# aux. tank... Would this work?



## badmedicine (Oct 27, 2012)

I would like to pitch an idea that my son and I have been thinking about. A second tank that contains cheato and other grasses/mangrove that feeds off the drain of my display tank. Picture if you can, the water that drains the main display tank is tee'd off and SOME of this water enters the second tank (aux. tank) thru an under gravel panel and works its way up thru the grasses to an overflow that goes to our sump system (filter socks, protein skimmer and then return pump) of the display tank.
The big picture is to have mandarin goby, sea horses and dragon fish in the second tank and the grasses act as nutrient export. I am still thinking the Triton method down the road, but that is once the two tanks can be stable enough.

We were thinking a tall cube.

Could this happen?? What should we consider when doing this.


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## tous (Jun 22, 2017)

So basically just an inline 2nd tank that is a dedicated refugium between the display and sump? Absolutely. 

The whole under ground gravel filter overflow thing seem unnecessary... not sure what you'd gain buy doing that... but you certainly could...

You could have dragonet living there for sure, but I think cheato and seahorses would be a bad idea (someone feel free to correct this if I'm wrong) cause I fear they'd get caught/tangled in the cheato. 

Number of different ways you could plumb it, but yea for sure. 

Id question why though, for a refugium, simply getting a bigger sump and putting it there is probablly better. If you want a 2nd tank with mangroves in it and dragonets, just do that, it will look alot less ugly. The copepod production in a well producing sump will lead to spillage of micro fuana into the display tanks.


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## jgranata13 (Mar 10, 2017)

I’ve actually been thinking about doing a refugium with water entering through an ungergravel filter as well. Imo the benefit would be that there are no dead spots, thus preventing more primitive algaes growing on the macroalgae (this is a problem I’m currently facing with my “regular” refugium) and there wouldn’t be a buildup of detritus at the bottom, which is hard to clean because of all the plants.

If you guys do this I’ll definitely be following along to hear about the results!


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## jgranata13 (Mar 10, 2017)

A few more comments...

1. I think the undergravel filter panel would have to be silicones into the tank to really harness the full benefit.

2. I’m not sure that a store bought UGF would work... I think the layout of the holes isn’t very good for distributing the flow evenly. My guess is that to get an even upflow across the whole tank, a DIY panel would have to be made where there aren’t that many holes close to where the water enters so that some water is forced to travel all the way along the plenum (the chamber under the panel) before going up through the panel

3. The reason I haven’t done this yet is because my sump only has two compartments (refugium and pump chamber), so all the dead plant matter that currently collects at the bottom of the refugium would be carried into the water column by the upflow and be in constant circulation. I think putting the refugium in its own tank is a good idea, but I think the water from the fuge should enter the main sump through a dedicated chamber that acts as a settling tank so that your water column stays clear. When too much mulm builds up it could easily be siphoned our without disturbing anything else.


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## Aqualien (Jan 13, 2018)

Sounds very feasible , just make sure when the power goes of your main sump can handle the additional water volume once the levels settle.
For the plants , you can consider various Caulerpa species , they're great for nutrient uptake and seahorses love to anchor to them.


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## badmedicine (Oct 27, 2012)

Thanks for the input everybody!! This is what I like about this forum.. always helpful and positive suggestions.
My landlord freaked when I talked about another tank and since my RODI system has leaked 3 times onto the neighbours downstairs, it is with reasoning (my tank has leak protection, detection and sits on a platform that will hold the volume of water in the tank).
I know that I could probably be mean and do it and be protected by the landlord/tennant act, but I really don't want to be that kind of guy.
I will wait a bit and when I show that all my accidents are behind me..... build.
As far as sea horses et al., I found out that they like cooler water than my tank.


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