When to bring refugium online in new tank

Gunsnroses · 03/17/2014, 08:44 PM

Just started my cycle on Saturday. Dosed 38ml of ammonia.
My test kit is showing 5 ppm right now.
I have a refugium plumbed into the system but separate from the sump. When should I bring the refugium online?
I plan to have cheato in the refugium as well as a few pieces of rock. The fuge is a 50 gallon and will have roughly 40 gallons of water in it when running.
So should I bring it online now and add cheato and a light or hold off until the cycle is finished?

Menace2Sobriety · 03/17/2014, 09:03 PM

I don't have an answer but it's a GREAT question!

Sk8r · 03/17/2014, 11:55 PM

Along with your cheato will come living crustaceans (copepods) and worms and such, and it would be better for them not to be exposed to the endgame ammonia that will happen.

How I've done it: set up the tank and fuge without the cheato. You can have sand and live rock in both. Let them develop and cycle together. After the cycle completes, add your cheato.

I run all lights and pumps and equipment during the cycle, because getting the temperature to stabilize at 78 degrees day and night is not an easy thing, and switching on another light after the temperature stabilizes is just going to mess things up. This includes every system connected to the tank.

Some fuges don't have sand or live rock. I prefer it: it provides a backup sandbed, just that much more processing power. But the sand/rock type fuge only really becomes effective if you can devote 20 gallons to the fuge. Mine is the middle chamber of a 30 gallon sump.

Gunsnroses · 03/18/2014, 04:47 AM

I didn't plan on adding sand to the fuge. Just a few pieces of rock and the cheato. Where I have the fuge is a little tight and I dont want to have to vacuum that sand bed. Guess I can go ahead and fill the fuge and get it on line with a few pieces of rock in it.
Fuge is on the right side of picture.

flipstyle72 · 07/07/2014, 03:06 PM

that's a nice clean looking setup!

03/17/2014, 08:44 PM	#1
Gunsnroses Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Pleasant View TN Posts: 421	When to bring refugium online in new tank Just started my cycle on Saturday. Dosed 38ml of ammonia. My test kit is showing 5 ppm right now. I have a refugium plumbed into the system but separate from the sump. When should I bring the refugium online? I plan to have cheato in the refugium as well as a few pieces of rock. The fuge is a 50 gallon and will have roughly 40 gallons of water in it when running. So should I bring it online now and add cheato and a light or hold off until the cycle is finished? __________________ He who gets frustrated with freshwater tank, Never owned a Reef tank Current Tank Info: 180 gallon RR-75 gallon sump-50 gallon Refugium-RO Diablo DCS 200 Skimmer-Diablo 10500 and 5500 return pumps-Spectrapure MaxCap 90gpd

03/17/2014, 11:55 PM	#3
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Along with your cheato will come living crustaceans (copepods) and worms and such, and it would be better for them not to be exposed to the endgame ammonia that will happen. How I've done it: set up the tank and fuge without the cheato. You can have sand and live rock in both. Let them develop and cycle together. After the cycle completes, add your cheato. I run all lights and pumps and equipment during the cycle, because getting the temperature to stabilize at 78 degrees day and night is not an easy thing, and switching on another light after the temperature stabilizes is just going to mess things up. This includes every system connected to the tank. Some fuges don't have sand or live rock. I prefer it: it provides a backup sandbed, just that much more processing power. But the sand/rock type fuge only really becomes effective if you can devote 20 gallons to the fuge. Mine is the middle chamber of a 30 gallon sump. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

03/17/2014, 09:03 PM	#2
Menace2Sobriety Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Posts: 207	I don't have an answer but it's a GREAT question!

07/07/2014, 03:06 PM	#5
flipstyle72 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: New Orleans, LA USA Posts: 81	that's a nice clean looking setup!