Hopefully easy Fuge questions

I have a 120 brackish setup that I am planning on moving to saltwater over time. I would like to set up a fuge to help reduce my nitrates. I plan on using a 40 breeder for the sump. I am going to have one side for biobale, the otherside for the fuge (with a DSB and algae of some sort), and the return / heaters in the middle. The substrate is crushed coral and dolite. I don't have any live rock in the system so the sump will be doing all the bio filtration. I have a canister I'm using for mecanical. The tank is drilled (two 1 inch drains and a 1 inch return)

Is the biobale necessary?

Is the size overkill?

I'm planning on about 500 to 600 GPH on the return after head loss. Is this to much/ enough?

Will this work without live rock?

Have all of these questions been answered in other threads and I should ahve spent more time searching (I spent some)?

 

yeah yeah yeah...that's what they all say

 

And, in addition....and more important in my eyes, is the addition of water surface area to aid in gas exchange. The more total surface area for CO2/O2 exchange, the better. Wide and shallow is better than tall and deep.

 

I would advise against biobale, and get some small pieces of rock for the fuge. Some companies sell rubble for refugiums - not only will it provide the biological filtration, but will provide habitat in the fuge for pods to grow (and initially provide them as well).

It doesn't have to be expensive. I recently set up a tank (with a 40 gallon breeder refugium as a matter of fact) and used dry coral rock to provide a base in the fuge and tank, and a few pieces of live rock to seed it

 

Is the biobale necessary? no I'd use rubble rock, sand and/or mud. I am planning on using these in the fuge chamber and using biobale in a bi chamber (not sure what to call it) and having a third chamber for equipment. Should I just go with two chambers, one for equipment and one for the Fuge (with rocks / sand / mud)?

Is the size overkill?size does matter, the bigger the better gives you more room to play with and also more water for dilution. I'll stick with the 40 than. Its the largest I can fit

I'm planning on about 500 to 600 GPH on the return after head loss. Is this to much/ enough? how many return heads will you have? One pump. The water will come up a one inch pipe and get distributed two directions.

Will this work without live rock? you can use base rock there too

Thanks for the quick responces!

 

I would also suggest skipping the sand bed. Unless you have enough life in it, or enough flow to keep the detritus from settling it is not good. Other than that skip the bio bale, it is not needed if you have enough rock in the system or a good live sand bed in the main system. You can make all of the tank a fuge other than an area for the return pump and you can use egg crate to seperate the chaeto from the return pump.

Kim

 

How much flow will I need for the sand bed to work? I should have about 630 GPH going through. I would like to use the live sand since I don't currently have (and likely won't have) significant live rock in the display. I plan on going with rubble / small rocks in the fuge in addition to the sand.

 

You need quite a bit of flow to keep detritus from settling, and in a 16 inch wide tank, I don't think 600 gph is going to be close to enough.

If you want the denitrafication of a dsb, do a remote dsp, or a bucket sand bed, that way it can be good a deep, with 600 gph going acrost the top of a bucket it should keep the detritus from settling and causing problems.

Kim

 

I'd simply set a 10 or 15 gal tank in the 40 sump and let that be my fuge and it can simply over run into the sump . Put about 1' of chap clay kitty liter in the bottom and cap that with 4 to 5 " of good aragonite sand and be toss in some Caulerpa and let it roll.

 

I like the 10 gallon tank Idea. I have one sitting in my basement I could use.

The reason the flow is going to be about 600 is that I have two standpipes to use for drainage. I could go higher (up to about 1000) but I would have a risk of flooding if one pipe gets plugged. Is this a significant risk? would the higher flow be enough to use the breader?

If I am going to put the 10 into the 40 and use it as a refugium, why not just use the 20 I have in the basement as the refugium (instead of picking up the 40)? I figured I would go with the 40 in the "bigger is better" sizing method, but now I won't be using the space. Is there another advantage to the 40 that I'm not thinking of? I am willing to pay for the thing if there is a reason of it, but I'm not interested in waiting money.