Planning process advice

[sweathog77]

Having a solid amount of experience with freshwater planted/fancy goldfish tanks, I’m about to jump in to a saltwater habitat. I recently picked up a used (but in good condition) 105g oceanic systems RR tank, stand and a trickle filter which looks to be about 30 gallons. I will probably convert the dual corner overflows drains into herbies and have the returns enter back over the rim. Is there any feasible way to convert the trickle filter into a sump with filter socks, a refugium and return section with an external pump? I’d like to try mud with algae (chaeto) and future fish food critters (copepods and the like) in the refugium and hold off on a protein skimmer, initially. I like the natural ecology approach to taking care of waste with my freshwater set up and have had consistently stable parameters with very little maintenance. From what I’ve read, this is totally obtainable in a reef/livestock tank, although the methodology differs. Any advice on plumbing and trickle filter/sump conversion is appreciated.

 

[Subsea]

Filter sock in sump removes natural food that feeds the microbial loop.

Nothing wrong with trickle filter, it provides excellent gas exchange and helps oxygenate the water, which is extremely important when lights off with low oxygen.

My oldest tank at 25 years had an algae mud refugium for for 20 years. Five years ago, I converted to cryptic refugium on top of mud. In 25 years of accumulation, depth of mud increased 0.5”

 

[Subsea]

This is my youngest systems: dual 55G. Display on top at 2 years mature: no protein skimmer, no refugium. Display on bottom is 2 months mature.

As you can see, I am behind schedule on cleaning glass.

 

[Subsea]

Set up your display tank with reverse flow ug filter with 2” of aroggonite substrate 0.1-2.0mm in diameter. Aroggonite assist with passive alkalinity bufferring and trace mineral addittion.

Establish nitrification cycle using bottled bacteria and ammonia. Then get diver collected live sand and live rock to seed micro fauna & fana. When algae begins to grow, add clean up crew. Hold off on carnivore fish for three months. By holding up on fish, your pods can establish themselves in the display.

 

[Subsea]

Consider reading:

Debunking the myth that reef aquariums need to be wildly expensive and technologically complex, John Tullock offers a new, radically simple approach to producing beautiful, captive microcosms.
Using live rock and live sand as part of a natural filtration system, the home aquarist can now create vibrant reef tanks that are biologically stable and simple to maintain.
With Tullocks suggestions, the reefkeeper can now mimic natural habitats such as a Florida Keys Lagoon, a Caribbean Turtle Grass Flat, an Indo-Pacific Deep Cave, or a Red Sea Patch Reef. With more than 200 color photographs and illustrations, Natural Reef Aquariums provides inspiration for both beginning and expert marine reef hobbyists.