump, and a small pump would pump sump water into it via a hose that I would likely run to the bottom of the box. The box would contain live rock/live rock rubble at the bottom half; and the top half would be chaeto. The top would have a led or pc light for the chaeto. The top would have a piece of pvc drilled into the side, not sure how big it should be (1/2" or 3/4" maybe?) and I would attach spa flex or something that would go into the sump for the gravity return. Maybe it could be the euro brace style (not for support), but just because that would help control salt creep and give me something to rest a pc or led light on.

 

Currently, I think I could fit a 12"L x 8"W x 16" tall. (6 gallons of volume). (Alternatively, if I can't get an acrylic made, the closest standard glass tank would be a 5.5g which is 16"L x 8"W x 10" tall, which might work).

 

In this photo in my stand, I would put the box to the right side, where the davy jones locker currently is, and would move the locker to the front left, where the cs1 skimmer lid is sitting in this photo. Note the sump is 13" tall, so the 16" tall box would be higher than the sump to allow the gravity feed to work properly:

 

gallery_2631706_3_176030.jpg

 

What do you guys think? Would a 6 gallon fuge be better than nothing, or perhaps do nothing at all with a 150g DT above? I know the bigger the fuge the better, but this is really as big as I can do in this stand, in this apartment. Some day I'll have a fish room and a 75g or 125g sump, but until then, would a small chunk of chaeto, taking up about 3g of space in the fuge, make a difference? I figure it couldn't hurt, but how much could it help? A noticeable amount? How about the design of the box and the gravity overflow back to the sump? Any problems seen there? I don't think a power outage would be a problem as the pump would turn off and the gravity overflow would stop once it drained down that far...

There isn't much room there and the light spill over would cause algae to grow in other places of the sump and in the reactors and skimmer. Do you have room for a HOB or remote fuge?

 

I think your skimmer is missing a piece. :biggrin:

(edited)

There isn't much room there and the light spill over would cause algae to grow in other places of the sump and in the reactors and skimmer. Do you have room for a HOB or remote fuge?

 

I think your skimmer is missing a piece. :biggrin:

 

haha. thats an old skimmer pic before it was fully broken in :)

 

light spill could be an issue, unless i get a light that sits on the top of the box, or maybe even make the side facing the sump black instead of clear, that would help...

 

no room for a remote fuge... i might be able to put a hob fuge where you see the gfo mr5 reactor and the davy jones locker, and just move them around... but the hob fuge would be tiny... we'd be talking strands of chaeto in that scenario...

Edited by Ryan S

If you are running gfo then I would skip the chaeto issue myself. Are you having algae issues now?

Just cyano right now.

Are you having algae issues now?

:laugh: That IS the question. Everyone BUT Ryan thinks his tank is fine. :laugh:

 

Seriously, Ryan, I would just sit tight. The results you are hoping for may not justify the costs...espeically if the algae persists.

 

I would move the MP40s and see if a new flow pattern helps. Or move your rocks to change the flow pattern. These are far cheaper to do and may solve your "problem"! ;)

:laugh: That IS the question. Everyone BUT Ryan thinks his tank is fine. :laugh:

 

Seriously, Ryan, I would just sit tight. The results you are hoping for may not justify the costs...espeically if the algae persists.

 

+1

:laugh: That IS the question. Everyone BUT Ryan thinks his tank is fine. :laugh:

 

Seriously, Ryan, I would just sit tight. The results you are hoping for may not justify the costs...espeically if the algae persists.

 

It isn't so much a quick fix to the cyano, as a long term tank supplement. Chaeto would work with the GFO to export nutrients from the system, as well as supply a safe haven for copepods, and additional (albeit not much) volume for some live rock.

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