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How To Build a Refugium Out of Food Storage Containers


Weetabix7

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I am going to be setting up my first pico here in a few weeks and this is a great way to add some volume to it! Thanks for posting this!

Please post pictures if you decide to make it. :)

 

Update: The plastics glue I posted above really works. I bumped the spout the other day during a water change and it held. It is a strong bond.

 

I have tons of copepods and spiroid worms not to mention the macros are loving it too.

 

Overall this is a success IMHO.

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Please post pictures if you decide to make it. :)

 

Update: The plastics glue I posted above really works. I bumped the spout the other day during a water change and it held. It is a strong bond.

 

I have tons of copepods and spiroid worms not to mention the macros are loving it too.

 

Overall this is a success IMHO.

 

Awesome.

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is it possible to do this on a nanocube. i dont really want to use the rear chambers because id like to use those just for chemipure and floss and im trying to find info on building a fuge for macro. but im not sure how getting water to and from would work. the nanocube has the return pump in the right chamber and im not sure where i would draw and return water to keep water levels where they need to be

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is it possible to do this on a nanocube. i dont really want to use the rear chambers because id like to use those just for chemipure and floss and im trying to find info on building a fuge for macro. but im not sure how getting water to and from would work. the nanocube has the return pump in the right chamber and im not sure where i would draw and return water to keep water levels where they need to be

 

I have mine set up with a JBJ 12 gallon nano. I upgraded the stock pump with a bigger flow pump. I was using the stock pump to mix saltwater. When I built the DIY food container refugium I used the stock pum in the third chamber just above the other pump. I used a section of the flexible tubing that comes with a water changing syphon kit to pump water from the tank into the fuge. I secured the tubing in the fuge with the clamp that came with the water changing syphon kit. I keep the lid of the nano lifted so that there is room for the hose coming from the back of the tank to the fuge.

IMAG1134_zpsc9b43bb6.jpg

 

IMAG1099_zpsca555073.jpg

 

I had the helpful guys at Lowes cut some acrylic and built this lift for the lid of the nano cube.

IMAG1219_zps136dfd33.jpg

 

2012-12-06_19-02-26_111_zps4807b798.jpg

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Nice I see now I wasn't understanding how exactly it was getting back to the tank I may try something similar to this but maybe actually build a shelf with my fuge above and use tubing to gravity feed into the tank so I dont have to leave my lid open. If I do all post the picks here if thats ok ???? Dont want to step on someones toes :/ thanks for the clarification

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Nice I see now I wasn't understanding how exactly it was getting back to the tank I may try something similar to this but maybe actually build a shelf with my fuge above and use tubing to gravity feed into the tank so I dont have to leave my lid open. If I do all post the picks here if thats ok ???? Dont want to step on someones toes :/ thanks for the clarification

 

yes! Please post pics. Weetabix7 started this thread and requested that folks post pics of their DIY food container refugium here. If you make improvements please share them. I might copu cat you as I am not too thrilled about the lid up all the time.

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Well wouldn't u agree that an over flow box with o 1 inch tubing could be used and just let gravity do what It does best. It will likely be this weekend but all definitely share. Im not doing it so much for increasing water volume as much as I am for cheato, pods and equipment so I can utilize the rear of the tank for chemical filtration. Just have yo find a pump that will sufice for pushing upwards 3 feet or so

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Well wouldn't u agree that an over flow box with o 1 inch tubing could be used and just let gravity do what It does best. It will likely be this weekend but all definitely share. Im not doing it so much for increasing water volume as much as I am for cheato, pods and equipment so I can utilize the rear of the tank for chemical filtration. Just have yo find a pump that will sufice for pushing upwards 3 feet or so

 

Only problem with that, is that you will have to lower the water level in your main tank to protect from overflowing it if you ever have a power outage.

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Well wouldn't u agree that an over flow box with o 1 inch tubing could be used and just let gravity do what It does best. It will likely be this weekend but all definitely share. Im not doing it so much for increasing water volume as much as I am for cheato, pods and equipment so I can utilize the rear of the tank for chemical filtration. Just have yo find a pump that will sufice for pushing upwards 3 feet or so

 

I think that with enough will power we can make anything we want work! :) I can't wait to see yours.

 

As you read above, in my set-up I have the seperate pump pushing water into the DIY fuge. Then water pours out of the fuge spout into the display tank with gravity. I had to elevate the fuge about 8 inches. Whenever I turn off the pumps to spot feed, or the power goes out, the pump stops pushing water and the level of the fuge is such that only 1/2 an inch worth of water falls into the display tank, so that it will never flood.

 

I noticed a tremendous increase in pods and spiroid worms after a few weeks. The benefit of the gravity feed into the DT is that all those goodies flow into where the corals and fish can get them too. The pods flow into the DT without getting mangled by impellers, pumps or/and filtered out.

 

Here is what a spiroid worm looks like and they pretty much grow on everything. They are very tiny.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/lofiversio...hp/t157330.html

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Good point about the outage but I will design it so water dump from the fuge is minimal. Im going to use acrylic and an led fixture like they have on little neon tetra tanks least that my idea unless I find a solid plastic that will work. Going to try and stay under 50 bucks hopefully my stock return pump will push water high enough. I think if I use small enough tubing for my pump I should be fine. Let the mind tease begin!!!! Replacing my stock pump with a mm 1200 seems to be the thing to do.

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Only problem with that, is that you will have to lower the water level in your main tank to protect from overflowing it if you ever have a power outage.

 

You are absolutely correct on that. Making sure that you leave enough room in the DT for what gravity puts in after the pump stops is crucial to avoid a flood.

 

Good point!

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This thread has the secret sauce to a nice cheap DIY refugium :)

Might have to look into containers and pumps for something like this.
I would probably adjust the design so I didn't have to use a pouring return - would want a return hose - gravity fed...

Something to think about.

Thanks Weeta!

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  • 1 year later...
On 1/12/2018 at 2:57 PM, benstatic said:

This thread has the secret sauce to a nice cheap DIY refugium :)

Might have to look into containers and pumps for something like this.
I would probably adjust the design so I didn't have to use a pouring return - would want a return hose - gravity fed...

Something to think about.

Thanks Weeta!

Did you ever do this? I saw the original design and was thinking about doing it under my fluval evo 13.5. My thinking was to do a gravity fed tube from chamber 3 down into the DIY fuge with a small return pump back to chamber 3.

 

I'm trying to cut down algae in the main so was hoping this could be a pretty cheap attempt at doing so. I want to stick with media rack and skimmer for now in the first two chambers so I am out of room for a refugium.

 

Hopefully a DIYer reads this and can lend some advice on size of tubing and pump to try to make this work.

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