AC 300 Refugium Project for the 2.5

[Sugar Magnolia]

Okay, so I stole this idea from someone on RC who had linked his info from his thread at nanoreef. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=458261

Excellent idea and one that I may just be able to accomplish all by my little ole self. (putting the sump plans for the 30 on the back burner for now)

1st step is to order the AC 300 along with some AC mini foam inserts and a 13 watt Jali light fixture along with a 13 watt bulb. There'll also be residual light spilling out the back of the 2.5's canopy into the mini fuge.

While that order is being processed and shipped I'll need to do a bit of modification to the existing light canopy (sorry Mattgecko - I'll be gentle!)

Here's a pic of the back of the canopy showing how the ballast for the lighting is attached and you can see the fan over to the right. The ballast cage will stay put, but that little fan is 1/2" too big for the width I need open to fit the AC 300 on the back of the tank. The plan is to use a circle cutting drill bit and cut an opening on the side of the canopy, finish squaring off the corners, and swing the fan off to the side. From the looks of the wiring, I shouldn't have any trouble since it's just being moved over a bit. I'll also have to remove the acrylic shield over the lights and cut out a larger opening to allow for the AC 300.

I figured since I won't be using the old AC mini any more I can sacrifice it to create a baffle out of one of it's sides to allow for flow reduction in the AC 300 and to create a small space to place my 6" mini heater that is currently in the tank. I'll also be replacing the impeller from the 300 with the impeller that's in the mini to help reduce the flow as well.

Any input?

[gman0526]

Sounds like a great idea, keep those pics coming!!!

[FishinInTheDark]

I have a Penguin Mini on my nano, and an extra Penguin 330 or 125 (can't remember) lying around here somewhere. SM, I'm jumping on your bandwagon once again! Thanks for sharing!

[Sugar Magnolia]

Conni, be sure to check and see if the impellers can be swapped out, otherwise you may have too much flow going through the filter for a fuge. I know that all the AC filter's impellers can be swapped out for another AC impeller with the exception of the AC 500.

I placed my order with petsolutions.com for the items listed in the above post, but have to work tomorrow so the mods to the canopy will have to wait till Thursday.

[FishinInTheDark]

Don't you hate when work gets in the way of reef time?

Yes, I was planning on yanking the impeller out of the mini and doing a "dry" run on the 330 on the side of my big tank. That way, I can see if it works without tearing things apart and ruining them! I'm just dying to get my heater out of the 2.5, because it really takes up a lot of room in there. It doesn't quite fit into the mini filter, so this is the perfect solution. I hope it works so I can just use everything that's here and it'll be a free upgrade!

[FishinInTheDark]

It works! Woo Hoo!

[Sugar Magnolia]

Awesome!! You're one step ahead of me considering I have to deal with mod-ing my canopy and waiting for my stuff to arrive UPS ground.

You need to post a project thread too so we can see how yours looks!

[Sugar Magnolia]

My stuff is here!! My stuff is here!!

Get this...I went to the LFS the other day to get the measurements of the AC 300 and to check the price. LFS price - $59. Petsolutions.com price - $19.99.

So, it's off to the home improvement store tomorrow for some acrylic and the LFS for some silicone and I'll start modding out the filter!

[cich1]

take some pics, i love diy

[Sugar Magnolia]

I plan to!

[Sugar Magnolia]

Why is nothing as simple as it seems?

I trotted off today to pick up silicone and a small sheet of acrylic. no big deal right? uh, huh...I picked up black silicone instead of clear and realized it when I went to open the silicone to apply it to the cut to size acrylic. I wasn't about to run off to town again just to make it all pretty looking. I'm shooting for functional.

It's sealed with black silicone and it's a bit crooked. Oh well. It's got to cure for about 48 hours before I fill it and check the seal.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Here's the canopy with the fan moved to the side. The reflector was epoxied down and we had to pry it up to feed some more wire through to allow the fan to move. Got the fan remounted and I stuck some more epoxy under the reflector and clamped it down.

[FishinInTheDark]

Looking good!

[cich1]

nothing ever is as easy as you think at first, i remember when i would have a handful of change in my pocket on monday morning was because i spent to much time in the bars over the weekend now when i have a pocket full of change its because i made 4 trips to Ace hardware :D
keep up the good work

[Sugar Magnolia]

Well, I filled on side of the mini fuge with water to test for leaks and I had a small leak in one corner, so I applied a bit more silicone to the bottom corners last night. I'll test again tonight to see if it holds.

The LR pieces I bought on Friday were from a tank that had been dismantled - the woman brought the LR back to the reef store. Although it was fully cured, they tossed it into the fiji curing bin with some partially cured rock, so I need to let that rock sit for a bit to make sure it's safe to put into the fuge and onto the 2.5, so I'm not in any hurry to get this thing running.

Looking good Sugar Magnolia! Keep us posted....

[dono]

very nice! very nice!

