Fuge

[predator]

Ok so once i get all this up and running i think i want to add a fuge, but i havent really found out alot of info on them like the specifics of setting one up so here is a go...

I planned on mastering my Lexan skills and building a box the size of the end of my 10 gallon tank and like 8" thick

I would set this up at the end of my tank and run a pipe over the side wall and into the fuge.

Here is my fuge idea...



From what i gather a fuge is pretty much a place for all the stuff that lives on LR to hang out without the worries of getting eaten...

So i would move all my equip into the fuge... have a 2 chamber design which would regulate my show tanks water level and give me a kind of collection area that i could clean out from time to time... put in a deep sand bed, some LR (i guess since i would be adding it to a cycled tank i would just do baserock and maybe seed it with a few small chunks of LR), and get some cheato (which would prolly be suspended in a sponge holder or breeding net or something)...

then i would use a powerhead to pump the water back up into the tank (i want to pump from the fuge to the tank so i dont have to have a powerhead in the tank and also because i want to use the pressure for circulation... is it bad to do that? will the powerhead chop up anything important while moving water from the fuge to the tank?)

i have read about alternating lighting on the fuge and the tank to help with ph and oxygen cycles, but honestly if i could get away with not having a seperate light on the fuge that would be awesome, but if its a must i was thinking about a Coralife Saltwater 9" 18 watt light or i could just kinda move mine over a bit to supply some light to the fuge and my tank...

am i on the right track? will be atleast a few months, but im trying to get my info together on this since im way new to this whole SW thing...

-me

[TheOldSalt]

If your fuge is small, you can run it's lights when the tank's lights are also on, but if it's a big fuge, you want to either leave them on constantly or run them only when the main tank's lights are dark. The amount of algae you have is a determining factor, and you can also consider the animals. In any case, sorry, but you can't have a fuge without lights; otherwise it's just a sump.

[predator]

ok guys i nearly bought a 2.5 gal today for a fuge and im glad i didnt because after looking it's length dimension is longer than a 10 gals depth (width) dimension and i would have wanted to turn it sideways and put it beside the 10 on a block to raise it the same.

so here we go I want a premde tank that is not taller than a 10 and would sit beside it and not be thicker than a 10 in its widest dimension... rectangular also... and not like cheap looking... are there ay glass aquariums with like a 10x10 foot print?

-me

[leveldrummer]

you have to figure out some other way to get water into the fuge, or out of it, getting 2 pumps to pump the exact same amount is nearly impossible, have a pump fill the fuge, and have gravity take the water back. or vise versa,

[predator]

thats y i was gonna raise the tanks so that the tops where the same height... that way a syphen tube is all i need and it will never over flow. then i just need to pump in or out...

I preffer out (of the fuge/sump) because that would allow me to have the power head in the fuge not in that tank... and i could use the prssure as flow int he tank and the flow in the fuge would be less aggressive...

but im worried that passing the water through a pump from the fuge might harm alot of the good stuff you get from a fuge... like all the lil critters that are spawned in the fuge and move to the tank...

now back with the are there any premade aga tanks that are like 10" at there widest?

-me

[trashion]

i'm pretty sure the largest premade tank is a 2.5. anything else, you need custom.

[predator]

Ok so been looking at the whole fuge thing... what all i supposed to go in here? just cheato?

or sand, cheato, rock, and some inverts.... i mean what actually occupies a fuge... and what flow rate do i want through it home often do i want to turn it over?

-me

[TheOldSalt]

That depends largely on just what you want your 'fuge to do. I'll assune that you want a good all-round general purpose model, so in that case you want sand or miracle mud, some rock rubble, and some chaeto, all with a fairly low turnover rate of maybe 8-12 times per hour so it has time to work.
After a few weeks of getting broken-in, you'll probably already notice a bunch of little critters, but if not, then add some.
If you're worried about pump impellers damaging your 'pods and such, then pump IN to the fuge and let it drain back into the tank. However, you're worried about almost nothing, really, since most things go through the pumps just fine.