Thought I would share how I have my filtration running, for interests sake.
So I am running a sump refugium setup. The following sequence of pictures go through each stage.......
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1. The water flows from the tank into the overflow box in the corner, and cascades down to the bulkhead fitting, then down the pipe to the start of the sump:
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2. Below the outlet of the pipe is a drilled tray. This tray spreads the water across the top of the first compartment. On top of the compartment is a large, fine filter pad. This catches all of the suspended matter. The water then flows down through approx 50 litres of Bio-Balls. At the the bottom of this compartment is a grill, and the water then flows through the grill and upwards over the baffle and then down through Ceramic Tubes, Eheim Substratpro, and finally Peat Torf.
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3. The water enters the planted section through a grill below the substrate. Here the plants absorb the Nitrates. I am currently running the refugium light 24/7. I am doing this to try to speed up the plant growth, as ideally I want the planted section stuffed full. Once I have these plants grown out I will alternate the refugium lights and tank lights. This way the plants in the refugium will be producing CO2 during the day and adding to help the photosynthesis of the tank plants, and then vice verse at night...........At least that's the theory
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4. The end section houses the return pump, pH controller sensor and heater. Fitted to the return pipe, just above the pump, is my home made reactor, where the CO2 is injected.
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5. Finally the water returns to the tank. There are 2 pipe outlets below the waterline, which I have set at slightly different angles to try to get the best water distribution through the tank. You can just see the fine mist of CO2 bubbles exiting the outlets.
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/www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLEBZOalNo8&feature=youtu.be
