Old School Refugium Conversion (1 Viewer)

[FireEater]

After a lot of discussion, I have decided to reform my refugium, plus from reading this article HERE

What I am going to do is change my middle chamber out. That is, I will remove my deep sand bed and document it here for others to hopefully learn. More about that will come with pics as I take on this task.

My current system has been setup and running since 2004

I have been in the hobby since 2003 and jumped straight into Reef Keeping with a 65g Octagon Tank. In 2004, I built the current system and the Octagon Tank went away.

My system consists of a 29g non-reef safe tank, a 125g reef tank, both are connected to a 45g Refugium. I also run a 65g plastic barrel in my garage, which is plumbed into the return area of the Refugium.

My return pump in that area feeds both the tanks and the barrel. The barrel also returns to this area to keep the water level in it constant.

My chiller is in the garage connected to the barrel and I have valves on it to turn off, which then separates it from the system for water changes in the garage.

I have another 65g barrel with a RO/DI on it and keep 65 gallons in it at all times, for water changes and topping off.

I run a Carbon Canister on the system. It is full of carbon in trays and can go for months before changing out. I run 2 Two Little Fishies Reactors, one holds Purigen and the other hold N/P Bio Pellets. I run a large ASM Skimmer, a Calcium Reactor, and have 2 two and a half gallon containers that I mix Mrs. Wages Lime and White Vinegar in to supplement, but to mainly keep the system topped off with water. I use drip sets on them.

Lighting on the 29g are T 5's and the same on the 125g. The Refugium has been ran with the CFL's and now with T 12's, and has always been the Daylight 6500K bulbs. I am now looking into a Natural Daylight 5000K LED Bulb to replace the T 12's to get more room for the Mangrove.

I run a sand bed in the main tank, but not a deep one and it gets turned over continually by critters and by me. I run a deep sand bed in the 29g tank, but that is because of the Mantis Shrimp that continually burrows and the Rock Crab which does the same. Actually it is only deep on one end for the Mantis.

Now the Refugium has a deep sand bed and it has been in place since 2004. This is in the middle chamber and is full of dead corals, rocks and rubble. It also has a large Mangrove tree that is mainly for looks as they do not filter the water as much as their reputation says they do.

This Chamber along with the article above is what has led me to this point. Back when I started, Deep Sand Beds were the choice, though there was already talk about them being nutrient sinks. But that talk was new and other than a few stories, no one thought otherwise.

So after reading the article and having the discussion, I have decided to change my old ways of thinking and try the new ways in this hobby that is ever changing on us.

My system crashed a few years ago, we bought a new fishing boat and I neglected the tank. Let the T 5 lights lapse over two years and now I suspect from the deep sand base in the Refugium leaching out bad things.

Like I said, I am changing some things. I do need to say that since I read that thread, took a good look at the sand bed in the middle chamber, that is why I think it had a lot to do with my tank crashed, the Phosphate sink I have created most likely was part of the reason my system crashed.

Though now, after everything I have done over the last year, the system is back up and running, all parameters are in range and corals are growing again. But for how long this time?

I have started again to take great care of the system, maintaining it as before, and by before, I mean before we got the big boat. lol!

So here are a lot of pics of my system as of now. As I said, when I start to remove the deep sand bed, I will document and add to this thread. You can also go to my WEBSITE to see where it all started in 2004.

The new bulb I am thinking about going to for the Mangrove.


65g Top Off water


RO/DI Unit, in the Webpage Link, you will see where I attempted to remove the RO Filter and go with two Paper, 2 Carbon filters and a DI Filter to cut out waste water. Well TDS from my City's water is crazy high, so this method could not lower the level enough to use.


I just checked TDS input/output and it is at 168 in and 001 out.

65g Reservoir wrapped in insulation to help protect water from the Texas Heat and our few days of Cold Winter. lol! Plus the chiller sitting next to it. I connect a hose to the valve on the bottom of the barrel and drain it from there.


The cut off valves


Refill hole and window to look down it it. I use a short hose to fill it here with saltwater mixed up from the Top Off Barrel.


The best pic I could get looking down in it. Detritus does build up here also. From now on when I drain it, I will remove this out also.


The two PVC pipes run to the Reservoir in the Garage. I built this Sump from MelevsReef back in 2004. I used Marc's Model F plans. I haven't talked to him in years, but he was great to talk to and a lot of learning from him.


Here you can see the water from the 65g Reservoir dumping back into this chamber.


Cut off valve from both overflows in the tanks

 

[FireEater]

Top off container with Mrs. Wages Lime and White Vinegar in it.


