The final Filter plan ... I hope

[One Salty Dog]

The live rock part of the filter will be supplied by a small power head and overflow into the DSB part of the filter. That will then over flow back into the equipment part of the filter. I am hoping to make the best use of all the methods for filtering and stabilizing with this plan. The live rock part will be have lights over it. Let me know what needs changing and what is good.
Thanks

[Mitchell]

Kinda hard to read the text but if thats Bio block I'm reading, then eliminate it. It's not really needed.

All that is needed is Rock , sand and a skimmer.

I personally like refugiums as well

[One Salty Dog]

Yes when I reduced it so it could be posted it got blury. Might help if opened with MS paint and increased in size. Yes those are Boi Blocks. I do not wnat to completely abandon what has worked for me in the past. The water that enters the filter is pre-filtered through a "Rinsed daily" foam filter. They have never blocked up on me in the past. Thats also why I am adding air just past them. In case the water needs it coming out the far side of them.

[bertcmg]

I would loose the Bio Balls too not only are they not needed I believe they would cause a biological imbalance because they are too efficient also why do you have the DSB and Live rock area seperate ?

Are you not planning to put rock in the main tank ?

I have the following setup and it works great

WAter from main tank >>>> enters sump which is where I have my skimmer > half of it goes to refugium in the sump hat has a DSB the other half bypasses the refuge >>> goes through the baffles to eliminate bubbles > back into pump area and back into the Tank

I use one powerhead in the refuge area and thats it

Although it would never hurt to have more live rock I believe the extra money is better spent on a better skimmmer or a UV filter etc

[One Salty Dog]

I decided to keep the live rock seprate in case I have any issues wit hthe DSB. Hmmm I intend to use the bio blocks as the main place for bacteria to do thier job as I did in the past. The live rock is where things will do well when not bothered by fish. The DSB is to remove nitrates. That's the plan anyway.

[afss]

If i am not mistaken the DSB and live rock will do more than the Bio blocks ever could

Scott

[One Salty Dog]

OK ... looks like the Bio Blocks will not be needed. Anything else? OH there will be live rock in the tank as will. There's 125 to 150 pounds of it in there now that needed to be re-seeded with some fresh stuff.

[afss]

If it was me i would simplify the design a lot. I would have one compartment for the DSB and the rock (more surface area for the DSB). I would likely not bother with the fluidized sand filter. I would make one large compartment for the skimmer, heater, etc etc and make a second one for the rock and DSB. I would do it such that the main flow of water would go around the DSB/rock area.

----------------------------------
|........ ___________________A....|
|...S...|...............................C C|
|...U...|....................................|
|...M...|..........REFUGIUM............|
|...P....|...................................|
|.........A..................................|
----------------------------------

sorry about all the ... in the sketch.. it wouldn't let me post spaces.

Where the area in around AC is the water into the sump. A is slightly lower than C so that most of the water flows over A and only a small amount flows over C. The volume of water flowing into A/C should be high enough to push some water over into the refugium area. then it would flow out over A. The return pump would be located in the L shaped area (as would the skimmer and other hardware) and as such would continually lower the water level in this area causing the water to flow from the refugium to the pump/skimmer area. But thats just me. I like large open areas as opposed to individual compartments. If you ever wanted to add carbon temporarily you could drop a bag in the A/C area.

HTH

Scott

[One Salty Dog]

I wanted to keep the DSB separate from the live rock because I read somewhere in a thread that there can be issues with the DSB over the long haul. I am not even sure what kind of flow rate I should be looking at in the DSB area. Any suggestions as a starting point? Dose the rock do well with reduced flow rates. This set up will need to support a 100 gallon reef setup.
Rob

[afss]

There is a possibility the a DSB may or may not cause problems in a tank as it ages. The idea of putting the DSB in the sump is only to make it so that you can isolate the dsb from the main tank in the event you have to change it out and not necessarily from the live rock in the refugium area. I don't think the live rock being on top of the sand wouldn't be a problem. In the design i showed you could easily bypass the refugium area by blocking the flow to this area

If you wanted you could make a and c the same height. Put a ball valve on the C side of things and use this to control the flow into the fuge. If you ever want to stop the flow you would just close the ball valve.

I would also suggest putting some sort of macro algae in with the refugium.

I personally don't think you really need the live rock in the sump anyway, but If thats what you want to do it won't hurt anything.. I just don't think it will be of any benefit either.

In the refugium I would say that a turn over rate of 5-7 times an hour would be sufficient.

Scott

[One Salty Dog]

Hi again Scott. Do you mean 5 to 7 times the total water volume of the tank and sumps or 5 to 7 times the volume of the DSB area. If I want 5 to 7 times my total setup volume I would not even have to direct water in the fashion I did in this plan. I guess I was under the impression that the DSB area was going to require a lot less flow then the whole system was getting. I currently have approximately 800 gallons an hours from my sump to the tank and back by way of the over flow box.
OH and before I forget … THANKS for your input Scott .. It is appreciated
Rob

[afss]

Nope. I meant 5-7 times the volume of the refugium. 30 gallon refugium 150-200 gph. Again this is just my thinking. I am sure that there is a premium scientific number out there somewhere, but I just find this seems to work well for me. IT may work just as well or better with a higher or lower flow but this rate seems to suit my tank well.