Will this work?

[Paidbychrist0825]

ok guys, ive been planning a whole lot, and i think i have designed a pretty good fuge, take a look, and tell me what you think

[Paidbychrist0825]

one more thing: the 20 will have a 2 inch dsb, the 29 will have a 4 inch, and the 50 gal rubbermaid will also have a 4 inch DBS

[seawillow]

Looks like a cool idea....but what do I know?? :? It will be interesting to see what others think, especially those with a more technical mind than this blonde..... :lol:

[Paidbychrist0825]

feel free to use it if it will work, perhaps the triple fuge idea will catch on, and a whole new era of reef keeping will result. okay, done dreaming beyond any shadow of reality, back to normal

[paulsreef]

Help me understand why three separate stages. The only benefits that that I can see is increased water turbulence (which would increase gas exchange) and increased water volume (which is never a bad thing). Now if you're making this decision based on space limitations, then that's a whole other story. Just wondering what your reasoning behind this is.
I'd be careful with many of the macros... especially calurpa. It has a tendency to go sexual and dump all the nutrients back in the water column. Stay with a safe macro like Chaetomorpha that's more stable. If you have good lighting on the sump, its also a fine place to grow out soft leather (and even some LPS) frags.

Now that being said, there is a whole school of thought (based on the work of Steve Tyree) centered around various zones. Its called the Environmental Gradient theory. The zones are the Exposed Zone, Cryptic Zone and Filter Feeder Zone . The goal of one of these setups is completely natural filtration, but the design is much more complex that that illustrated above. Doesn't need to be though. You could certainly incorporate at least part of it by keeping one of the "zones" you have above completely in the dark and stocked with LR w/ sponges, tunicates, etc (a Cryptic Zone). I've thought of doing a setup like this on my next SPS tank. If you want more info on his methods, read up here: http://www.dynamicecomorphology.com I know this isn't where you were going with this, but if you're going to put this much work into your filter, you might want to give this stuff some thought.

[Paidbychrist0825]

i pretty much just did three because thats how many containers ill have. i had been warned against calurpa, and steered toward cheato and turtle grass. plus i live in the basement, so any way to increase water voluem is ok, got no space restrictions. i will look into sponges, and see how that turns out.
The benefits for a grow out had also been told to me, and a reinforcement helped.
The fuge will be well lighted(exept for that "cryptic" bit.) As i do plan to grow as much edible algae for the fish as possible.

[paulsreef]

Ok, that's as good a reason as any. Allow me to make a suggestion or two. If this were me... I'd setup that 20 long to be an eventual grow tank and swap it with the 29. Leave the 29 as is, but use a deep sand bed in it. Since its essentially in line between the other two, its a perfect candidate to provide a remote deep sand bed. If anything ever goes wrong with the DSB (i.e. a crash), you can quickly route flow around it and pull it out and start over again without a ton of hassle. Plus, you'll have LR in there which will add to the bio-filtration capacity of the system. I'd leave that 50g Rubbermaid just as is, it will serve you well to increase water volume on the system and also as another source of bio-filtration through the LR in it and any macros that you choose (BTW, both the Chaetomorpha and Turtle grass are excellent choices). Good luck man, and make sure you post some photos. I know you've been doing your research! :-)

Paul

[Paidbychrist0825]

thanks for the advice paul:) yea, reseaerch research research. beats the heck out of, impluse buying then opanicing for 6 months trying to fix stuff.
i will post pics... as soon as i get everything.
So your saying 29 gets the water first, then the 20, then the 50 gallon rubbermaid?

EDIT:
one thing i forgot about: i had already planned on haeving sand in all of them, but should i leave it shallow(less than an inch) in the 20 and 50, and only have it deep in the 29?

[Paidbychrist0825]

ok i see now. 20, then 29, but switch up the properties. okey dokey

[paulsreef]

Something like this...

http://www.paulsreef.com/triplefuge/gif_1.gif

[Paidbychrist0825]

cool. sept the top one black for cryptic zone, right?

[paulsreef]

I wouldn't worry about getting into the Environmental Gradient theory right now since you're just starting out. This will be enough work without having to understand and implement that theory. The diagram above is what is technically known as "overkill," ;-) but if you have the time and room to do it, give it a shot. Honestly, you'd be just fine with the rubbermaid tub. But hey, have fun! :-)

[Paidbychrist0825]

okay. im handy with tools, and pretty smart to boot. maybe ill ease into the gradient thingy

[Charles Poole]

Hey Paul,

The top fuge in your diagram looks like the Miracle Mud system sump by Ecosystems Inc. :)

One question I have is after taking all the care to gravity feed the fuges to one another, you have to destroy a lot of the beneficial micro-organisms by "pumping" water back into the display tank. I would go with one or two drop stages, with the last stage being a return to the main tank by gravity. This will help you get the most out of your refugiums. Much like the design that Paul drew up. :)

[paulsreef]

And so it does, build your own I say! :-) Just don't pay $80 for magical mystery mud... :-D

Good point Charles, in fact Tom you could simply put the two stages next to one another (connected in-line) over the tank and do just as Charles suggested. Although I've never had a problem with it, some folks have problems with the return pumps chewing up pods and the like on the way back to the main tank. If you fed the water up to the refugiums and gravity fed back down this would never be an issue. You just need to leave enough room in the tank to compensate for the small amount of extra water that would drain down in the event of a power outage or pump failure.

[Paidbychrist0825]

had planned on having all that stuff campoesated for. i hvae now chanfes the design so that the fuges ar side by side, each a little lower then the previops one, so the gravity can still work, and so i can have all three stages.

[nanoman123]

looks like a good idea good luck to u :D