# sump/Refugium advise



## sprintguy (Jun 30, 2005)

Hello everyone, thanks to your advice my 60 Gallon SW tank is going great. I now have about 50 lbs of live rock, a coral beauty, ocellaris clown, scopas tang, dragon gobie, 4 yellow tail damsels, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 purple lobster, several crabs, and several snails. For filtration I am running a protein skimmer and a biowheel. I have been running regular tests and all of my levels seem to be perfect. I am going to buy an established tank off of a friend which includes VHO bulbs and ballast, 5 coral , 4 fish, and 25 lbs of live rock. Now that I am stepping up to a reef tank, I am considering using a spare 20 Gal. tank for a sump/ refugium and getting rid of the bio-wheel. So here is my question: My tank is not pre-drilled for an overflow and the bottom is tempered glass, so my understanding is that I can not drill it. Is there another way to utilize an overflow externally, or should I just forget about the sump all together. Also, if I am able to build a sump, what can I use to get rid of the debris if I loose the Biowheel? I am planning on using my standard 15 watt. bulbs on the refugium. Will this be sufficient or do I have to use VHOs on it as well? I am wanting to give the damsels to a friend, but so far have not been able to catch them. Are there any tricks to removing fish from established tanks?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Cussing & kicking usually helps, but fishtraps work too if you can get them. Otherwise you have to tear everything apart and chase them down.
You might be able to catch them if you put the net in the tank and just leave it there for a few days. feed normally so the fish get used to eating near the net. Eventually you can get some damsels eating in easy range of the net and whammo, you've got them.

There are hang-on-the-back overflow units you can buy which solve the undrilled tank problem. 

Your refugium will need to be brightly lit. Maybe not with VHO, but bright. How bright depends on what you want to put in it and why.

You either siphon out debris where it accumulates on the bottom, or you can put particulate filters in the sump if you don't want them showing in the main tank.


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## sprintguy (Jun 30, 2005)

Thanks for the Info. Is it advisable to go with a sump or should I keep it the filtration the way that I have it now and use DT for the filter feeders?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Sumps are nearly always advisable


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