Air driven filtration in reef

[InAtTheDeepEnd]

HI 

I have a mad idea

5 gal bowl with central air stone for flow 

live rock rubble and sand substrate

zoas galore 

nicrew 50watt hyperreef LED for lighting

 

Terrible idea or nah?

[patback]

Only issue I see is that salt creep will be nearly impossible to manage and fluctuations in salinity would be pretty common.

[Elizabeth94]

I have seen this done in reef bowls. They add a loose fitting lid to help with splashes. Definitely do-able and probably pretty easy as long as you keep up with water changes. 

[mcarroll]

DIY a tiny skimmer for the airstone...should be easy and cheap if you're already doing the rest.  👍

[InAtTheDeepEnd]

26 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

DIY a tiny skimmer for the airstone...should be easy and cheap if you're already doing the rest.  👍

how? 

I haven't set this up yet FWIW, just thinking about it. 

 

I am currently reef-less and it f&*$ing SUCKS !!!!!

[mcarroll]

Here's one good idea that seems a cut above most DIY designs...and VERY tiny:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-nano-protein-skimmer-build.550212/

 

...but there are LOTS of small DIY skimmer designs out there – many use little more than a recycled water/soda bottle.

[natalia_la_loca]

On 12/27/2023 at 2:31 PM, InAtTheDeepEnd said:

HI 

I have a mad idea

5 gal bowl with central air stone for flow 

live rock rubble and sand substrate

zoas galore 

nicrew 50watt hyperreef LED for lighting

 

Terrible idea or nah?

 

long-term reefbowl keeper here to say this is totally doable.

 

An airstone is unnecessary and probably counterproductive (the microbubbles would irritate the organisms). Just use an open airline. The bigger bubbles will provide gas exchange and great flow without irritating corals.

 

I suggest getting an air pump rated for more than your water volume. I run a pump rated for 5 gallons on my 1.75 gallon reefbowl.

 

I wouldn’t run any kind of skimmer unless you crave complication. Completely unnecessary on this water volume IMO/IME.

 

If you have a bowl already and can post pics, we can provide more guidance on lid arrangements to minimize salt creep and evaporation.