Hello all,

I have a series of Refugium questions for you all, but I thought I would ask one per thread to narrow the topic. Anyone who answers any of these questions becomes my personal hero. Here goes the first question:

Anthony Calfo seems to be a proponent of very deep RDSB's. In one ReefCentral thread that I read, as well as a talk that he gave - he prescribes the practice of setting up a remote DSB in something as simple as a 5 gallon bucket. I believe it was between 40-60 lbs of substrate with good flow across the surface.

Has anyone here tried this?

If so, how well did it work for you?


Thanks,

-Scott

I'm also interested in results that people may have had as I'm thinking of setting one up to handle the job of several smaller tanks.

Thanks,
Shawn

i have a RDSB in my sump, I HAVE a nitrate reading of 0. before the bucket i was around 10. i am planning on adding a second bucket very soon because my system is is to large for one bucket to handle for very long.

BTW ... it is a LOW flow over the substrate that reduces the nitrates. here is one of the threads about this on marine depot ...

remote dsb (http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic20039-13-1.aspx)

BTW ... it is a LOW flow over the substrate that reduces the nitrates

... but don't make it so low that detritus can settle on the substrate. You'll also need to take into account the coarseness of the media. I've found 80-100gph works well for sugar-fine aragonite, but up to 180-220gph seems to work better with silica-based play sand or large (2mm-4mm) aragonite - even with prefiltering (which isn't mentioned enough in the RDSB thread, IMHO, if you don't prefilter the water you'll end up with sediment buildup on the top of the bed).

great catch Doc !! i was gonna recommend just enough flow as to not disturb the sandbed, but enough to keep detritus suspended.

How's that, we have 2 heroes!

3, you are a hero too Carmiejo !! (my hero)

:blush: Thanks.

Yes... Heroes All !!! :)

Thanks much. I will follow the link you provided (which seems akin to the one I perused). I am mostly wondering how well (in practice) this method works. It seems as if it is quite useful for Bobby, which is great to hear.

How do you have your bucket plumbed Bobby? Does your raw tank water go into the RDSB and then overflow to your sump? Did you install bulkheads into the bucket, or is your bucket sitting in a larger vessel (ie.. rubbermaid sump/refugium) that eventually gets pumped back up to your tank?

Thanks

-Scott

i have it sitting in a 100 gallon stock tank sump, raised just above the water level. the water flows trough it from a remote refugium, and drains into the sump, then goes back to the tank. i would guess that there is about 300gph flowing through it. i will post some pics for a visual aid, but i have to take some first.