I finally can buy stuff!!! HELP!!!

[eddiekern]

I think the site looks great! I like the color choices.

Okay, so .... I went to a LFS (first time I had gone to this particular one), and the guy there gave me some advise. He said to ditch the durso and overflow box, and go with largebulkheads, an elbow joint, and a bulkhead screen pointed up instead. I think that sounds like solid advise considering how small my tank is, and it would save me a ton of room. Also he recommended that instead of useing baffles in the refugium, to drill the hole higher, and go with the elbow joint and bulkhead screen. Again I think that is good advise, since it will allow a lot more room in the refugium.

Here's the part that took me by surprise, he said that he would ditch the refugium altogether. He said that refugiums do not live up to their hype, do not remove phosphates as well as is claimed, aren't really that great for nutrient export, that the pods will grow anywhere (drain lines, sump, in the DT rocks), and ultimately they are a bigger pain than they are worth. He showed me the filtration on his 600G show tank, and it was very minimal, yet the tank was packed and was phenomenal, w/ acros (multiple) that were 18" across.

He recommended that if I had a seperate tank that, to do a berlin type setup and just load it with rock. So who has experience both with and without refugiums? What differences have you seen? And here is an alternate idea ... I could load the "refugium" tank with sand and rock, then on the top 6" put eggcrate, and turn it into a berlin/frag tank. Any thoughts?

I used to know what I wanted and not have the money ... now I have the money and have no idea what I want....

 

[dcantucson]

I have just a sump with no refugium and I have tons of pods (different kinds) in my tank. At night my rocks and sand look like an anthill. Unfortunately I have had no experience with both. You could one of those phosphate remover screens they've been talking about on here.

https://www.livingreefs.com/mega-powerful-nitrate-and-phosphate-remover-diy-t16734.html

 

[eddiekern]

I think I've come up with a solution that combines all the ideas I've gotten. It's still in the works, but I'll draw up a rough draft when I'm at work w/ nothing else to do (probably over the next two days).

I've gotten some good feedback about the elbow joint drain fixture. The massive elbow joint would be loud, but an overflow is going to be really bulky. I am thinking about putting in 2-2" bulkheads and putting two of "Ed's Incredible Dual Intake Overflowless Durso's". The goal is to get a massive amount of flow, increase the skimming area, prevent clogs, save space, and prevent noise. I've combined a lot of ideas into this. Tell me what you think

 

[ndepratt]

this is a 37g tank right?

there is a HUGE difference between flow in your aquarium, and turnover through the sump. we obviously want lots of flow... but if we're just shoving a million gallons per hour through the sump then we're not really filtering... kind of just shoving nasty water back into the tank.

a simple 1.5" bulkhead will be enough, considering the flow rate is in the neighborhood of 1400-1600gph.

that would work extremely well, and be very quiet. You could either leave a single black elbow w/ strainer in the tank (not obtrusive) or ditch the elbow/strainer and go with something like the small black acrylic boxes in the following pic:

 

[eddiekern]

Have you ever tried the external durso pictured? From what I understand what made a durso quiet was that the water blocking the air from making a sucking noise in the DT, and only the pinhole being available for aiflow into the drain line.

That looks simple enough, and if it works, I think simple is better. I'll probably start with the external durso endcap and a T-joint w/ a pair of elbows w/ bulkhead screens. If I get too much noise I can always add something similar to what I drew above.