New here, question about overflow boxes

I have a 90 gallon that I'm going to make into a marine tank very soon (just fish and live rock)... unfortunately it does not have the overflow so a SUMP is out of the question. Because of that, I just got an eheim 2227 because I figured I needed a top notch cannister filter..

My question is, because I do not have an overflow, how can I ever build a refugium? I took a peek underneath some of the tanks at my LFS and I saw anotehr 20 gallon tank with plants and shells of all sorts!! it was cool! then I realized the plants removed nitrates and the shells improve water quality with their minerals... I feel like I need this in my aquarium?

I saw a hang on the back refugium looking thing at my LFS as well, but it is terribly small. It probably barely holds more 2 gallons of water. It has a place for the protein skimmer and compartments for the shells and plants.

Moreover, thinking of having something that heavy hanging on the side of my aquarium makes me uneasy, I feel like there's alrady plenty of pressure on the walls of the tank, no need strapping 2 gallons onto the top of it..

Any suggestions??

 

You can make your canister filter into a refugium or use an aquaclear HOB but you don't like that idea. You can buy overflow boxes online or get one made for you if you want, cost around 55$ online last time I saw.

 

You can make your canister filter into a refugium or use an aquaclear HOB but you don't like that idea.   You can buy overflow boxes online or get one made for you if you want, cost around 55$ online last time I saw.

That's interesting about using a cannister filter as a refugium, but I'm not sure how it would work being all closed up? I'm just getting into Saltwater and learning a lot first, but I thought a refugium was often used to keep pieces of live rock and critters of various types alive. Would they survive being locked up in a dark cannister with no light?

 

You can modify the lid and put in a compact fluoerscent bulb to light it up. It would provide enough light to keep/grow stuff in it. Depending on the canister you would have to do some fiddleing around but I've seen it done, though it would be easier to buy an overflow box online and make a sump/refugium.

 

Ok atmmachine - that makes sense now. I agree the overflow box/sump option sounds like a better, easier idea.

 

It's not necessarily easier though because you need to figure out how many gph if flowing into the sump from the main tank and then make sure you have a power full enough return pump so you don't have water on your floor.

 

Yep could be a real mess, especially if you lost power to the return pump.

 

That's why you have an overflow box. You have to figure out how much water will drain into your tank in a power outage before the level in the tank becomes too low to flow into the overflow box and then fill up your sump/refugium not all the way then.

 

pinch,
I just took my Eheim 2227 off my Saltwater tank this week. I will be posting pic here soon. I wish you would have posted sooner. The problem with the Eheim
Wet/Dry is two things.

1) The water level continuously raises and drops. Which make it hard to keep the sump return full.
2) Also this filter over time will raise your nitrates in you tank. (thus the term Nitrate Factory).

 

pinch,
I just took my Eheim 2227 off my Saltwater tank this week. I will be posting pic here soon. I wish you would have posted sooner. The problem with the Eheim
Wet/Dry is two things.

1) The water level continuously raises and drops. Which make it hard to keep the sump return full.
2) Also this filter over time will raise your nitrates in you tank. (thus the term Nitrate Factory).

hey agansoo..

I can sitll return this filter if necessary. I actually just received it from petsmart (really good deal in fact).

Let me get clarification on some of these terms. When I hear "sump", I think the wet/dry trickle filters, or some kind of tank underneath my main tank that's usually fed by a overflow box. I always assummed a cannister filter is just a cannister filter, not a sump, even though it pulls water from the tank to under the tank where it's processed and sent back up.

by the way agansoo, what are you planning to do without the eheim 2227? I can imagine it's a nitrate factory because it probably gets rid of the ammonia/nitrite extremely quickly. THat's one of the reasons I want a refugium, to house some seaweed and other stuff that can really help eat up the nitrates.

 

The Ehiem wet/dry filter are great, for what they were design for ... Fish only only salt water aquariums. But the minute you stick a coral
in your tank ... It's no longer a fish only tank ! The nitrate will continue to grow, even water change will only slow the process down. It won't
eliminate the nitrate factory from producing more. You can return it if you like ... I still have mine (in a box, in storage).

Yes, a sump is anything that can hold water under your display tank. Canister filters are not a sump. Canister filter are primarily used for mechanical
filtration. With the exception of our Eheim filters.

The Ehiem is in storage for now. I will primarily using live rock for my biological filtration. I tried a small 5.5 gallon refugium with macro aglae for about
3 months to lower my nitrates ... with no success.
Look at my "show me your refugium page for
more !

 

Try building a false wall if you're crafty or some one you know is crafty. You can load it up with Live rock rubble and Macro alga