using a overflow box as a refuge?

[Richard_Dicosimo]

anyone out there doing it?
does it seem like a bad idea for any reason?
i have an overflow box that doesnt have a closed loop in it just 2 stand pipes, it gets tons of light. anyone see any downsides that im not seeing?
i have never seen someone use an overflow as a refuge.

Richard

[Pescador]

Can't see why not.
I've seen hang in the tank refugiums like this http://saltaquarium.about.com/library/blank/bldiyhangintankrefugium.htm

Might be too small to help water quality or for a deep sandbed for nitrates. But should be good for zoo and phyto plankton.

[Delphinus]

Do you mean as in a spot for growing out chaeto or other macros? The only concern I'd have in such a case is clogging the drain (assuming the overflow box is in use as an overflow box). As far as just putting in some sand or rubble for 'pods to hide out in, I think that could work.. interesting idea.

[Richard_Dicosimo]

well i have 2 stand pipes in one overflow box on one end of the tank, and one stand pipe in the other over flow on the opposite side of the tank. i took a chunk of cheato and elastic banded a peice of rubble to it and droped it in the overflow seems to be doing good, dont see it clogging the return cheato usually stays in a fairly tight ball right?
there shouldnt be any floaters??

Richard

[Willow]

i wonder if the dead water at the bottom of an overflow would effect the macro? cheato generaly likes flow thru it and it will need light.

[Sebae]

What happens when the ball grows? Sounds like throwing a handful of nails onto the pavement and seeing if you can drive over them without getting a flat tire. I have a 13 watt florescent over my hang on fuge and it grows really well. Can't you put it into your sump ?

[Richard_Dicosimo]

yeah i got some in my fuge in my sump, im just bored and want to see what will happen if it grows better there it shouldnt be that low flow of water 1800 gal/hr going through and the light is mh in the fuge its just a little 40 watt bulb. just wanted to see if anyone had tried it before and if i was running a risk of doin sumthing thats going to cause problems. at this point i dont see how it could clog my drain its weighted down and i have 3 drains that can more then handle one fully clogged and another half clogged.

Richard

[Joe Reefer]

If there is any type of intake in the overflow box I wouldn't do it. If your bored you should make frags or do a water change instead.:mrgreen:

[Pescador]

It probably wouldn't be enough algae to do much for water quality anyway but you can make a zooplankton "reactor" with any dense inert material and there is no maintenance. Different media will encourage different organisms. Rock rubble is good for larger micro-crustaceans. Finer material for smaller organisms. Spun plastic fiber pads, algae scrubbing pads, foam prefilters, dacron, hung or stacked openly will promote amphipods, copepods, and mysid shrimp.