[MARINE TANK] Durso Standpipe

Above: My Durso Standpipe assembled and curing; Right: Display - no life yet


above: Before and after plumbing the Durso Standpipe into the system

The Durso Stand Pipe
I am very pleased after filling my tank. I sit back, relax and close my eyes. Then I hear gurgling as the water drains down the weir... no what?
After an hour I feel a little annoyed so I do a bit of reading on how to solve this problem. The solution is simple enough. Build a Durso Standpipe.
What is a Durso Standpipe?
A Durso standpipe is a DIY contraption that is designed to eliminate gurgling from the weir. It is designed to suck water from below instead so it eliminates the "whirlpool" as water emptied down the piping into the sump.
Here is a link to the website that i used to build my Durso.

Lighting for the Refugium
Now comes the second issue. What kind of lighting do I use in the refugium? After some researching I have come to three conclusions:
1. Lowest wattage that seems okay is 12W (20watts is optimal)
2. 6500K Cool Daylight bulb seems optimal (although some say warm bulbs reduce incidence of algae)
3. Sit it 4 inches above the surface of the water (prevents macro dying and causing rust issues)
4. Either can be left on 24/7 or on a reverse cycle
Since my main aim is to conserve energy, the phillips 12W from bunnings sufficed. I chose the reverse photoperiod to save electricity and to create a stable pH. The only downside was this increases the risk of my macro going "sexual" and releasing spores into my system. I will deal with this problem later on.

Eliminating Catastrophe
Now comes the third issue. My nano only has one drain in the weir. There are 2 holes drilled into the base. One hole is used as the return from the sump. The other is the drain. So when a snail decides to sit in the drain, it will obviously overflow my tank! Although the possibility of this happening is quite low, this makes me paranoid!
So after some brainstorming I have decided to use both holes in the weir as the drain to the sump. This leaves me with no "hole" for the return pipe from the sump. A visit to Bunnings quickly solved that issue. I put some PVC together (see below) for my "return pipe". This will sit behind my tank and connect the return pump back into the display. I will take a picture of this once it has all been constructed.



TIP: There are two popular macro choices. Caulerpa spp. and the Chaetomorpha spp. Caulerpa grows fast and is easy to keep. It however has the undesirable characteristic of going sexual and releasing spores into the system causing crashes. For this reason, 24/7 lighting and regular pruning may be of benefit. It also is invasive and can easily attach to liverock. However since it grows very fast, it is a great phosphate and nitrate sponge. Chaetomorpha is the more popular of the two choices. This macro algae (fondly named Chaeto by aquarists) is also relatively easy to keep and is a floating algae. It has the huge advantage of not going "sexual" but does not look as attractive as Caulerpa and is best kept in the sump out of sight.