Here's my design for the PikoFuge® for my 29g biocube. It's the solution for having a refugium for any small tank!

:::Patent Pending:::

5"x5"x5"

Small powerhead resides in main tank. Pumps water to the PikoFuge® through thin airline. Water comes in, flows through the cheato inside, and flows out the two holes in the bottom like a drain, back into the DT. Drains using gravity only as the PikoFuge® will be placed anywhere above the aquarium. Two float switches are in place and are connected to the pump. Two, so that if one fails, the other hopefully won't. The float switches will help keep the water level constant.



***Not seen in rendering***
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Adjustable valve goes on each of the dual return pipes to allow for adjusting of out flow of water. This allows you to adjust for any pump to keep the amount of water coming in, equal to the amount flowing out. Therefore, the PikoFuge® never overflows. Two return pipes make it easier to control the out flow rate.

Renderings:


Side View:


Top Down:








Comments??? Suggestions??? What do you think???

thats so cool

i want

Anyone have thoughts about how it will work? See any potential problems???

all i see is that the sand would be pumped back into the DT via the return since the return is so low to the bottom.

Would work but I see one possable prolblem. The switches will have to be set up on a 12 v relay set up or you will probably burn up the switches with it turning on and off so often. It will be hard to match the flow rates. you could do the same design but have the return back to the main tank at the top and have it just overflow back to the main display. Or two returns, one higher than the other as a failsafe.

Ok, I have a new design coming with over flows instead of the other return idea. Then with the overflow(s) the float switches would be the failsafes not needing to turn on all the time.

that sounds better

Will be very similar to my HOB fuge I built for my pico. But yours is just different dementions and allows yours to be remotly mounted.

Ok everyone, here's the latest design. Thanks Don for the idea. This one has two overflows rather than the other return idea. One is a primary, at the level the water should normally be at all the time. The other one is higher than the primary and is slightly wider so if the water gets to high, it will drain quickly and efficiently. I don't know about you guys but I like this idea best.












Well???

if u sealed the hole thing you would be ok if you have your exit high enough for power outage or pump failure to hold water without overfilling your tank also if your pump fails it will act as a syphon keeping that high as well would insure safety of flooding due to small amount of water in (spyhoning range).

Your safe your way probably easy than sealing but sealing would ensure any chance of overflows

The whole thing won't be sealed but there will be a top that rests on top. Not 100% about how to get the top to stay on but I have an idea...

Think this idea is better than the original?

Why would I want a gravity draining fuge... A big box of macro algae sitting above the tank wont look very nice. A HOB style is better it is out of sight.

It's for people who can't fit, or don't want a HOB fuge. Besides, once on a shelf, it will look good. You'll see. Plus it's effective.

I think in the right enviorment if its on a shelf above the tank you can make it look pretty cool.

I seriously hope that this was a joke and play on Orbitec

Yeah the look will be part of it. Once I get the first one built and set up, you'll get a better idea of how it can look cool.

Remember, all you will actually see out side of the tank is a clear box with some sand and green wiry stuff inside. It will really glow if you put LEDs over it, which I will be doing.

Ok, had to do some redesigning after I sized out the gaskets. They would take up too much room in a 5x5x5 space so now instead of being 5" long, it will be 10" long, it will still be 5" tall and 5" wide. Now it will have one, wider overflow in the middle, at one end. I couldn't fit two gaskets that close because the acrylic would probably crack while trying to drill two holes that close to each other within a 5x5" area. It will still have a float switch for an emergency but possibly only one rather than two.

Now someone told me that I would need to have the inflow at the bottom rather than the top to create currents. He said if it is at the top, the water near the bottom will be oxygen deficient. Is that true?

What do you think of the latest redesign?

Here's the latest rendering:

So long as you have some sort of water movement in the refugium, you'll get mixing of top/bottom water, making the whole oxygen problem dissolve.


How is this different from a standard DT/Sump setup? You've basically taken the "normal" setup, and jacked it up three feet. The sump becomes the DT, and the DT becomes the sump.

You're going to have trouble patenting this one. Too much prior art and nowhere near enough innovation to be considered novel.

The floatswitches are made unnecessary by the drain standpipe. Why do you still have them?



lol

Similar operation to the sit-behind 6g fuge I have. Pump in DT, gravity return. I like the remote idea a lot. It could look good on a shelf, etc. Clear hose would look cool at first, but algae will grow in it like crazy, so you will need black hose to connect with.

Also the overflow return idea is the only way to go imo, I think if you lower the inlet to the mid-lower area that would be much better to create a bit of current. My fuge sits right behind the tank so the inlet is near the top and creates a 'dead zone' lower that I don't like. John Maloney at reefcleaners told me the stagnant area is fine as snails don't use much oxygen, but I think it will stay cleaner if there is a bit of flow/ mixing, plus more contact of water to chaeto.

My fuge doesn't have a float switch, and its only overflowed once !! lol, prob a decent idea, just in case.

Ok so the inlet will be moved down to the mid area or just above the mid area. That way there will be less dead areas. And now that you mention it, I will do black hose lines.

This should look pretty cool all lit up next to the tank on a shelf. It perfect for nano tanks that people want a fuge for that isn't too big. And it's good for even pico tanks that people want to increase the overall water volume. And for any tank it will supply pods and give you a place to put all those unknown hitchhiker crabs you find in your DT.

