Fuge Questions

[SquallBrawl]

So, I just did something stupid and decided to start up another tank.. I'm fully committed to it this time. I've cut a whole in my wall and mounted a 90 gallon tank in it. The sump is all set up and I've made my RO water and filled the tank. I even have a buddy that helped me build a four foot LED light that is BAD ***. I'm going to post some picutres later...

My question is, should I or shouldn't I set up a fuge... I've had two other tanks in the past with plenty of success, but I've never had a fuge. How do I go about doing it? What is the best way to plumb it in?

Does anybody have a website the can direct me to on this or care to share their opinion on how to go about this or if I should even bother? I have plenty of room to do it...

[rogermccray]

Are you using a sump? Or are you going to have a separate stand alone sump? You do not want a lot of flow going through your sump.

When I was thinking of a standalone fuge I was planning on it being all gravity fed, just have a split in one of my drains go to the sump and adjust the flow using gate valves.

If you check out melev's reef there are several sump/refugium setups on there. I can't remember if it explains the uses of a fuge, but to me they are a good idea. Good for nutrient export and you can also put any mean crabs you find in your rock in there (things like a gorilla crab or an emerald crab that might go after fish).

[Palting]

Originally Posted by SquallBrawl

My question is, should I or shouldn't I set up a fuge... I've had two other tanks in the past with plenty of success, but I've never had a fuge. How do I go about doing it? What is the best way to plumb it in?

Does anybody have a website the can direct me to on this or care to share their opinion on how to go about this or if I should even bother? I have plenty of room to do it...

IMO, refugiums are a must for any reef tank. Unfortunately, there are a lot of different ways of setting it up, and an equally large number of ways of maintaining one, with hard proponents for each one's way. There are also differing reasons for setting one up.

I set my refugium up as part of the biological filtration. With this purpose in mind, I set it up as a remote refugium with a 4" aragonite substrate, a pile of medium sized porous rocks in one corner, made it high flow at about 30X refugium volume, and planted a fistful of Caulerpa racemosa.

Remote. I like it being remote because I can take it offline anytime for maintenance, or for any reason whatsoever, without disturbing the rest of the system.

Substrate. This is to grow more of the beneficial bacteria, as well as a place for pods to grow. Should the "rumour" that substrate over time can start releasing toxic substances, I can easily take the refugium offline and refresh the substrate.

Pile of rocks. This is my "pod condo", as well as provide more porous rock for nitrification and denitrification.

High flow. I know the common belief is low flow, but I believe high flow presents more water volume for processing over time, therefore maximizing the refugium efficiency.

Caulerpa. Fast growing, hardy, excellent consumer of nitrate and phosphate. I have tangs in the DT to decimate any errant caulerpa, and in fact feed it to them in the DT. I wouldn't recommend it unless you have a FOWLR tank or have tangs in your reef tank.

Maintenance. I let everything grow in the refugium. Not just caulerpa, but GHA, cyano, cotton candy algae, whatever. I leave it "dirty", perfect for these algae, so that they consume everything in the refugium and leave nothing for the DT. I trim the growth once a month or so, otherwise no other maintenance.

As I said, there will be contrasting opinions out there, directly opposite to mine. This particular set-up has worked for me for 3 years now. Nuisance algae along with the macro algae grow well in the refugium but none in the DT, with undetectable nitrates and phosphates, and booming SPS growth.

Here's a pic of my sump and remote refugium set-up, taken maybe 2 years ago. 30 gallon sump on the right with 2 giant biowheels and a skimmer, and a 20 gallon refugium on the left:


HTH!!

[cloak]

If you've had success in the past without a refugium, then there's really no reason to set one up now IMO. Whatever it is your doing works.
I've never had a refugium either, and I use tap water. Go figure...

[Palting]

Originally Posted by cloak

I've never had a refugium either, and I use tap water. Go figure...

LOL!! So true. Reefkeeping success comes in many forms. Good for some people to remember that nothing can be set in stone in this hobby, no matter how loudly some people shout it. Do whatever is fun!!

[Phinnay]

Everything I've read debates the pluses but I've never seen a reason not to. Glass tanks are cheap and if you don't like it, you can always use it for a frag tank, etc...

Give it a shot! worst thing that will happen is nothing.