Discussion of the Week ~Refugiums~

[mojoreef]

Sorry about the neglect in starting a new topic. But her is one for you folks to chew on. Lets talk about refugiums. What are thier purpose? what will they do for your reefs? how do we set one up? what should be in one?


have fun


Mike

[CAT]

I wouldn't have a tank without one. Great for water quality, especially if you have fish. My nitrates/phosphates have been 0 since I added the fuge.

Mine is simple. I have an overflow on the main tank and a mag pump in the fuge to circulate the water. The fuge is a 15 gal. glass tank that sits below the display.

Also in the fuge:

-lighting is 50/50 PC bulb
-small powerhead
-few lbs of l.r.
-2 in. sandbed of select sand
-4 or 5 types of macro algae - I like the caulerpa because I can harvest it every couple of weeks for export.
-extra corals
-Also, a firefish that jumped into the overflow and down the drain...

[Geoff]

so far i like mine. even if i seem to be using it more for the stuff that does to well in the display, than for an actual refuge. i put my urchin, 3 huge turbo snails and any macro that is overgrowing the display. i also have 2 mangroves growing in there now.

the refugium is a 45g acrylic tank i made. it is slightly higher than the display so the overflow flows directly in to the display without any pumps. critters have a safe trip into the display, or at least until something hungry finds them.

i have about 8 inches of sand in the bottom of the refugium, more for the ability to reach the bottom of the tank than for DSB benefits. i also have a bout 15 lbs of LR i will be bumping this up significantly in the coming months. i feel that you just can not beat good LR for its fitration ability.

i have a LOA flourescent supplying the light to it. the refugium is supplied by the output of the skimmer. i think this may be hurting the refugium a little so i may reroute some of the water around the skimmer and into the refugium at some point.

as for its benefits. you can not beat it for its added volume to the system. a great way to add more LR with out overcrowding the display with it.

my .02,

G~

[cath]

I know I've asked this before, but....how is a fuge different from a sump?

[Geoff]

Originally posted by cath
I know I've asked this before, but....how is a fuge different from a sump?

whether or not it has a light.

light=refugium
dark=sump

of course there is a lot of gray area here also.

G~

[Buehlz]

I am newer at this but doesnt a refugium contain living organisms like Caupla (those plants) and Sand or Crushed coral, possably LR or Miracle Mudd? And a sump is more along the lines of Mechinisms like Bio Balls and what not?

[ReefDave]

A sump is a place to put equipment, do water changes, drip additives (basically anything you don't want to bother the display with)

A refugium is exactly like the name states...its a "Refuge" for all the "goodies" that would either never make it in the display (pods being extincted by a mandrin) or things that would over-run a display (calaupra) but are needed for nutrient export to prevent nitrates and bad algea.

So in short...you put in plants, plants take out phosphates and other nutrients....then you harvest the plants...thus havesting (removing) the nutrients. While all this is going on you have created the perfect habitat for pods, worms, brittle stars...etc....these creatures will thrive in the fuge because there are no predators there...as a result some of these critters (or thier offspring) will make it to the tank (either gravity or pumped) and will continue to reseed the display....providing food for everything from filter feeders and corals, to smaller fish.

Dave

[Krux]

chewie and i put together my refugium by removing my bioballs from my wet/dry and adding in some live rock. since the addition of the fuge i have gone from a scarce pod sighting to rocks literally crawling with them in my main display tank. i realize that the fuge is supposed to have low flow theoretically, but my nitrates has dropped to 0, and aparently the food for the fishes has shot through the roof.

currently i would estimate the capacity of my fuge at about 8 gallons, it has no live sand, but contains about 20 lbs of live rock. it is lit by a 2 bulb flourescent desklamp and takes all the water my mag 5 can pump through it.

thumbs up from me as far as nutrient export, pod growth, and nitrate balancing go.


on a side note, i no longer get any foam from my skimmer unless my corals are spawning.

[Geoff]

a sump will also contain life! there will be plenty of feather dusters in a sump, plus some other low or no light organisms. in a sump you are just creating a different evironment. there is the potential for the same amount of life in both. just different critters predominate.

this is why i use the light to decide whether or not a detached volume of water is a refugium or a sump.

G~

[Prismaco]

Im getting a 10gallon drilled on the side so that my food for my <>< / manderin wont get belnded in the pump. I will be having a medium flow going through it. Its going to be on top of my canopy. I also have a 27w 50/50 PC light thats going to be on when my PC's are off (forgot what that was called. I dont all of this actualy going just because I dont have my fuge tank drilled yet. Soon though. 2 weeks, cant wait...

I am glad that this was the next topic. I have been doing a lot of reading and this makes it alot eaiser....

-Paul

[mtnreefer]

I have a in-tank hang on refugium and it seems that since I put it in my tank I have had more of a problem with red slime popping up...there's no slime in the refugium(there is arag.,sand,small live rock rubble, frags&copepods for my mandarin) could this just be by chance I'm getting these small blooms? What causes the red slimy algae and also I'm getting this wicked teal greenish algae popping up.

[Prismaco]

Whats your clean up crew consist of ? Also how long has your fuge been up ?


-Paul

[chrixx]

I am going to put a refugium on a 180. The fuge will be on the other side of the wall and I was thinking about where to place it. Is gravity fed the way to go? What would be a good size? I want to keep macros and fauna in the fuge with sand and some LR.

[Prismaco]

I would go with gravity so that your food from your fuge wont get blended up in your pump.... IMOP... I would also go with a 30g fuge....


-Paul

[FISH]

I run 2 refugiums on my system. One is a 50 gal sterilite tub that has a lid. I cut a hole in the top for a strip light that I converted with a 55 pc from AH SUPPLY. This fuge is lit 24 / 7 and it has a 4-5 inch sand bed , about 50 lbs lr , and caulerpa. One of the returns from my 120 supplies the feed and it drains into my sump.
My other fuge is a 15 gal glass tank and a 12" aquafuge combined . e aquafuge is on the 15 gal tank.
This 15 gal has a 4 inch sand bed , lr and caulerpa. The aquafuge has just caulerpa, it's easier to harvest this way.
I use a mag 5 and a maxijet in the 50 for circulation and in the 15 I use 3 maxijets plus a maxijet to feed the aquafuge.
The 15 has a 75 watt VHO 50/50 and the aquafuge has a 55 pc 53k.
My 15 gal drains into my 120 SPS reef onto the plastic center brace keeping it cool for the 400 watt Iwasaki thyat I run in the center of the tank.
I will post a couple pics if that is OK.
This pic is the 15 before I added the aquafuge. It hangs from the ceiling.