What would you do?

dwair · May 30, 2020

Waterbox 100.3 Reef Tank (75g DT, 30g Sump). My build thread. Cycled almost 1 month old. 4 fish (3 clowns, 1 yellow tang (small) )

Ok so I'm a crossroads decision time soon. I've got my 2 filter socks (going to probably filter cups here soon). My Skimmer (Thats finally working

)

Now I need my last piece of filtration. I've got 3 options as I see it.

1 - BRS Dual Reactors - GFO/Carbon
2 - Tunze MacroAlgae Reactor
3 - Buy a baffle for the skimmer chamber in my sump to split it and do an actual refugium. Which all I would need is a Light and potentially mess with the flow.

Don't let price affect the decision whatsoever here. Serious question if you had to pick, which of the 3 would you go with?

Thanks

Beardo · May 30, 2020

I'm sure you will get quite a few different opinions, but me?, I would opt for options 2 or 3. Probably leaning towards 2 as I dont know how big the refugium section you create would be and if it would be big enough to be useful.
I'm not a huge fan of gfo, especially on a regular basis and when I do run carbon I just use a mesh bag in the sump.
I had reactors at one time but stopped using them and got rid of em.
All that said, you may be able to wait since tank is still new.

andrewkw · May 30, 2020

I personally prefer GFO and Carbon over either a fuge or a macro algae reactor. However if you are doing reactors and cost is not an issue you can always have both. Run carbon and gfo when you need to, and don't when you don't.

Vette67 · May 30, 2020

Remote refugium gets my vote. If you have any extra room at all, I’m assuming under your tank, and around your sump, I’d do a remote fuge, as big as you can fit. That way it can hopefully be bigger than just a small chamber in your sump, and hold more life; chaeto, sand, pods, etc...

But that all depends on real estate.

dbowman5 · May 30, 2020

the skimmer section is a bout 4 gallons, depending on the dimensions of the skimmer you would get maybe 2 gallons for the 'fuge or 2% of total volume. my 'fuge is 15 gal on a 90 gal total volume system. on yours would you have media for the fuge? that would also reduce the available volume. let us know what you decide. and how that works out.

dwair · May 30, 2020

Vette67 said:
Remote refugium gets my vote. If you have any extra room at all, I’m assuming under your tank, and around your sump, I’d do a remote fuge, as big as you can fit. That way it can hopefully be bigger than just a small chamber in your sump, and hold more life; chaeto, sand, pods, etc...

But that all depends on real estate.

So I've thought about this as well. I don't have room in the cabinet for a remote refuge, but I could easily build another cabinet, I have plenty of space around the tank in my office room. My problem with doing that is I have no idea how to do it, plumbing wise. Would I add in a Y into the Drain line to go to the remote fuge and then put in its own return pump back to the return pump chamber of my sump? Would probably need screens for the pump in the fuge to not grab chaeto.

dwair · May 30, 2020

andrewkw said:
I personally prefer GFO and Carbon over either a fuge or a macro algae reactor. However if you are doing reactors and cost is not an issue you can always have both. Run carbon and gfo when you need to, and don't when you don't.

Both is not an option as I'm limited on space and I'm not pulling a GFO/Carbon Reactor setup out to do a fuge and then add in if i Need gfo/carbon. Its 1 or the other.

Thespammailaccount · May 30, 2020

(4) algae turf scrubber

dwair · May 30, 2020

Thespammailaccount said:
(4) algae turf scrubber

No, don't want to do that as it requires alot more than just sticking in a reactor into my already plumbed sump.

Vette67 · May 30, 2020

dwair said:
So I've thought about this as well. I don't have room in the cabinet for a remote refuge, but I could easily build another cabinet, I have plenty of space around the tank in my office room. My problem with doing that is I have no idea how to do it, plumbing wise. Would I add in a Y into the Drain line to go to the remote fuge and then put in its own return pump back to the return pump chamber of my sump? Would probably need screens for the pump in the fuge to not grab chaeto.

Easiest way is to do an overflow. Whatever tank you use, make sure the water level is above your sump. Then you can use a small overflow tube and the water will gravity drain back into your sump. Might have to drill whatever tank you use and put a bulkhead in it. Much easier to drill an acrylic tank, but even drilling a bulkhead hole in glass is not that difficult. There are many videos on how to do this. A simple power head to feed water in, and gravity to overflow back out.

dwair · May 30, 2020

I am leaning more towards the Tunze Macro Algae reactor as I won't have alot of space for the refugium in the sump after splitting it with a baffle. And I don't particuarly want to do a remote fuge.

Thespammailaccount · May 30, 2020

dwair said:
No, don't want to do that as it requires alot more than just sticking in a reactor into my already plumbed sump.

Doesn’t have to be mine is just pvc attached to a pump. Have tried a fuge and a macro reactor and it does ok but like others said you are going to need more room than a small section or percentage of total volume to actually make a dent in nutrients. Just made mine this week. Might have to cut some of the screen or reduce lighting period. My screen is currently 12x9 or large enough to feed 9 cubes of food daily

dwair · May 30, 2020

Thespammailaccount said:
Doesn’t have to be mine is just pvc attached to a pump. Have tried a fuge and a macro reactor and it does ok but like others said you are going to need more room than a small section or percentage of total volume to actually make a dent in nutrients. Just made mine this week. Might have to cut some of the screen or reduce lighting period. My screen is currently 12x9 or large enough to feed 9 cubes of food daily

Algae scrubber just not my thing, not something I want to run

mike550 · May 30, 2020

dwair said:
Waterbox 100.3 Reef Tank (75g DT, 30g Sump). My build thread. Cycled almost 1 month old. 4 fish (3 clowns, 1 yellow tang (small) )

Ok so I'm a crossroads decision time soon. I've got my 2 filter socks (going to probably filter cups here soon). My Skimmer (Thats finally working

)

Now I need my last piece of filtration. I've got 3 options as I see it.

1 - BRS Dual Reactors - GFO/Carbon
2 - Tunze MacroAlgae Reactor
3 - Buy a baffle for the skimmer chamber in my sump to split it and do an actual refugium. Which all I would need is a Light and potentially mess with the flow.

Don't let price affect the decision whatsoever here. Serious question if you had to pick, which of the 3 would you go with?

Thanks

So I’ll ask the newbie question. What will any of these options do for your tank that isn’t already being handled by two filter socks and a skimmer?

dwair · May 30, 2020

mike550 said:
So I’ll ask the newbie question. What will any of these options do for your tank that isn’t already being handled by two filter socks and a skimmer?

Nutrient export.