Darold Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 I am a college student who has very little room to work with in my dorm. I have a 20g tank with an Emperor 280 mechanical filter, Sea Clone 100, and a heater in the tank now. I would love to get a HOB refugium, like the CPR Aquafuge but am not sue if it would fit. I also wouldn't mind a sump if it was possible with my setup. I am mainly concerned with hiding the heater and filters + getting the benifits of the extra volume. I have also heard about possible adding a DSB and live rock to the sump/refugium. I have heard many pro's, but is this possible/helpfull for my needs? I do not mind spending the extra money if it is worth it. I have no need to grow copepods or anthropods yet, but will later when I decide to move on to corals. My main concern is with plumbing. I did not get a pre-drilled aquarium and am wondering if a sump is even possible. Also, my hood has very little room in the back. The precut hole barely fits my skimmer, and some sllight modification had to be made to fit my filter. Any advice/ideas/or other solutions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for you time helping a newbie. Link to comment
birdman204 Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 is it a 20 H or a 20 L? www.cprusa.com You'll end up ditching the hood when you do some reading about lighting here. The tank can be drilled for a sump no problem, search the DIY thread, there are at least 3 recent drilling threads, If not, take it somewhere locally, but be sure you have flow rates worked out first so your holes aren't too small or large. If you don't want a drill you can get a HOB overflow on the same site above. Trust me, tha hood will be a thing of the past . try www.hellolights.com or www.championlighting.com or www.marinedepot.com Also, your sump can act as a refugium, just be sure you figure out how to do that before you buy the sump. PLAN IT OUT, I cannot stress this enough.. Welcome To N.R. Link to comment
birdman204 Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 I just read another thread of yours. aaahhhl. 20 L do you have a receipt? Take the skimmer and the light back, and buy a remora or euro reef skimmer, both at one of those sites I listed. The 18 " fuge will fit w/out probs, I dunno bought the 24" If you sump it up, and plan on going reef. You could go either way on the fuge or skim debate, but it depends on what animals you plan to keep. Link to comment
fishtankbabe Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 Originally posted by Darold I have also heard about possible adding a DSB and live rock to the sump/refugium. I have heard many pro's, but is this possible/helpfull for my needs? Depends on what your needs are. What livestock are you planning on? There is heated debate about the relative risks/benefits of a DSB. Do a search and read some of the threads about it. Also keep in mind that a refugium will need its own lighting, and to be most effective the light should be run on a schedule opposite that of the main tank. Many advocate running the refugium light 24/7. What kind of tank do you have? You could maybe ditch the hood. Lots of people on this board run their tanks without a cover over the water, that would give you more room to work with. You can also put the heater inside a HOB refugium to save room. With a sump you could pretty much hide all your equipment. You don't necessarily have to have a drilled tank to have a sump. The set-up I'm planning has a sump/refugium, and I'm not going to have my tank drilled. You can do the plumbing over the back of the tank, it just doesn't look as nice if you don't have a canopy to hide it. You'll just need to be careful in planning it so that there's no possibility of a flood if the power goes out or a piece of equipment stops working. Sorry to answer your questions with questions, but hopefully by answering them you'll get a better sense of what you need/want for your tank. HTH! Link to comment
offsprg01 Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 i run a fuge and a skimmer. i also live in the doorms so have a limited room to work with although prob have a little more space than you as i am an RA and thus i have a private room. (not to mention all the head aches that come along with playing daddy to a bunch of freshmen bone headed ****tards. these guys/gals are so ignorant they have burnt over a case of microwaveable popcorn this semester and thus we have at least 3 fire alarms a week all in the name of popcorn. it got so bad we have to give seminars to each section on how to cook the crap.) any way i regress. here's what you can do. figure out where you have the most avialable space. i.e. under you tank on a shelf over you tank or behind you tank. (as i have an extra desk i just stuck a spare 5 gal tank behind my ten and plumbed acordingly) then figure out how to run the retun pipe and how big of an fuge you can fit in you spare space. hth. Link to comment
Darold Posted November 25, 2003 Author Share Posted November 25, 2003 Perfect advice everyone. It is very helpfull. My roomate is moving out after this semester, and hopefully they won't replace him (I can keep the room to myself). If this happens I will have plenty of room. Crossing my fingers. I am not sure how a topless tank would look. Is it safe? Fish won't try to "free" themselves I hope. Link to comment
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