The first chamber where both tanks dump into holds the Skimmer, a heater, which is only in there for a few days until is warms up again, the Carbon Canister gets its water from here and returns it to the middle chamber, and the N/P Bio Pellets Reactor dumps into here.


You can see where the N/P Bio Pellet Reactor dumps to. It actually dumps right into the Skimmer intake.




Calcium Reactor drips into this cup. Plus you can see the tube from the Carbon Canister and the PVC pipe from the N/P Bio Pellet Reactor.


Both Two Little Fishies Reactor are fed from here. A cut off valve to one of the tanks can be seen also.


The Purigen water dumps into the sock to catch any granule's that might escape. It gets changed out weekly.



Both Reactor, N/P Bio Pellets on left and Purigen on right. The cardboard behind them keeps the Mangrove light from shining on them to keep algae from growing in the reactors.


View from other side


Carbon Canister and Milwaukee PH Meter






Calcium Reactor setup with CO Tank. If you look right next to the Calcium Chamber, you can see a sheet of black Construction Board. That is to shield it from the light that shines on the Mangrove. Keeps algae from growing in it.


It is also a good thing to either paint the bottom of your tank black or tape Construction Board to it if you run a light in your Sump/Refugium. You would be amazed at the algae that the light will cause to grow under your sand bed or bottom of tank.

Fuge loaded with life, but you can see detritus buildup on shells.










Baffles


The Mangrove Tree and current lighting.


Today's pics and what has led me to where I am at with doing this change.

The root from the Mangrove into the sand. I do want to keep the Mangrove, so I will come up with a way to keep some rock in the middle chamber to stabilize it. I don't think it needs sand to grow on, but what are y'alls thoughts?




Tube in the right upper corner is the return from the Carbon Canister.


A million Feather Dusters/Worms


And a peek at the sand bed, plus sponges everywhere.


More life and a little more ugly sand bed




And the ugliness! lol! Remember, this sand bed has been in place since 2004, 9 years running!


So now comes the change. I will shut the Refugium off from the tanks and barrel. I will have saltwater mix ready to go as once it is all removed, my water level will drop drastically. Not counting when the two to tanks drain down to the teeth in the overflow boxes.

I will remove all rock, then sand. then make a vacuum pump from a power head or pump as the Refugium sits down on floor level. So siphoning is out of the question.

As I said, I will go back with enough rock to support the Mangrove. I will move it towards the first chamber. This is because as the water flows over the first bulkhead, it will wash through the rocks causing the detritus to build up at the second bulkhead with the teeth.

This area will be clear so I can vacuum the detritus from it. I can use the water coming from the Carbon Canister to help move the detritus through the rocks continually.

So stay tune for updates and more pics!

 

[FireEater]

The sand in the Refugium was 6 1/2" deep.

UPDATE: I have some good news and some bad news.

Good news is I overhauled and transformed the Refugium on Monday the 30th.

Bad news is that I accidentally deleted the 81 pics I took of the whole process.

I always hook up the iPhone to the computer, then transfer the pics I take over into their respective folders, then delete them off the iPhone. This time I transferred over 20 or so pics from Santa's Wonderland into a Christmas folder, then transferred the 81 pics of the Refugium into the 125g Reef Tank folder, then deleted them.

Been battling the head/sinus crud for a week and not thinking properly, I didn't double check to see if they were transferred. Well, actually one pic made it, number 5886 of 5888. Now that baffles me.

So without Photo Stream or Photo Sharing turned on to back them up, I have been using different programs to try and fond them on the phone.

So I will explain how everything went and have some new ones I took, though they are after the transformation naturally.

I started first thing in the morning and it took seven hours total to do. This included pulling everything out of the Fuge and cleaning it.

I first isolated the 65g Reservoir in the garage from the system. I then mixed up 65 gallons of salt water in my RO/DI barrel.

I turned off the skimmer, the 2 Two Little Fishies Reactors, The water supply to the Calcium Reactor, and the Carbon Canister. Then I turned off the main pump that feeds everything, both tanks drained down to right below the teeth on the overflow boxes.

I then started scooping out water from the main chamber with my pitcher. I got out 15 gallons total.

I started to remove all rock and dead coral. The dead coral and some rock I put into a separate container so I could use it to stabilize the Mangrove later on. All rock, rumble and shells went into a few 5 gallon buckets.