The float switches, or possibly float switch (not sure yet if I'll have two or just one) will be incase the overflow gets clogged, the fuge will NOT overflow and start draining the already small tank it is hooked up to.

Always keep in mind the issue of power loss. What will happen if the pump fails or power goes out?




You'd be better off putting the inlet up high to prevent draining, and then dealing with the need for flow some other way. You know, like a microjet or something.

BAAAH !! Drainback through the pump. me. Right, that won't work. I put a tiny fountain pump in my fuge, you can plan for that, or just forget it.

Ok, I can just get a tiny powerhead to put in there for flow. Now, what pump do you all recommend I use to pump water from the DT to the fuge?

In your design you have the powerhead right up beside the fuge. AFAIK That won't work. Powerheads can't suck water, they push water, the pump would go in the DT.

I think a maxijet 400 would be good if you are only pushing the water up 2 feet. Maxijets have allways been good to me.

I wouldn't worry about flow in the fuge - in fact I would try to create as little flow as possible. Point the flow at the surface for gas exchange and be done with it. Maybe cover your drainpipe with a pipe twice the diameter making sure that it sticks out above the waterline and cut some slots closer to the bottom of the larger pipe. That would give you the security of an overflow and the benifit of creating underwater current that should suck the well oxygenated surface water to the bottom a little quicker. It should also serve to more easily suck zoo-plankton and pods into the DT.


On another note put a nice light on top of it and throw in a seahorse or two !!

Well about the power head being next to the fuge, I only did that to show the concept, I know in reality it will be in the DT. I will look into a maxijet 400 too. And I might put a few dwarf sea horses in there too.

In the morning I'll put 3 feet of hose on one of my mj400s and see how much it can pump vertically - I'll let you know the results.

Wow thanks.

MJ400 has a max height of 29". So, if you're at two feet, you'll get almost no flow.

A minijet 606 would be a much better choice. Max head of 46" and flow rate of 83-146GPH.

It is also smaller than an MJ400 and therefore better suited for a pico.

Ok good, smaller the better since it will need to fit in one of the filter chambers of my biocube 29. Thanks for the info.

So what your saying is that your making a display fuge WAY more complicated than it needs to be? Your going about it all wrong. keep it simple stupid! Im planning on making a display fuge for my tank in the future. All you need is a tank with sand, macro algae, and time. The return IMO should be as high up as you can make it. 2 reasons. 1 you can run it above the water line and drill a small hole so when the power goes out you lose the siphon(Hole pointing down of course.). 2 you can have it ripple the surface for gas exchange.

+1 on adding a pipe with slots/holes near the bottom over the standpipe. Works wonders.

I would also recommend tossing the switches. No need and it would cut on the cost. Your fuge is large enough to add 2 standpipes. My pump pushed about 800gph through the sump and i have a 1.25'' main drain and 1'' backup. Something like this you just need a 1'' main and 3/4'' backup. And noise is another concern. Have you considered the noise the drains will make?

Well it's going to be smaller than any normal tank on the market and so many people seem to love the idea! I've already got 7 people who are waiting to buy one from me! Besides, this setup is so simple, I don't know what could be simpler. two holes, a float switch, a pump, and done! It will hold just under a gallon now. Just need to get the acrylic cut now.

About the noise, I know there are some ways of quieting it down. I'll talk to my LFS that builds fuges and tanks, they'll know what to do.

Run two drains on a herbie set-up and you'll have zero noise, but that depends on how much flow you have; slow enough and you won't get any noise from a single drain

+1 on tossing the float switch.

I didn't have a hose so I wasn't able to test the flow off of the MJ - but like neanderthalman said, the minijet might be a better option. Personally I wouldn't run any more than 10 gallons per hour through a fuge that small

Yeah I really don't want a ton of flow, it should be nice and calm in there.

My cousin uses a 75g as an upstream fuge and he feeds it with a MJ600. As far as I'm concerned slow is the way to go. My cousin was able to raise a clutch of bangai cardinals to selling size in his fuge with no outside feedings.

Well, here it is! Just need to add the silicone to seal things up and I'm waiting for the float switch to arrive. Oh and need a pump too.

1g Pikofuge:

Nice!

There is a tennis ball in your fuge!

maybe its filled with chemipure elite!

Nice work Bongo, still tagging along to see it in action

How do you keep loose algae from stopping up the overflow drain?
Also you can not legally claim a patent pending (it is actually a criminal offense to claim it on something) unless you have filed a
'Provisional Application for Patent' and received approval. Only costs about $100+ providing you file a full patent within a year..
You may have already done this though. Just thought I would point that out. No sense in getting in any trouble over an idea especially if a prior patent had been filed though not in production yet.

HAHAHAHAHA the tennis ball IS filled with chemipure elite!- no it's just for size comparison.

And the algae will not go down the over flow because I cut slits in the pipe so HOPEFULLY the water will flow through the slits and not directly down the pipe. I might put some mesh over the top of the pipe to help ensure nothing goes down.

Enough with the patent stuff guys, just a joke. I am working on that though. (no joke that I'm working on it, this stuff takes time)

You need to keep one feature of it to yourself/secret then when you do file for a patent pending you will be covered and able to keep it as your design improvement.

Hehe, don't worry, I have it all covered.

ah the secrets in the tennis ball, gotcha.

what type of bulkhead is that.

Truthfully I'm not sure (about the big one). It was at a local hardware store not packaged or anything and I just grabbed it.