help please sump fuge question

Hi Im making a sump out of a 29 gal for my 40 breeder. My fuge section is smaller than I wantd being 9" long and about 16" deep. I was thinking of doing a deep sand bed layered with miracle mud with a cryptic zone inbetween and then my chaeto on the top. Does that work? Will a deep sand bed and cryptic zone all within that small refugium be beneficial or am I wasting space and should just do something else with the whole space. Thanks for the help.

 

That will work fine as long as you are running the water through at about 1X the volume of the DSB/refuge area.

 

im going to put a valve on the pipe draining into the sump so i can control the flow. im not sure what 1x volume of dsb/refuge would be. how do i find that out and also thats a slow amount of flow right?

 

Yes it is slow flow. Multiply the width x length x height of the fuge section and divide by 231 to get gallons. An estimate should be close enough in the flow.

 

8.3 thanks man. so is 8.3 my area or is that 1x the volume number?

 

That should be your volume. Also your flow rate through that section.

 

Sorry but I don't understand how to implement flow based on 8.3?

 

8.3 is gallons in the refuge section. You control the flow from your DT to the refuge so it is flowing 8.3 gallons per hour or less. You could probably achieve near this by using a length of 1/4" OD black airline run from the DT to the refuge section.

Your sump needs to be set up skimmer, return, refuge for the slow flow to happen.

 

Thanks again for all the help. i was just going to split the DT and have a valve on the part going to my fuge section so that will control pressure going into that section. Thatll work right as long as it fills 8.3 gallons or less? Also how much space should i save in my fuge for chaeto and water above my DSB ?

 

I would have at least 4" but would use a baffle of up to 14" tall. 4" to 6" of sand is plenty deep.