creative refugium.... will it work?

[cope]

take a look at the drawing..... here is how I imagine it....water from the main tank overflows into a smaller tank at a lower level... this lower level tank would house just plants... underwater plants and the roots of plant sitting on top of the tank... like ivy..... the water from this tank would over flow into the sump thru the bioballs and back into the main tank..... would this work? has this been done before with sucess? any drawbacks that anyone can see..... it would look awesome..... and it would be at my shop and surely something to talk about...the tank would be right next to a large window, so light would not be a issue...    it would work like a planted tank to reduce nitrates.... any thoughts.. ?????

[eklikewhoa]

Re: creative refugium.... will it work?

I have seen similar done for reef tanks.....what I would do is put a ball valve on the overflow and limit the flow through your refugium....this way the plant have more time to do what it needs to.

Also I would drill the refugium so that it will never loose siphon since it will be a true overflow design.

I would stuff it full of wisteria as well and maybe add supplemental lighting along with the sunlight to give it a little umph and for when its not sunny outside or for longer photo-periods

[cope]

Re: creative refugium.... will it work?

second thought... what if I made this into a paludarium and the overflow was the source for a water fall...and I did drill the tank at a level for the Lake  and the over flow would then return back tothe sump... the main tank would be a 135 gallon and the Paludarium would be a 50-75 gallon.... one thought.. would the waste of the lizards and frogs interfear with the bio system of the fish? I think I would only have like one of each and maybe some small neons in the lake...

what is I just added a 3rd overflow to the main 135 and a valve to adjust the flow of the water fall.... and the small amount of retrun would just mix in with the normal flow of the tank....Man I got so many ideas.....

[eklikewhoa]

Re: creative refugium.... will it work?

I would not allow anything reptile to come near a fish tank.....the amount of waste they produce would be counterproductive.

But if your intentions are purely cosmetic then it would work out and look good at that.

[Hanson77]

Re: creative refugium.... will it work?

You have to think about what you would be doing to the fish in the smaller tank.  You would be dumping waste water directly into your fish tank, I'm not sure how well that would work.  I like your creativity, kinda reminds me of the days of mind altering substances when I was a custom car stereo installer....LOL.  You would be surprised what you could come up with after breathing fiberglass resin fumes all day...LOL!!!

[cope]

Re: creative refugium.... will it work?

funny you said that... I was fiberglassing today...Hummmmm coincidense?   these paludariums have fish in them,, so someone is doing it.. check out   aquairium design group  houston   .. and the frog and lizard would be small... not like a 2 foot eguawana.... I will continue to research.....  I might just setit up as a stand alone... but thought the incoming water would always be fresh..... just an extention of the bigger tank with a twist..

[Hanson77]

Re: creative refugium.... will it work?

I was under the impression that you were going to be keeping some sort of fish in the planted tank side of your diagram.  That's where my concerns came from as far as the overflows transferring water to the planted tank.

What kinda fingerglassing were you doing today...what's your profession???

[marauder_77868]

Re: creative refugium.... will it work?

It would be better to have the large tank overflow directly to the sump and have a second, smaller pump go to the refugium. The refugium doesn't need the high flow rate. That way you wouldn't have to have a single overflow on the refugium to match the capacity of the two on the larger tank.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: creative refugium.... will it work?

Charle's idea is better...dual pumps to run both tanks.

As for ADG....those guys do a lot of maintenance and their system is well thought out.


With the refugium it will work...I am not doubting it but the plants will be working for both tanks instead of just the one which in my mind (I'm seeing it from another point of view) is not as beneficial.