The frugal Refugium – Or how to build with what you got

[midknight]

The frugal Refugium – Or how to build with what you got (picture intense)

Hi everybody,

I am about to try and breath new life into my old 10 gallon Nano. Well it is really a chance to start new seeing that I managed to nuke the two 10 gallons I had running before. (Just as a word of warning before you dump the sand from one tank into another, make sure everybody will be safe from the impending sandstorm.)

But that is ancient history (last week) and we are going to work going forward.
What I hope to accomplish here is to have an internal refugium with a second HOB refugium. Lets hope that everything goes smoothly and I don’t end up cutting off anything I might need later. (first time cutting glass so wish me luck or call 911, either would be good.)

Let’s start with our new victim ... I mean volunteer.
Here we have our basic 10 gallon Nano to be tank with an Emperor Bio-Wheel 280 (Bio-Wheelless for our purpose)



Next lets add another victim… I mean sacrifice… I mean… Ah never mind..
Here we have a 7.5 gallon tank

Or what is left that is…. Now we really only need these few bits.


And a few bits of an old glass top I had laying around. (the rest will be used on my second project with my 33 gallon)


Now fit the Emperor into his new position


Next step is to fit the glass for position of the new overflow box/refugium.
Everything looks good for now height and size on the front.


3 inches for the opening of the over flow should be good…


And about 6 and a half for the refugium.


And for depth… I think 3 inches should be good.


Now seeing that I am in the land of pros any comment on design or measurements before I go any further with this?

(And thanks for the help before hand)

[Mikeeal]

Looks good, but this picture is a little confusing.



I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish with the taller piece.

[midknight]

That is before I got to cut it. It will be level with the top of the tank when I am finished.

[Mikeeal]

Oh cool, that's what I thought. Looks like it's gonna work good.

[midknight]

Ok, stuck at work not able to play with the tank so did a quick pic on the water flow in the system.

Follow the pretty blue line (if you can)


Waters enters on the right, goes over the overflow set about .25 inch below the bottom of the top of tank. Flows down through LR rubble sitting on egg crate type material (haven’t figured out what to use yet) suspended 1 inch above the bottom, and exits this chamber through a 1 inch opening to the left.

The water will then pass through chemno (not sure on the spelling) and over the over flow that is set to about .5 inch below the top of the tank into the return chamber.

The water is then drawn into the Emperor and through more chemno (still not right spelling) and back into the tank.

Any questions, comments or other remarks?

[jasutton]

i think you mean cheato...

[midknight]

Yes, you are correct. Been down and out with the flu for the past few days, should be back on the project in a day or so.

[midknight]

Ok, picked up some acetone to clean the old glass with, tried vinegar but that didn’t do the job. Hey, like I said I was trying to do this with out buying anything. Also picked up some black Krylon paint for the back. Have never painted a tank before but there is always a first time. Now I was thinking of painting inside the tank to block out the chamber with the Emperor’s intake, will this paint work? Should I use something better/different? Should I even bother?

Anybody? Anybody? Bueller? Bueller?

[midknight]

Oh, also had an idea about egg create material, I am going to "modify" (hack to pieces) an old under gravel filter and see how that works out.

[chocolateblnt]

Hey Midknight ... not a bad project indeed.

My only comment is something I ran into ... When the water in my refugium would pour over the slit/overflow into the return pump chamber it would be too much of a fall causing lots of bubbles. These bubbles were getting sucked up and tossed into my display tank. I'm sure you read about this problem in my thread. Hopefully you've designed to avoid this. It looks like you have but I am just making sure because it can really be a P.I.T.A.!!!

Otherwise so far so good!

[midknight]

Well after it hits the return chamber it will be brought up into the Emperor and then through the cheato. I will have to see how the water is exiting the Emperor as to whether I get MB or not.

[slapshot16]

Do not paint the inside of the tank. Just the outside. Project looks great. Consider adding another baffle in the return chamber with the opening at the bottom. Bubbles float and water flows through the bottom and into the final return chamber. Just a thought.

