Discussion Of The Week ~Refugiums~

[mojoreef]

Ok by popular demand this weeks topic is Refugiums. Big ones, little ones, skinny ones and fat ones. Lets here some info, ideas and concepts.

How to plumb them? Does it need a DSB? What do u put in one? How big does it have to be? What does it do? how did u plumb yours? and the most important question if you droped your watch into it would you stick your hand in it to retrieve it?


Let see some pics folks, some plumbing ideas and so on . this should be a great topic.



MIke

[jzdziarski]

Add onto that list of questions....can you replace a wet/dry with one or do you need both? Anyone converted a wet/dry into a refugium? For optimal nitrate reduction, what is best, mud or sand? How deep (4"?) ? What percentage water volume of the main tank should it hold?

[Evergreen]

Yay! Bring on the practical info !
Another Question/topic id like to see here: pros and cons of CAULERPA and Caulerpa alternatives in the refugium! How many different algaes do you have,
and also: optimum lights for the kind of algae you want there, HOURS lights are on: 24 hours/reverse day/ day only, and the effects if any that this has had on PH (nighttime swings etc)
And has anyone integrated a turf scrubber into the refugium?

[MathGuy]

Here's a good refugium page:

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/V.../refugium.html

[pt109]

Really dumb question! What is a DSB?
thanks

[podman]

DSB = deep sand bed

[cyberchef]

Pics of my setup can be found at the links in my sig...

[pt109]

Thanks, Podman

[Doug1]

Hey Cyberchef, I got a 404 warning while trying to look at your site(using NS) do I need that other browser to view it?

[MDT]

Yes some veteran experience would be helpful to us beginners. My system is 6 months old. The pods in the main tank seem to have declined of late. I have tried to limit feedings some (small yellow tang and 2 small clowns) to 1 cube of formula 1 over 3 or 4 days.
The refugium in the sump occasionally puts out a live pod of about 1/8 to 1/4 inch, but more commonly I have seen a dead one exit the return. Somewhere on the www people have said about 90% of pods are killed by the main pump. I am planning an above tank 6 gal refug to gravity feed live pods, especially the smaller type. Apparently the little buggers can feed on some macro algae??

[spsphreak]

This is going to go against what alot of people believe, but I just recently removed my refugium and the tank is doing better because of it. The tank was doing fine before, but I noticed more of a dusting on the glass than I liked. I removed the refugium, and I don't have to clean my glass that much at all now. I still believe refugiums can be beneficial, but not for me I don't think. I have had the refugium off for about 2 weeks, and my levels of PO4 and phosphate are still undetectable. I do a 10% water change every Sunday, and this probably keeps those levels in check. So, as I said, I think refugiums can be great for nutrient export, but for me water changes work well.

Scott

[frlejo]

I am about ready to give up on growing calupera in mine. Tried 3 different lights, not much luck. I have a tinted sump, about as dark as the windows on a car. I am setting up another tank with a clear sump, will see if that makes any difference.

[semajftw]

ok i have a question.

If you have a DSB in a refugium do you feed the refugium to keep the beneficial sand infauna fed? and if you do what do you feed a DSB?

-James

[spsphreak]

I never fed the DSB in the refugium. It gets food from feeding the tank, IMO.

Scott

[cyberchef]

Thanks for the headsup Doug... When they made some changes to TRT a while back they added an "S" to the word "forum" so the url was no longer corredt. I've fixed it and it is working now...