In tank refugium

[Taoism]

Hi all,

 

I have a 15 gallon "standard" glass aquarium that I am seriously considering making into a nano-reef.

 

After seeing the aquariums at http://www.nanoreefs.com/aquariums.htm I am considering making an in-tank refugium.

 

Would plexiglass be an ok material to make a divider out of?  And I would assume that there are adhesives available that I could use to glue the plexiglass into place?

 

Is a refugium supposed to take the place of a skimmer?  Or would it be good to add a skimmer into the refugium? Or add an intake for a skimmer in the main tank...?

 

Just wanna nail down a few variables before I start to tackle this project...

 

I am going to guess that with a nano-reef one doesn't use a calcium-reactor ;p

 

I don't think I can afford a RO/DI unit, but would RO water from the local grocery store be ok?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice...

 

Cheers,

Tao.

[OscarBeast]

Depending on how you place your plexy in, aquarium grade silicone should do the trick.  And yes, plexy is great.  It is cheap, and easy to cut and drill.

 

The RO water from the grocery store is great.  The distilled water from Albertson's is Carbon Filtered, ROed, UVed, put through a micron filter, and Ozonated.  

 

This is probably many times better than any home RO unit you could half way afford.

 

As for the skimmer....well that is a hot item of debate.  They are good "crash" insurance on such a small tank, but many believe they remove too many trace elements.  Many will tell you that all you need to do is weekly water changes (you need to do this with a skimmer as well).  This however won't help if something like a large snail dies and you don't happen to notice it in time.

 

The fact of the matter is that people that have them and people that don't have them both seem to do quite well with their nanos.  So, IMHO, the choice is yours to make.

[tlyee63]

you cab use silicone to attach to your plexi just make sure you prep both surfaces,remove all finger prints etc

as for the skimmer hell if I know I'm still trying to figure mine out.Idont use one on my plexi 9.5 nano and seems to be going ok

[Taoism]

Would you have any suggestions on what proportion of the overall tank the refugium should take up?

 

1/3 (5g)

1/4 (~<4g)

1/5 (3g)

 

I am going to get some plexiglass in the next day or two and am gonna put the refugium partition in soon after.

 

Also need to plan a Canopy setup for the tank...

 

Cheers,

Tao.

[bigchili]

Plexiglass is the easiest.. but if you want to go for "perty-ness".. you can get Acrylic (any color you want) from USPlastics.com. I made two corner overflow boxes out of acrylic, and used superglue to hold them and then regular aquarium sealer to finish them off.

 

pictures can be seen at www.bigchili.com/nano