help on installing refugium!!!!!

i want to get a refugium for my 55 gallon reef tank and i want a refugium of some sort but my tank is glass and i dont know how the overflow would work with out drilling a hole in the glass and that has the potential to crack the glass. any suggestions?

 

What you're looking for is called a H.O.B. or hang on back overflow. It requires no drilling, and is the method of choice for those whose display tank is not drilled. That takes care of the top. On the refugium, you could buy yourself a filter sock. They usually come with some type of mechanism for attachment to a tank, in your case 'fuge.

Google "filter sock" or "filter sock attachment device" and I'm sure you'll find what you need.

Good luck! And welcome to 3reef!

 

ok thanks im still a little confused on how it overflows if its on the top of my tank though

 

It is a constant siphon. It will siphon tank water into the sump/fuge below your tank, then flow through your sump then to your return pump back into the display tank. The point of the sump/fuge is added water volume to keep your water parameters more consistent, and to house macroalgaes that will de-nitrify and remove phosphates from the water. This is also a great spot to grow little pods that will eventually get sucked back through the overflow into the tank and feed your fish. Called a refugium because it is a safe-haven where things can grow and thrive and reproduce without getting eaten.

Honestly, without setting one up yourself, or seeing one in person with a thorough explanation, its hard to grasp exactly how it works. We can tell you exactly what you need to get it going though.

 

ok thanks ya basically the only reason im getting one is to house the pods so i can have a mandarin fish and i think once i get it im gunna put a chaeto, mud and some live rock as well as pods ive added close to 12 pods to my tank with only a six line wrasse that ive heard eats them and ive had the tank for about a year now but for the refugium it doesnt overflow theres an pump that pulls the water down into the fuge?

 

You could always go with a hang on refugium, then no need for the overflow or return pump etc.. Search for hang on tank refugium. One of these would do for raising pods.

 

There is a u-shaped tube that goes in your tank... and other end goes in your box on the back. You have to get suction going so it just sucks the water out into your fuge. Then you have a pump in your fuge that matches the flow and pumps the water back up into the DT. I have an HOB on my 125g.

 

cool thanks everyone and does anyone have experience in keeping mandarin?

 

I do. I had one for exactly a month. It was so fat, I named it Chubster. It's the only fish I ever named. So far as I know, mandarins aren't known for jumping, but mine made the leap. I don't know why or how. I had thousands of copepods and isopods in my tank, and he was always eating/grazing. It just didn't work out.

If I can offer you some advice, it would be not to even consider getting a mandarin until you've had a tank that's been trouble free for about a year, and you're absolutely certain that you have a sustainable, renewable, endless source of 'pods on which it can feed.

I had all these things, and Chubster made the leap anyway. I haven't had the yarbles to buy another yet.

 

o ok thanks ok everyone im gunna delete this one and move it to the topic section of tropical fish so i get move viewers thanks for the info