Converting wet/dry to sump/refugium

[AZDesertRat]

What would I have to do to convert an AquaclearAquatics slimline 75 wet/dry to a sump and/or refugium? It has a capacity of 2.4 gallons on the bio ball side and 8.75 gallons on the sump side. Would the existing baffle be high enough or should it be extended higher or even add more baffles? I would want to put a 4" DSB and some calurpa (?) in it so would flow need to be reduced (CAP2200 pump)? My main tank is a 90G fish only but I am in the process of converting to a DSB and adding some live rock a little at a time and I have very limited access under my stand so anything larger than a 10 gallon tank wont fit or I would go larger. Is a 10 gallon sump/refugium worth the trouble?

 

[Will C1]

i dont think you can get enough space to accomidate a big enough refugium i put refugiums in all my sumps but i have 2 30gal sumps and 1 50 gal sump so i have a ton of room to do this sort of thing.

 

[AZDesertRat]

Would it be worth it to use it strictly as a sump then and remove the bio balls? If I did that, could I put the caulerpa and some lights above it still or would the water velocity be too much or maybe it would plug the pump?
I presently have an in tank refugium on my 20G reef and would like to remove it for more room but want to keep the algae since my tangs love to eat it.

 

[Will C1]

you could squeeze the culerpa and some rocks for them to grow on the sump. put a light on it on an alternating time cycle this will help stabilize youre ph at night. i would not remove the bio balls then you wont have any ammonia removal.

 

[tazdevil]

WillC, he's converting to DSB. He'll want to remove the bioballs-the dsb converts the ammonia to nitrite, nitrite to nitrate, then nitrate to free nitrogen gas. Leaving the bio-balls may cause algae blooms due to the bioballs increasing the nitrate levels, and you don't want the bioballs involved in the nitrate cycle. However, it will take TIME for the DSB to become fully functional, so you'll want to remove the Bio-balls slowly. This way, the bacteria can accumulate in the DSB without a serious spike in ammonia etc. (causing another tank cycle).

 

[Will C1]

ok this is something new to me than, as far as i was told a dsb was for removing nitrite and nitrate only not ammonia. so a dsb will remove ammonia also? i have ran my reef with a dsb and an ammonia tower for years now. my new set ups also have this....im kinda puzzeled. was what i was told a lie? or mabe the full scientific lit wasent out when i first learned of this method hmm............

 

[reefworm]

AZDesertRat,
I converted my wet/dry to a sump for the 29. sounds like we have tha same general set up. It's done fine as a sump. I've not yet grown macro in it, although it's set up for a light down there. I have LR in it for the extra filtration - lots of worms/bugs working on it.

WillC,
a DSB will handle the entire nitrogen cycle, as tazdevil points out. During the cycle, populations of nitrifying bacteria will grow/expand to handle the specific compound on which they feed -ammonia first, then the others. the reason for the nitrite spike after ammonia is that the bacteria feeding on the ammonia create nitrite as a byproduct. The bacteria that feed on the nitrite leave nitrate behind, and so on to free N.

regards,
-rw