[Sugar Magnolia]

guess I ought to update here. after much frustration and one hell of a crappy silicone job I ditched the baffle. actually it works out fine because a millenium 1000 poly/carbon cartridge fits perfecty where the baffle was, creaing a bit of reduction in flow. I still have too much flow though.

I put the impeller from the AC mini into the 300, but with the intake tube all the way to the left, it seems to have trouble bringing water up the tube. I have it shifted a bit to the right, to help with that, but that creates more flow through the fuge area. that's really not a problem for the chaeto as they tend ot like a bit more flow than some of the other macro's, but it's just too much flow into the 2.5. It kicks up a bit too much sand and the corals aren't too happy about it. I need to do some more 'scaping in the tank istelf to try and place the corals a bit more away from that flow.

As soon as I get things where they should be I'll get some pics up.

[ex0]

This is a little off the topic, but I have an AC 300 and I was wondering if it would be of any use when I set up my 36" tank?

[Sugar Magnolia]

Sure! It's a great place to run media when needed!

guess I forgot to get pics up of the fuge running. here it is, complete with 2 cans of tuna for support. the pvc coupling I bought to put under there is about 1/2" too tall, so these are stand-ins till the pvc coupling is cut down.

[cich1]

generally when you post pics of your 2.5 it looks so much bigger than it is but the ac300 and tuna cans bring it all into perspective, is that light on the refuge a Jalli 13w? did you cut down the intake tube on the ac 300? niclely done Sugar!

[Sugar Magnolia]

yep, it's a jali 13 watt. The only problem is that the AC 300's intake tube has that little knob at the top so the jali light sits at an odd angle. I haven't decided what to do about that yet. A standard desk lamp may take the place of the jali.

I had to cut the intake tube down quite about. It's only about 4" long now.

[cich1]

i had a 13w Jalli on my fuge till a buddy of mine sold me a real cool 36w clip on :wink: i have a AC200 on my 5.5g and i think when i rearange the tank i'm going to cut the tube down a couple of inches, maybe you could superglue a piece of acrylic to each end of the AC300 to raise and support the lamp evenly

[Sugar Magnolia]

hehe - glad that's working out well for you!

that's an excellent idea for elevating the light. I was pondering how I could raise those and that never crossed my mind. (not surprising) I actually have a nice size piece of acrylic that I can do that with.

Since I'm scared to death of using the table saw - it'll have to wait till Friday when my hubby can cut those for me.

Thanks for the great idea cich1! :)

[cich1]

table saws can be dangerous, next time your at school count the shop teachers fingers :D

[ex0]

Is this the only filtration you use for it? The AC-300?

[Sugar Magnolia]

Yep, other than the LR which provides the biological filtration, that's all I've got on the 2.5 for filtration and flow.

[ex0]

As I've said in another thread, I really don't want to drill a hole in my tank.

Could I turn my AC-300 into something like this and would it be good enough filtration for a 36"x14"18", or even if I bought another AC300 and used 2.

[Sugar Magnolia]

As far as using the AC 300 for that sized tank goes, it would work, but to be honest I'd go with something bigger for that size tank. You really can't go with the AC 500 which is bigger because that's the only one that you can't swap out the impellers.

Have you thought about a CPR Aquafuge hang on refugium? I used to use one of those on my 7 gallon minibow and it was excellent! http://www.cpraquatic.com/products/citr.html

Edit: Here's another option from one of our vendors. Great price on this! http://www.coralforum.com/ftopic3692.html

[ex0]

Have you thought about a CPR Aquafuge hang on refugium? I used to use one of those on my 7 gallon minibow and it was excellent! http://www.cpraquatic.com/products/citr.html

Edit: Here's another option from one of our vendors. Great price on this! http://www.coralforum.com/ftopic3692.html

Only problem is I don't have a credit card so can't buy off the internet and they probably don't sell this kind of thing in the stores in Australia...

Thats a pretty sweet looking set up you got there Sugar Magnolia. I am getting Jealous again....I might get cocky and try that out too

[Sugar Magnolia]

I am getting Jealous again....I might get cocky and try that out too
:lol:

[cich1]

Have you thought about a CPR Aquafuge hang on refugium? I used to use one of those on my 7 gallon minibow and it was excellent! http://www.cpraquatic.com/products/citr.html

Edit: Here's another option from one of our vendors. Great price on this! http://www.coralforum.com/ftopic3692.html

Only problem is I don't have a credit card so can't buy off the internet and they probably don't sell this kind of thing in the stores in Australia...
check out www.reefcritters4me.com i'm sure you could mail bluestar a money order

[ex0]

Have you thought about a CPR Aquafuge hang on refugium? I used to use one of those on my 7 gallon minibow and it was excellent! http://www.cpraquatic.com/products/citr.html

Edit: Here's another option from one of our vendors. Great price on this! http://www.coralforum.com/ftopic3692.html

Only problem is I don't have a credit card so can't buy off the internet and they probably don't sell this kind of thing in the stores in Australia...
check out www.reefcritters4me.com i'm sure you could mail bluestar a money order

Sounds like a good idea, I might send them an e-mail...

Thanks

[cich1]

your welcome