Refugium Light Spill in Sump

[choss]

I'm going to try this plastic canvas material they sell at Michaels. Its really cheap and I can toss it if it doesn't work. Just trying to figure out how I will attach it. I will share a pic this weekend when I have it figured out

 

[MSOEME2009]

Mine was a HDPE sheet off amazon. I used a plexiglass jig saw blade made by Bosch. I clamped it to my table and clamped a straight edge to get straight cuts.

It's a little more modified now because the WS-1 was upgraded to a Somatic 60. I had some extra laying around so I used it to upgrade the egg crate on my refugium side to a drilled HDPE sheet. Now the chaeto doesn't get caught in it. However, the ball is so darn big, it doesn't matter...

My sump is the trigger crystal cube and I use a Kessil H350 Magenta

One thing no one tells you about though is to cover the bottom of your tank too. My stand is a rim support for my cube and I had to cover the entire bottom because of light. I didn't want stuff growing under my sand bed (if it could) or in my return area behind the overflow. The rear of my stand is open and I had to make a rear. The light was blasting up into the display at night.

 

[choss]

I'm pleasantly surprised at how many responses this thread has generated. Feels like a product opportunity for some manufacturer. What I love about this hobby is that we all find amazing applications for things not related to the aquarium trade. I know that at least once a day i see something and think "hey, maybe I can use that for my tank".

 

[rioreef]

I have a diy 29g sump with glass baffles. I cut a piece of opaque black acrylic to match the size of the baffle between the fuge and return section. Cut down a lot on the algae growth outside refugium.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a sheet of Styrofoam to block light and lower the water noise level at the same time

 

[drtrash]

I think a sunscreen approach is the best idea for anyone that battles warm weather, air flow is key so depending where you fuge is under stand will narrow down options

 

[Jeff_H]

As @cracker suggested, I use black corrugated plastic cardboard from HomeDepot. It’s inexpenseive and can be cut easily into any shape. I just cut the height and width I needed and inserted zip ties into the coragated holes the right height to keep the bottom of the sheet just above the weir teeth. The ends of the zip ties balance the sheet on the top of the sump and since they are not attached, I can be removed quickly for sump maintance and has done a great job at blocking 99% of the light.

FWIW: If anyone is building a custom acrylic sump with a Refugium, I had my new one made out of a type of acrylic that prevents light from passing through it. I have found this new design, with the corrugated plastic, prevents almost all algae growth in the other chambers which cuts way down on maintance. The old one required constant work to remove algae from the skimmer and reactors due to the light penetrating the acrylic.

Here’s a long the the black corrugated cardboard. I use this and the white color for all types of projects.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Palight...ApvYEALw_wcB&dclid=COb37cvgy9sCFUfdYgodGR8JDw

 

[SickString]

This is what I did just the other day with some extra black acrylic laying around to help keep the light out of the overflow and return areas. I’ll s not fancy, but it works.

 

[oWESTYo]

I used to have the same issues but cut up an art portfolio to blackout. I switched to a canister refugium today. I know they have their drawbacks but I will see how it goes.