12g AP Fuge...

[adams03]

I'm getting ready to add a refugium to my 12g AP that I have begun to setup. My question is simple, and after searching I didn't really find a simple answer (so i apologize if this gets asked a million times, i seem to have missed it in my search, then)... Which chamber does the refugium go in? The first one with the sponge, the second with the clay bits/charcoal, or the third where the little plastic bio-spheres are? I know it doesn't go in the 4th with the pump but... Thanks for the help.

[adams03]

Anyone? I was looking around and have seen some different setups, sort of... one with chemipure in the 1st, LR rubble in the 3rd and chaeto in the 2nd chamber. Do I do anything with the chaeto chamber (i.e. add sand, LR, etc.)? And for the LR, how much LR rubble do I put in the rubble part?

[swinginbeef]

I'm just starting for the fist time too, but I'm thinking of putting about 3-4 inches of live rock rubble in the bottoms of 2 and 3, then putting cheato in the top 5-6 inches of 2 and 3. That way the water would flow from chamber 1 through the rock, through the cheato, through more cheato, through more rock and then to the pump chamber. The rock in the bottom of 3 should keep any broken pieces of cheato from getting to 4 and screwing with the pump.

[pudge1515]

Ya I did the exact same thing swinginbeef did and it seems to be working out perfectly

[soundman]

I've got my fuge in chamber 3. I used a small (1"x1"x the width of the chamber) piece of the blue sponge that came with the AP12 to keep bits of the chaeto from getting to the pump in chamber 4. I stuffed the sponge in the slot between chamber 3 & 4.

[swinginbeef]

I've got my fuge in chamber 3. I used a small (1"x1"x the width of the chamber) piece of the blue sponge that came with the AP12 to keep bits of the chaeto from getting to the pump in chamber 4. I stuffed the sponge in the slot between chamber 3 & 4.

 

I was thinking of something like that (I was actually thinking of cutting off an inch or two and covering the entire bottom of 3 with sponge), but I'm hoping for pod production as well as nitrate reduction and I think the sponge would be too fine for the pods to transport to the pump and the display? I'm hoping the rubble pile will be porous enough to let the pods pass but still block most of the stray cheato?

[adams03]

Thanks for the help! I'll definitely try that out swinginbeef But I thought that the filtration flowed differently... I thought it went from 1 over the top to 2 and over the top to 3 then underneath to 4? I'm not much of a tech-guy so it is quite possible that I am wrong.

[swinginbeef]

there is a small 3/4-1" gap about 3 inches from the bottom of the first chamber flowing into the bottom of the second. Chambers 2 and 3 don't go all the way to the bottom. 2 and 3 sit on top of 4 which is "L" shaped so the pump always has plenty of water. The only place it should flow over is from 2 to 3.