20 gallon refugium setup

[tainte97]

I have a 125 gallon FOWLR with a refugium like thing going in my DIY wet/dry/sump. I am wanting to set up a seperate refugium with a DSB and macro. I currently have cheato in my sump now that seems to be growing very quickly, had a problem with the bottom of it but problem was solved. My question is a 20 gallon big enough for a 125 and the lights that come with a standard setup, I believe there like 15 watts or something, strong enough to grow macro. Right now I have a 125 watt 5100K floodlight and it works great. Also what kind of flow should I have,would a small power head from the main tank and a overflow to the sump work. I have an extra 1200 power head, I think its 200 GPH.

[Tim224DT]

I would think a 20gallon refugium would be enough for a 125gallon tank. The plain lights that came with the 20gallon tank should be enough to make the algae grow. I am not sure about the flow i know it should be a low flow. One question about the DSB in a refugium, i can not remember whos post it was but they were told that a DSB is bad for refugiums. If i can find the post i will put the link on here.


Tim

[Geoff]

ahh, the ol refugium question.

i would not waste the time or the plumbing on a refugium. i think they are just something else that needs to be cleaned. why do you want one? i would not mix a DSB and a macro farm in the same refugium. it will just become a cess pool. go with one or the other if you feel you need to have a refugium.

G~

[tainte97]

I have a Stingray and puffer in the tank. The stingray will only eat silversides and needs to be feed daily whick in turn leads to very high nitrates. I have been battling this for some time now and since adding the Cheato to my sump it seems to keep them between 40-50ppm. I do weekly water changes and without the cheato I was averaging 60-80ppm which I was told by other stingray keepers is very common. I like the results Im getting with the cheato thats why I want a seperate tank, more room. THe DSB I can do without I guess, just thought it helped. When you say cess pool, what does that mean? Sorry not familar with that saying.

[Geoff]

do you have any measureable ammonia after a feeding? do you have any measureable ammonia at any time period? i am wondering if you just have to many bio-balls for your system in the wet/dry. wet/dry's are generally recommended for FOWLR tanks, but they still should be matched to the system itself. as you know Elasmobranchs can not handle the nitrate levels that a boney fish can, hence your concerns. i think we need to figure out why the nitrates are rising. a decent skimmer and LR should be able to keep that bioload under control. how much LR do you have in the system. i am thinking 50# should be plenty for this. even with all of the feeding needed for the stingray. that is only two, granted large fish, in that system. i would try slowly removing the bio-balls and watch your levels closely. if you see any ammonia showing up than put more bio-balls back in. this is equalibrium for the system.

the refugium that you are suggesting will be nothing more than a settling tank. which is not a bad thing, but it will need to be cleaned out during every water change. siphon out any detritus. if not than the phosphate levels in the sump with just increase as the detritus builds up. detritus will build up because the algae in the refuge will trap it and cause it to fall to the DSB. at this point the DSB will be more than happy to absorb it. if you do not have the DSB than the detritus can be removed so that the algae will only be feeding off of the nutrients in the water column and not the nutrients coming up from the DSB. prolly a better choice for you would be a ATS (algae turf scrubber) this is just a lighted piece of glass that water is allowed to flow over. above this plate is a large light to encourage the algae to grow. this way you are guaranteed that only the nutrients in the water column are being used up by the algae. the downsides to this are the possible yellowing of the water due to some leach back of the algae if not harvested regularly.

in order for any algae to be an efficient nutrient export it needs to be exported. if not than the nutrients are still in the system.

G~

[tainte97]

I do not have any ammonia that i know of. But then I don't test for that all that often. I have between 65-75lbs of rock in the tank. I was told by the LFS that silversides have alot of oil and cause very high nitrates. I do have a somewhat DSB in the main tank for the ray, I would say up to 5 inches in some spots and as low as 1-2" in others, depending on where the ray wants it! I do have bioballs but most are summerged under the water in the sump. I would say only 2 layers of balls have air contact. I have a CL Super skimmer 220 in the sump that seems to work well. I do cut my cheato about once every three weeks or so. I can a piece the size of a golf ball and in 3 weeks I'll have enough to fill a whole Walmart Bag!! I believe a BB refugium would do what I need it to. But to answer your question about ammonia or nitrite evey time I test they read 0.

[tainte97]

oh and the bioballs that are under water are about 8 layers deep. I don't know if this would have anything to do with it, because there not in contact with the air?

[Geoff]

how dirty are the bio-balls? would you consider the bio-balls in a well oxygenated area? i mean plenty of bubbles making there way in to the bioballs.

if you are growing Chaeto that well, than diffinately stick with a BB refuge and let it grow and harvest at will.

G~