Fuge setup

[primfran]

Hi all, I am not really new to the hobby, but new to having a fuge. I have had a FOWLR tank for a few years and now just starting with coral and have been reading that a fuge is the best way to feed them. I hope to produce mostly phyto/zoo plankton. I currently have a 75 gal with about 90 lbs of LR, skimmer and phosban reactor in the sump. My idea was to put a 5 to 10 gal fuge with a DSB and macro. So, here are my questions:

1. Is a 10 gal too small (5 gal way to small)?
2. What is the best configuration? Trying not to add any additional hardware (pump) since I am already heat challenged. Initial thought was to T off of the return and then gravity feed back to the return. I would have a gate valve going into the fuge to reduce flow. I am concerned that I would get too much of a loop (fuge > return > right back to the fuge), but the gate should hopefully send as much as possible back to the display.
3. How should I stock the fuge? How much sand, macro, any livestock?
4. Do I need to seed it first with the plankton/pods, how?

Let me know if I am missing anything.


thanks

 

[JohnSalt]

I think a 10g would be fine, i have a small section of a 30g sump that is my fuge area. 2-3 inches of sand, and chaeto, lit by a cfl 6500k floodlight.... lots of life, several kinds of pods occur naturally. There's many ways it will work though.

 

[1tyme]

Go as large as u can. The larger , the more algae u can grow and house all those good bugs and life to support your display tank. :bigsmile:

 

[pumarjr]

it's not going to hurt, but be realistic at the same time, with a 75 gal DT, one cannot expect a 5 or 10 gal fugue to support the full DT. it will not hurt, it will add to your tanks natural filtration, but it will not be able to work as well as let's say at least a 40 to 50 gal fugue, AIMHO.