glacierdiver
Community Member
If a person had a hang on skimmer and a hang on refugium with live rock/sand in it, live rock in your tank & sand wouldn't this be almost like a sump, would it be enough filtration for a 55 gallon system?
filtration
- Thread starter glacierdiver
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Sure, keep the bioload low, get a decent HOB (no Seaclones!) and instead of putting rock and sand in the fuge, just put some macro algae back there (chaetomorpha) and the tank will run like a champ. Also don't forget about good water flow.
spscrazy
Well-Known Member
I tried that I have a 90g tank with 175 lbs of live rock couldn't keep the nitrates under 20 with 4 fish false lemonpeel angel, 6 line wrasse, maroon clown & squareback anthias.
I have a lifereef skimmer added a 19" CPR hob refugium chaeto grows great but nitrates only went down to 15 it's a mystery to me so I went & got a 40gb tank at the petco $1 g sale last week & now am going thru a wall & redoing kitchen cabinets to fit the sump
I have a lifereef skimmer added a 19" CPR hob refugium chaeto grows great but nitrates only went down to 15 it's a mystery to me so I went & got a 40gb tank at the petco $1 g sale last week & now am going thru a wall & redoing kitchen cabinets to fit the sump
florida reef
Well-Known Member
I had one on my 55gallon. It was a cpr skimmer fuge combo and was pretty effective. It's cool because there is no return pump from the fuge area, so pods can easily get into your system without getting chopped up by a return pump, thus providing natural food for your fish. If your tank is drilled I would just go with a traditional sump. If not, I think the combo is a great choice.
Dalbery
Active Member
Yes it can be done easily. The Skimmer is the key though. Get a good one like a reef octo, swc, royal. No sand needed in your fuge. I have some rubble rock in mine just to give the pods more area to live in. I cheap compact flourescent bulb with like 4300k color is perfect for your fuge. You may want to add some mechanical filtration like a canister filter so you can run carbon and/or phospate remover. You can also run some filter floss or similar to polish your water. Just make sure your change it at least once a week. Also make sure you have good water flow through your liverock.
Darrell
Darrell
It sounds like you dont have enough beneficial bacteria in you system. you could help your system by adding more bacteria with several methods. a sump will not help you with your nitrate issue. I hope this helps. my wife would kill me if I took hear cabinet space from her..
aalvarado87
Active Member
it would be the same thing just done a different way.. The main reason people go to a sump is because of flexibility you can install more equipment have a bigger "better" skimmer and be able to hide the equipment. That way all of your stuff is out of view. A lot of poeple have issues with seeing the unpleasant filters in the tank. But if thats all you got to work with i dont htink its that big of a deal good luck.
Like what was mentioned above... good skimmer, good flow, low bioload(don't overfeed), and plenty of live rock and you should be fine. I would also think about a bag of carbon and or small amount of gfo that could go in a high flow area of the refugium. Oh yeah, keep up with your water changes.
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