Setting Up of refugium

[Siaokia]

HI bros, need ya help...I currently haf a sump tank and is thinking of setting up a refugium....now the problem is i haf 4 compartments and its in such a way that i haf to make 2 compartments into a refugium as if i were to only fill up 1 compartment, the sand will enter the other compartment thru the gap at the bottom..

heres the overview of my sump tank which is 2 ft long:

|Big Compartment(Cotton & Bioballs) | ~>|Small compartment(Skimmer & Carbon) | ~> |Small compartment (coral Chips) | ~> |big compartment (water pump back top main tank) |

Now which compartment is best to use as a refugium?..i can`t use the 2 middle small ones as water exits thru the bottom gap.

And can some bros list out the stuffs u i need for a refugium? grade of sand and how tolayer them etc..

[blueheaven]

Forget the bioballs and coral chips

[lightningstrike]

IMHO, redo ur sump or take out the unnecessary partitions.

cotton: up to individual preference. but it's a no no for me. will lead to high nitrate levels if not regularly maintained.

bioballs, coral chips: definite no no for me! will lead to high nitrate levels in future.

leave the 1st and last compartment for carbon/skimmer (in sump) and return pump. centre for dsb. as large a surface area as possible.

juz me 2 cents.

[Siaokia]

yeah..i wanna do away with my bioballs....its better in the long run right?

Here`s my plan, i want to convert my first and second compartent into a refugium...so it would mean that the water from my overflow will will flow into the first compartment down the thick sandbed and thru the bottom gap into the second compartment and up into the deepsandbed and overflow into the 3rd compartment...the 3rd compartment will conatin the skimmer and carbon and finally down thru the gap at the bottom into the 4th compartment and back into the tank....

Den it came to my mind...how abt the skimmer?..shld it be b4 the refugium or after the refugium oso can?...arghz....i can`t change the last compartment as the pump is set on the base of the sump and i can`t adjust the height of the pump cos of the tubing....

[blueheaven]

highly doubt the water will flow through and will most probably flood

[Siaokia]

yaaaa...i`m worried abt tat too...but if the first compartment has bigger grade sand how?..will it work?...

[blueheaven]

then it defeats the purpose of a sand bed

[Siaokia]

yeah..i guess ur rite..looks like i haf to get another tank .. I think a small tank will do rite?....den make the water overflow into the refugium den use a pump to transfer it to the other sump..will do rite?...and i guess a 1 feet thank will be ok?...i dun wanna throw away my current sump cos my father bought it for me...

[Siaokia]

OK bros....i haf decided to use a seperate tank as my refugium..now i need more of ur help..hope u bros dun mind....

I am thinking of using THIS product, u bros think it will be useful?

and if i were to use it, how shall i lay it out?...i am planning to lay the base with half a bag of it, folowed by a layer of grade 0 sand then place the remaining sand ontop of it...will this be ok?

Hope u bros can guide me....

[blueheaven]

Yes, its a good product

IMO try not to mix the sand grain size

You can see my tank thread to see how I splitted my sandbed

[Siaokia]

Okiez...thanx blueheaven and other bros for the huge amount of help...will post more questions if i need more help...thanx..