[YoungReefer]

Nice looking start I'de like to tag along

[midknight]

The more the merrier YoungReefer, Welcome aboard.

Slapshot16, I didn't want to paint the entire inside just the one small area around the return chamber to hide Emperor intake pipe. But seeing that is it black also I will paint the back today and see how well it blends.

And see that I am off today and Monday (for my birthday) lets see if I can finish this tank and move on to the next 2 or 3… No I need 4, lets see… need to do 7 gallon pico for work, do quick mod for 33 & 55 Oh yes get the tanks for the angle fries. Why do those idiots lay their eggs on the glass where I can’t remove them?

[midknight]

Ok, finally got the energy back to start back at it.
I started by prepping the tank for paint I notched the back trim and then papered the tank.


(Like my custom paint stand.)

Ran a thin coat over and left it set for an hour and then applied a second coat.

(sorry was having camera problems so is a bit blurry)

Pulled the paper, set it place and thought that I hadn’t done to bad of a job for my first attempt.


So with the tank painted now on to the more entertaining job.
Cutting glass for the first time. Got everything ready and prepared for the job at hand…


And seeing this is my first time not all the cuts were… perfect

Ok, so some where just really bad.

After all was said and done and the pieces propped up in place it doesn’t look too terrible.


Slip the Emperor into place and everything looks not to bad


So now on to the next big adventure, gluing everything together. Then the water test, then getting the sand, rock, fish, critters… AAAAAAAA..

Sorry, mini breakdown, or would that be a Nano break down?
Well off to glue I go…

[midknight]

Ok, here is the Emperor in his place...

[kenny77]

nice job. Now do the same with a 10g hex. I need some ideas

[midknight]

Sure, no problem... You got a spare laying around I can practice with?

[dantodd]

Very similar to my 20L.

One problem you will likely have is evaporation. All of your evaporation will be in that small chamber your emporer is pulling from. You will need an ATO for sure. I run mine backwards so that the evaporation is all in the main display which has the most volume so it shows up least.

Here is a picture of mine. Main display on the left, an AC pulls the water out and dumps it into a skimmer chamber which has a single baffle with a bottom exit to a rubble/equipment chamber which then overflows to my fuge (well, actually it's a mantis tank now) and then overflows into my main display. I hope that all made sense. I used black acrylic for all my dividers.

[midknight]

Makes total sense. And yes I will have an AT. I just need to do some calculations on how quickly it will evaporate. There is also the variable on the different speeds for the Emperor. Will have to test but my thinking is at high it might draw to much water so I will have to see how it all works out.

[midknight]

Ok, this is a test, just trying out Photobucket.
Here is a shot of a real odd couple.

Pulsating Xenia on a hermit crab.

[alien9168]

looks good!

[midknight]

Ok, back at it. After a frustrating time of cutting glass here is where we are…

Connecting the 2 front pieces you can see I was not the greatest at cutting the glass. I slapped a piece of packing tape on the front side and filled the crack and left to dry.


Once that was set I removed the tape and attached the first 2 partitions. I use 2 little finger clamps to hold them upright as they set.

Here is a better view of the clamp. $1.49 at Canadian Tire…


Once they had set I moved on to the egg crate, yes I broke down and bought some, was to sick and tired to play with anything else. Glued it into place and set 2 small pieces of glass underneath for extra support.


Finally adding the finale wall you can once again see my skill at cutting glass…


Ok, enough of this FUBARing all my glass, I bought myself proper glass cutting tools for my birthday.

[midknight]

Now that everything has set it is ready to be placed in the tank.
But that is for tomorrow.

Once I cleaned everything up that is.

Oh, and on a side note here is a little project with egg crate & an old hanger.
Ok, it wasn’t old before I started but it was finished when I was done with it. ;- )

Mom wasn’t to happy when she ask for the hanger back…

[midknight]

And no I don't live with my mom, she just manages the apartment building I live in.