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wanna replace my hob penguin filter with refugium


uglyamericanV1.5

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uglyamericanV1.5

so......

im having some phosphate issues and was wondering if i could replace my hob penguin filter (with two spots for activated carbon filters) with a hob cpr refugium

 

i have a 75 gallon tank with >100lbs of live rock. i can go 2 weeks without water change and still have undetectable nitrates (had to skip one week because of having to work nights for a week at the hospital)

 

back to the cpr

i would place some chemi pure in the intake chamber (where the water flows in) and add some cheateo in the main refugium area. problem is that is only rated for a 60 gallon and i have a 75 gallon. i dont want to drill holes in my tank and for the life of me i cannot figure out sump plumbing (i can do organic chemistry though, so boo ya). i mean, overflow box? wtf, how can water get in the overflow box against gravity? and the intake to and from the sump are in the same place on the overflow box....then there is an issue with the intake pump being faster better than the out flow, sucking too much water in and the overflowing the darn sump.....or not sucking enough and having a dry sump

 

scary stuff...

so i was just going to do the hob cpr (i have one rated for 40 gallons on my 30 gallon and it IS AWESOME!

 

anyhoooo

im asking here because

a.) you are knowlegable

b.) even though you guys are nano, reefcentral is not as ummmmmm tolerant of stupid questions like this

 

thanks in advace

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the size rating doesn't really matter as long as you can accommodate the flow-thru the overflow (so it's not too slow to break siphon or too fast/much that the plumbing can't handle the volume).

 

the cpr works in a siphon method. just like sucking water up a straw, once you prime it the water flows thru continuously. but you need a venturi/pump or vacuum generator/air-lifter (go with the latter, much more reliable) to prime the siphon/create the negative/vacuum pressure.

 

i'm not fond of it but i use it because i couldn't drill either.

 

the flow-thru is actually determined by your return pump's (from the sump) rating, i.e. 300-gph or whatever. note: you will lose some gph from plumbing and height (i.e. head-pressure).

 

i'd practice with two small tanks or buckets before re-rigging the entire setup. or research more with in the Refugium sub-forum for similar setups. it's not a crazy concept to grasp once you see it set up.

 

the difficulty (imo) lies in mating up the return pump to the overflow's "capacity". put a valve after the return pump and oversize the return pump. that way you'll definitely have enough volume and if it's too much, you can throttle it back with the valve. hth

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uglyamericanV1.5

ummm ok

 

i think you answered my question............

so it will work to have a cpr hob refugium on a 75 gallon............it would throw everything off kilter....

ill probably stick a bag of chem pure in the intake of the refugium as well to knock out the chem warfare

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I don't know if it's been said, but you can just turn your biowheel into a fuge. That's what I did.

 

CIMG0495.jpg

 

CIMG0497.jpg

 

I have the Biowheel 350. Just took out the wheels and filter cartridges, added some eggcrate to keep everything in, some filter floss, chaeto and a light! :)

 

Edit: I'm going to get some thinner filter floss next time though since it takes up half the width of the chamber.

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i think you answered my question............

so it will work to have a cpr hob refugium on a 75 gallon............it would throw everything off kilter....

ill probably stick a bag of chem pure in the intake of the refugium as well to knock out the chem warfare

oops, i'm sorry! i didn't realize you were talking about a cpr refugium. i thought you were talking about a cpr overflow. i thought some of the stuff didn't quite make sense to me.

 

the flow-thru on the refugium should be relatively low-flow to be most effective. you could still do it the way you have it described though. i'd suggest the sump option as a more effective filtration setup and it adds volume for more stability.

 

sorry for the mixup.

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uglyamericanV1.5

unfortunatly,

 

1.) i dont have room for both a hob refugium and hob filter

2.) i could do a sump, however, for bang for the buck i was thinking hob refugium with some carbon. the cost alone on the sump with the pumps is prohibitive, and the plumbing issue with the threat of overflow due to my inexperiece with these matters is another down side. much easier to have a fuge hob stuffed to the brim with cheato. im sure a sump would be better, but im getting the feeling that this would work quite well.

 

ps

the refugium in the filter is pretty clever

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the main cost for sumping it should be the return pump. any container, cheap tank, bucket would do for a sump. it's out of sight so aesthetics should take a backseat to utility imo. but i've used cheap 10g, 15g, buckets, plastic tubs, party tubs, etc. as "sumps".

 

the plumbing isn't so bad but i agree, the overflow should be the 'worry' as a failure could be catastrophic depending on the setup.

 

a solution to that problem though is sumping 'overhead'. sumps do not have to be below the tank. if you configure the setup so that the display tank is where the "flooding" occurs and compensate for it, you'll be fine (btw, you could 'compensate' for a below sump too but there's just a natural aversion to flooding concerns).

 

the overhead sumping is essentially the same thing you're considering for the hob refugium. just conceptualize the plumbing with more length and you'll see what i mean. hth

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uglyamericanV1.5

internal medicine......intern

 

i make time for my girl and my tank....in that order (its harder than you think, but rewarding in both aspects)

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