I then started to remove the sand. I place a cup in the chamber and basically excavated the sand by hand. lol! I removed some more rock from around the Mangrove roots also. After filling up the 5 gallon bucket with sand, I filled the pitcher up with water and poured in around the Mangrove roots to remover as much sand as I could from the large rocks they were attached to.

After pouring about 3 pitcher fulls, I went and got the water hose form the back, then set the shop vac up to suction water. I sprayed the root system, washing all the sand out, then sucked up the sand and water with the shop vac. I repeated this process, moving the Mangrove around on its island, lifting it up some wash underneath it.

Once I removed all the sand from the middle chamber, I sucked the water from the first and third chambers. Then removed the skimmer and small heater from the first chamber, tore the skimmer completely down to clean. Did the same thing with the bracket for the calcium drip, cleaned the cup, PH Probe and drip hose.

I then removed the bracket that holds the sock filter that the Purigen Reactor flows into and cleaned it all real good. Then the return pump was removed and cleaned. Once I removed everything, I had an empty Fuge besides the Mangrove.

I scrubbed and cleaned all the walls and bottom, using the shop vac to remove the dirty water and finally had a clean Fuge.

After I put everything back together and back in the Fuge, I moved the Mangrove tree around until I found a spot it looked good in. Then started putting the dead coral around it lie a jigsaw puzzle. Making sure there was still enough open space for good water flow to keep the detritus from building up to much.

Once I had all the dead coral built up around the Mangrove, I put the hose into the skimmer, collection cup removed, from the saltwater mix and started filling the Fuge back up. It took awhile, but I added the whole 65 gallons.

While it was filling, I siphoned out 10 gallons from the 125g tank. After all the 56 gallons of salt mix was in the Fuge, I opened the 65g Reservoir in the garage, turned on the return pump and it started filling up the two tanks.

Once they started to overflow back into the Fuge, the water level balanced out perfect. So basically I also did a 65g water change with this process. I then started everything else back up and the system was back up and running.

Now for some after pics. lol!

The only surviving pic from the deleting disaster. This is when the water had just started making its way into the third chamber.


On the left side is the first chamber with the skimmer. The dead coral is up to the baffle.


The third chamber is on the right. I left a big open area to collect detritus. This pic was take New Years Day, so after two days you can see some buildup. I now have to figure out how to get it out. Most like a small power head with a hose modified to it.


A shot of the dead coral around the Mangrove trunk.


Overhead of the detritus area



Return pump area


A shot from the other side showing the detritus area.


Showing the open areas around the Mangrove.

 

[FireEater]

A very clean detritus free first chamber, where the skimmer sits, the N/P Bio Pellet Reactor dumps, the Carbon Canister draws water from and the heater. Plus the two overflows from both tanks.


A clean calcium drip cup and holding bracket. Plus where the Carbon Canister dumps. I will replace that hose with a longer one, so it can flsuh detritus from the dead coral pile.


Clean sock filter and bracket from Purigen Reactor


Another shot of the coral pile


Bottom bucket is full of the rock and shells. The top bucket is full of sand and that clam shell is my Gigas I lost when I went from Metal Halides to T 5's years back. I didn't realize until it was to late what was going on with it.


Sand and muck


And last one is one I took today. I had to put my Spiny Blue Lobster down there. I confirmed today that it was him killing all my snails. Looks like he went through about 20 of them. I caught him holding one earlier. He was holding the little trap door open with one arm while trying to get the snail loose with another arm.


After only a few days, it does seem that my corals are more opened up. Might be the 65 gallon water change though. But I did one last week and they didn't seem as happy then.

I know I did the right thing in removing the DSB from down there. Also if it looks like to much detritus will build up in the dead coral pile, I will remove pieces from it to get to a happy medium.

If I do have look recovering the deleted pics, I will post them up. I have gone through about 2 thousand so far from opening up my latest backup I had to do to open it. I'm seriously considering jail breaking the iPhone to get to them and then restoring it afterwards back to normal.

I just built a T 5 Light setup to replace my old one, the new one is more user friendly. I did it yesterday and got it installed last night. So look for that thread next.

Old setup


New setup

 

[rparker2112]

This is cool!

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

[FireEater]

Mangrove has been a little droopy since the conversion. Hopefully it is just in shock somewhat and will recover. I have been giving it a good spraying to keep it happy.


Also, Since I redid the Fuge on the 30th, the past few days, everything is looking great with the corals. They are full of color and all polyps are opening up nicely. I am waiting on some filters for my iPhone 5 so I can start shooting pics again to update my Website. These filters remove all the blue from the pic leaving the true colors of the corals.