Some of you may remember me asking some questions regarding overflows and beananimals and internal weirs etc. a couple of months ago for an upcoming 58 gallon Oceanic tank that i had picked up.
I took some advice given here and decided to cut a notch in the back of the tank and an external overflow running along the back. The Tank is at the local glass shop right now getting Return holes drilled and the notch cut. They're also going to euro brace it for extra support (not sure if this is necessary - Oceanic = 1/2" glass)
Now i've got some new questions that you guys will hopefully be able to help me with.
Attachment 8065
Here is a diagram i drew up while at work (MS Paint FTW!!)
Most of it is labelled pretty well, i even included a legend (way too much spare time last night...).
My first question is regarding the Refugium. Does the plumbing make sense to you veteran guys out there? I was trying to make a combo Refugium and Quarantine Tank, where i can remove this tank from the system by flipping a few valves, and then have a safe place to keep new or fragile frags and fish. This seems like a good idea but I havent really come across this setup, and experience says usually there is a reason it isnt used that I never even considered.
I havent even bought this tank yet, but i recently moved my sump to the new stand and found there was some extra room, enough to fit a 12x12 cube pretty nicely. Ill have to raise it up to fit it correctly, but that will work since I can drill it and gravity feed to the sump.
The Live Rock section that the Refugium overflows into was my old refugium, and i figure ill just load it up with live rock rubble and some Pod Condo's (
http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f7...ight=pod+condo) I think the pod condo's are genius, and am doing my best to make this tank Mandarin friendly. The tons of Rubble should be a great place for pods to breed, and the condo's will let me rotate between the display and the Pod orgy to keep the Mandarins nice and fat.
And here is another question that has been floating around in my head while planning all this. If i culture Phytoplankton to feed the Pods, can i just add the Phyto straight to the tank? As far as i can tell it should act as another food source for the Filter feeding corals as well, but i havent been able to find anything about feeding the copepod production inside the tank, and dont want to dump a whole bunch of algae into my tank without knowing the full consequences.
Deep Sand Bed in the Refugium? I havent used a DSB before, and would like some thoughts. Mud? Bare Bottom? what do you guys think for the Quarantine set up? which would work best? It would be nice to have some space in there for fish, instead of 5 inches of sand.
Next is regarding Flood protection. I want this bad boy safe, like fail safe never get my floor wet again safe. Im still fairly new to the hobby (ie. 8 months - this will be the third tank.) and my last set up seemed less then bulletproof with the CPR50 Overflow and no safety's. When i went away earlier this summer my roommates didnt top off the water enough and eventually the pump started running dry, and then flooding and then i was getting crazy calls in europe.
So since the third pipe in the overflow box is emergency only, i was wondering if i could set up a bucket or something to drain for emergencies only. Maybe a small hole in the top corner of the sump could gravity feed the bucket as well. This could help stop the Sump from overflowing as well. The Overflow from the Fuge to the Sump will probably be two 1/2" pipes in case one of them clogs/fails. Usually this wouldnt be an issue but im worried my Sump is undersized and may not take The full Overflow Box and all the water up to the returns. Hopefully someone has dealt with this before and has a clever solution.
Lastly i wanted some feedback on the return pump Size for this tank, and whether i should add a SCWD between the two returns for more random flow. Hopefully i will only have to add a Vortech MP10, but eventually might need an MP40 or two MP10's. Vortechs are definately the way to go, but daaamn i could buy a decent LCD TV for the price of a 40.
Here is some info on the SCWD, it basically would just switch the flow back and forth between the returns Mechanically. Does anyone have any experience with this product?
http://www.marinedepot.com/SCWD_Wave...3Q1113-vi.html
So to Recap:
-Refuge/Quarantine Plumbing
-Phytoplankton dosing
-DSB/Mud/BB?
-Flood Protection
-Return Pump/SCWD
thanks alot in advance guys i appreciate any and all feedback!!