please double check me.

I'm in the middle of building an ats and will be starting my sump/fuge some time next week. I'm no expert, but this is where I'm at and what I hope to get out of the system I'm working on building. I have 90g of reef (40g&50g) and I like to feed a lot and feel lots of food is good for a reef. I currently do not have the bio filtration I want/need, I also have evaporation difficulties. This situation is no good, so I hope that the ats will take care of my bio load while my fuge provides food and cuts bio load by adding live food. My sump section will allow me room to add chemical/mechanical filtration, and my return will give me some room to work with for my evaporation. I'm pretty sure all that is correct :thinking2
I'm not going to run macro or light in the fuge because macro is for bio load and having the lights off will be good for pods, but I'm unsure on the light/pods part. I think going to want sand over mud for more pods? I don't know how much rock or flow should be in the fuge to help pods. I know I was lower flow in the fuge than sump, but how low? some one said 9gph would be good, but that sounds really low.

 

damon

sumps and fuges

typically you want somewhere between 10 and 20 x your tank volume going through the sump per hour ( so , 500 - 1000 GPH for your 50 and 400- 800 GPH for your 40)

fuge - typically, less than 5 x tank volume per hour is directed through the fuge so in your tanks that would mean 250 GPH for the 50 and 200 GPH for the 40 - these are maximums, less is better as it gives the Macros time to process the wastes

hope that helps

Steve

 

What is an "ats?" Do you mean "ATO?" (Auto Top Off) If so, that has absolutely no effect on you bioload, it will help with the evaporation though.

It sounds to me that you may be confused as to some things. First, a fuge will not cut your bioload. The bioload is essentially a measure of stress your livestock puts on your setup. The bigger the bioload, the more resources the tank needs i.e. space for bacteria growth. The food you put into a tank does not contribute to your bioload. Also, you say you don't have the biofiltration you want/need. What are you parameters? Are you showing signs of ammonia. Unless you have very little rock in the tank or an extreme bioload, you probably do have the biofiltration you need. Now, you may want a DSB to take advantage of anaerobic bacteria to help reduce nitrates. Also, light has zero effect on pods in a refugium. Thus, I strongly advise you to add macro algae. There's no point in setting up a fuge just to dump some sand in or rock. You want the benefits of the macro algae. It will provide a place for the pods to live, it will oxygenate the water and help to maintain a constant PH.

Also, while a refugium can provide a source of natural food, it will not feed the tank. Some fish such as angels, wrasses and dragonets can benefit from the pods in the refugium as they travel to the DT, but not nearly enough end up in the DT to support the fish. I suggest you setup a proper refugium with macro algae and get an ATO for the evaporation issue. Also, stop feeding so much as that's not good for a reef. Excess nutrients in the tank will stunt most coral's growth and many corals, particularly sps will not do well in such an environment. Now, if you want to keep carnation corals, elegance or gonipora, then by all means add whatever you want to the tank as they thrive in more "dirty" water. Good luck.

 

I assume he means a algae turf scrubber.

 

So what skimmer do you have..... there really is no need to circulate any amount of flow through a sump other than supplying equipment with an amount of water to process. If your skimmer can process 200 gph then 600 gph is a waste.... 100 gph will basically be recirculating it.

Fuges can be anywhere from 1 times actually fuge volume per hour to 40 times.... and you can imagin the varied opinions that come with it. Most of that opinion is bassed on what you have growing fro macros.... but if all you are going to have is a fuge fro pods.... then it really does not matter. 10x actuall fuge volume per hour is a good plae to start.

So how are you going to plumb your ATS? The fuge for pods really does not have any light requirements.... sand is good, you put a rock in for giggles, but don't put too much rubble or rocks in cause you do not want it to become a detritus trap. If you just have a basic ATS you will have light anyway.

 

thanks for the info guys. ya ATS= algae turf scrubber. Hope fully it will be done soon,http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/making-ats-100157.html but no it will not provide light for my tank. I have to admit that I am currently not testing because in the past I did not know that there was a big difference between test kits and did not feel I could get a accurate reading, so I felt it was a wast of time. A good test kid is high on my list of things to get. I say I don't have the bio filtration because I keep having cyano and hair algae out brakes and I know that they are sines of bad water. I am currently trying to run my tanks a little light on the rock. I'm planing on getting some more, but I don't really want to get very much more rock. I thought food created bio-load. I was making the assumtion that I would be reducing my bio-load because I would not be feeding as much, again I thought extra food will end up the same as fish waste even if it's not processed by the cuc? P-man I have some make do skimmers (2 small ramora aquac), but point well taken about the sump and fuge. I don't want detritus traps, so I'm not sure about rock in that low of flow, but I thought the pods liked the rock? is it just sand? I've been told no crabs in the fuge (make sense to me) but I've read different things on snails any input on that?
Thanks again guys

 

OK, if you want minimal rock, then you definitely need to employ some sort of algae filter. Either ATS or lots of macro in a fuge. ATS are more efficient and you seem to be on the right track with that.

Some algae does not necessarily mean "bad" water, just maybe an indication it could be better.

Pods actually like algae and if you have a ball of cheato in the fuge they will be more than happy. You will have tons of pods in your ATS and I'm sure you have read about that. You could put a few rocks in the fuge for habitat, but I don't really think they care. Maybe just a couple larger ones that will be easy to move and clean out so to speak. With you, your ATS should out compete a ball of cheato in the fuge so that probably won't work for you.

It's just terminology. Food is not "bio-load". When folks talk about bio-load they usually mean living things putting a "waste" load into the tank. Poop. When poop is broke down it is then nutrients... nitrates phosphates. Food and poop are both broke down and turn into nutrients that can fuel algae outbreaks. Live rock can process nitrates, but not phosphates. ATS will take up both nitrates and phosphates and you will "export" nutrients when you harvest algae and throw it in the trash.

And ya.... a fuge is a nice friendly place free of predators for pods to grow and reproduce. So no crabs, Mandarins, fish... nothing that eats pods. Starfish, worms, and slugs are good. Anything that eats poop and maintains a clean sand bed.

 

I still disagree with you guys on the bio-load thing. As far as I know any food put in the tank is ether consumed by something and turned into poop or brakes down very much like poop itself creating waste. This is why it works to cycle a tank with a chunk of shrimp instead of subjecting a damsel to the cycle. Are you referring to a nudibranch when you say slugs? is there a particulate size that pods like best? I will not be able to get at my fuge very well when it is set up in the stand so I'm starting to think I should not have any rock in it, but I'm still on the fence about that.