Nano\fuge combo

[Reefska]

Hi all,

I'm afraid I also posted this question in the nano thread, as it is both a nano question, and a DIY one. I hope you don't mind.

I have had a reef tank for a couple of years so know about the filtration and livestock side of things, however what I don't know about is water flow dynamics.

Attatched are some crappy drawings I did on paint, I hope they get the idea across.

What I want to know really, is:

a) What sort of flow am I going to want going through the fuge?
b) Is the water actually going to flow through the fuge?
c) IYO is it actually worth doing?

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated

Thankyou

[davidc]

Just for comparison, here's a picture of a 1 gallon picoreef with fuge that I just built.

I'll post an updated picture later, but what I've done so far is put a 'T' on the pump output and have it flow out through two holes diagonal from each other. The other two holes are returns to the fuge area. Also, water flows over the top of the divider between the fuge because the pump outflows the drain. I think I like it that way, but I can always turn the pump down to stop that.

I can say that I certainly get good random flow the way mine is set up. I put chaetomorpha in the side chamber above the pump, and I'm also going to build a mini-skimmer for it just for fun

Originally Posted by Reefska

Hi all,

I'm afraid I also posted this question in the nano thread, as it is both a nano question, and a DIY one. I hope you don't mind.

I have had a reef tank for a couple of years so know about the filtration and livestock side of things, however what I don't know about is water flow dynamics.

Attatched are some crappy drawings I did on paint, I hope they get the idea across.

What I want to know really, is:

a) What sort of flow am I going to want going through the fuge?
b) Is the water actually going to flow through the fuge?
c) IYO is it actually worth doing?

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated

Thankyou

[Geoff]

i am a little confused on your pics. is that a side view and a back view?

G~

[Reefska]

Yes, the top pic is a view from the back, and the lower pic is from the side.

Cheers for the help davidc.

If I understand your setup correctly, your pumping the water in reverse to my setup. Water comes out of the fuge section, and pushes tankwater back in through the holes, and over the top.

In my setup, pumping water into the small baffled section, would the gap below the baffle allow adequate flow through, or would it just overflow, also how large would the return hole need to be.

Thanks for all your help, this is the only forum I have actually had a reply from, so thankyou!

[davidc]

Originally Posted by Reefska

Yes, the top pic is a view from the back, and the lower pic is from the side.

Cheers for the help davidc.

If I understand your setup correctly, your pumping the water in reverse to my setup. Water comes out of the fuge section, and pushes tankwater back in through the holes, and over the top.

In my setup, pumping water into the small baffled section, would the gap below the baffle allow adequate flow through, or would it just overflow, also how large would the return hole need to be.

Thanks for all your help, this is the only forum I have actually had a reply from, so thankyou!

welcome to TRT

go to www.reefcentral.com and use the overflow/drain calculator. There you can figure out how much flow it can handle based on how big the holes are. For example: I have two 1/4" holes for sump return and a 6" divider for overflow sump return.

According to this calculator, my design can handle 38gph through each drain hole and 400gph over the divider. It seems logical then that my 79gph pump just barely pushes water over the overflow - it just barely outflows the 2 drain holes. These numbers are all estimates in the real world, with pipe restrictions, different head pressures, etc...

In your design. the inflow to the pump should have more capacity than the pump, and the outflow of the fuge should have more capacity than the inflow to the pump. That way your pump won't run dry and your fuge won't overflow.

You have a 20cm outflow (but really it'll get more flow depending on how wide the gap is between the baffles). This is more flow than you'll ever need in this tank (25 gallons?). You should build the pump input to flow more than the largest pump you think you'll ever use, but less than your baffles.

HTH

[davidc]

oh yeah - be sure not to clog up your baffles too much with rocks or something

[Reefska]

Thanks for all the help,

I think I am going to go ahead and give this a try.

What I need to know now is what sort of flow will I actually want going through the fuge. I have a spare 100gph pump, but I don't know if this will be enough (or too much).
At 100gph the calculator says that I will only need a 2 inch overflow (I pressume this would also apply for water returning to the main tank, as well as for an overflow out)

Also, with the return being right up at the top, would any pods actually reach the tank.

Over the LR rubble next to the baffles, I was thinking of using medium sized pieces, and not packing it tight, would this have a big impact on the flow.

Sorry for all the questions, but before I fork out for a load of glass, and start cutting it up, I need to know that it is feasable. (I'm a poor student type).

Thankyou again

[Reefska]

Any more thoughts?

They would be most welcome.

Sorry for being greedy lol.

[Geoff]

that size pumps sounds good. with those smaller pumps it is really difficult to tell how much flow that is really going to be. i would just give it a try.

i am not a big fuge fan, so that is why i have been quiet. your biggest concern should be to have room for all of the uglies and worry about pod room last.

the looser the LR the better, it will help in keeping the dead spots to a minimum.

G~

[gitsumpottery]

Those are some cool yellow chromis!!!!


HAHA, just kidding, but I have some ideas... why not look into getting an aquaclear hob filter and move your uglies into that? I have seen a lot of people putting baffles in their aquaclears to make fuges... You could throw a small light over that and walla! more tank space. We have a 7 gallon minibow here and are putting a aquaclear 300 on the back and in that we are putting our heater and "maybe" some chaeto in there. I did an overflow in the back of our last nano, and I hated it because it was too small to work in, so I am putting a Hob on for easy access to all of our stuff.

Oh yeah, if you want to put an aquaclear in, I would go to nano-reef.com and do a search on them... A lot of info about them.

[Reefska]

Cheers geoff and gitsumpottery

I have seen alot on the net about using aquaclears. However purely for esthetic reasons (and to be awkward, of course) I really want to have it as one tank on a stand in the middle of the room, so want to keep hang on equipment to a minimum.

I made a mockup of the tank out of cardboard, and working in the fuge section didn't seem like it would be a big problem (it would be 25 x 25 x 40). It would have its own light running longer per day than the reef light, as well as running opposite light\dark cycles to try to balance Ph.

How is the aquaclear running on your 7 gal, what filtation are you using, and are you using a skimmer???

Cheers for all your help guys, keep it coming.

Also, just out of interest. What constitutes a nano reef, mine would be about 90ish ltrs so I dont even know if it qualifies.

[Geoff]

nano's are generally 20g total volume and under. do not know what the metric equivalent is.

G~

[Reefska]

Well mine just qualifies then, it will be about 19 imperial gallons