I had an old cylindrical acrylic aquarium that I wasn't using (I had used it before as a sump), and some extra eqipement from old tanks. (two extra pumps, air pump). So I decided to see what else I had lying around/gathering from outside and create a cheap DIY refugium.
Refugium has:
- 4 -5m of shade netting
- some rocks (used to keep the shade netting above the pumps, so the base of refugium is clear and has wicked fast flow, it also keeps the flow a bit more reasonable above the shade netting where the algae is)
- 1 x air pump (the valve is built into the bottom of the cylindrical tank, so I have alot of bubbles being swirled around below the netting)
- 1 x 1500lph return pump (below shade netting)
- 1 x 2000lph circulation pump (below the shade netting)
- 200 Watt outside LED light.
So that's it. It doesnt look the greatest, but it is performing really well and didn't cost me anything extra to set up. Instead of equipment just sitting around, now I have extra filtration.
I added some Gracilaria (at least that is what I think it is) that I collected from the beach (ocean is 33 degress C now, very warm so it is all a little bleached this time of year), and the water I used to fill it I also gathered from the ocean (salinity of the ocean here in 37ppt)
Refugium has:
- 4 -5m of shade netting
- some rocks (used to keep the shade netting above the pumps, so the base of refugium is clear and has wicked fast flow, it also keeps the flow a bit more reasonable above the shade netting where the algae is)
- 1 x air pump (the valve is built into the bottom of the cylindrical tank, so I have alot of bubbles being swirled around below the netting)
- 1 x 1500lph return pump (below shade netting)
- 1 x 2000lph circulation pump (below the shade netting)
- 200 Watt outside LED light.
So that's it. It doesnt look the greatest, but it is performing really well and didn't cost me anything extra to set up. Instead of equipment just sitting around, now I have extra filtration.
I added some Gracilaria (at least that is what I think it is) that I collected from the beach (ocean is 33 degress C now, very warm so it is all a little bleached this time of year), and the water I used to fill it I also gathered from the ocean (salinity of the ocean here in 37ppt)
