Refugium suggestions

[yakfishin]

I am about to redo my sump and plumbing and plan to add a refugium. My tank is a 220 gallon and the container for my refugium will be 12x18x18. I have been reading up on them and there appears to be many ways to 'correctly' set them up. My goal is to have both nutrient export and copepod production, while being generally low maintenance. I have read everything form just a bare bottom refugium with just a clump of tumbling chaeto to deep sand refugiums complete with live rocks and mixtures of algae. Any suggestions for a good low maintenance setup that will do a mixture of both pod production and nutrient export? THanks for any replys.

[mcbaes72]

I suggest chaeto tumbling with zero substrate, but if you prefer something over nothing, consider LR rubble (skip LS). Reverse lighting schedule from main display makes the most sense, but read that some run 24 hrs. Kessil lighting appears to be one of the best, but probably the most costly. Finally, refugium plumbed first before skimmer makes more sense to me. If done in that order, should see decreased skimmate in collection cup.

[yakfishin]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, due to head room, my refugium will need to go in after the skimmer, but perhaps that will help more pods survive. So you are suggesting no sand? Perhaps I will start with a ball of chaeto and see how that works. I figure it would be easier to add things later if I'm not satisfied than to have to get rid of stuff. Thanks again!

[mcbaes72]

Correct, I would pass on live sand and use live rock rubble instead. Also, if refugium first, may lose small % of pods to the skimmer pump or collection cup. Skimmer first is fine, too. Any pods that escape will most likely go into return pump and end up in main display where they'll get eaten quickly.

EDIT: Reason why I don't recommend LS is it could get into skimmer pump or return pump if refugium flow is too high, may kick up some sand.

[RobbyG]

Originally Posted by yakfishin

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, due to head room, my refugium will need to go in after the skimmer, but perhaps that will help more pods survive. So you are suggesting no sand? Perhaps I will start with a ball of chaeto and see how that works. I figure it would be easier to add things later if I'm not satisfied than to have to get rid of stuff. Thanks again!

The Cheato will not do well unless it is tumbling or moving around with the flow. The bottom section of the ball needs light or else it will die from the bottom up (Been there done that). Maybe others have had a different experience but that was mine.


I would not use LR rubble either as that will just trap a ton of detritus unless you clean it out often. My best result have just been a bunch of low baffles that trap the detritus in a low flow area and then clean it out every couple of weeks. Since you want to raise copepods then I suggest the tumbling cheato instead as they will thrive in there.



The biggest problem with this hobby is that no one solution ever seems to work for everyone, except ones that involve a crap load of water changes.


My Sump is 30 gallons on my 90 gallon tank and if there was one thing I wish I had done differently it would have been to make the sump twice as big. Sump space runs out really quickly over the years as you add more stuff to it. Eg. I would love to try a roller mat but I have no space for it now.


Rob

[artilespm]

Will it be a stand alone fuge? Separate from you sump? If so, this is how I have mine set up.


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[artilespm]

I did remove the mini reactor since.


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[artilespm]

Here’s what it looks like at night.




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[mcbaes72]

Originally Posted by artilespm

Will it be a stand alone fuge? Separate from you sump? If so, this is how I have mine set up.

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Although I'm not a fan of LS in a fuge, that's deep enough to not be an issue. Nice set up!

[yakfishin]

Originally Posted by artilespm

Will it be a stand alone fuge? Separate from you sump? If so, this is how I have mine set up.


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Yes, it will be separate. Where my stand is located and how it is built into a wet bar, I can't slide one large container into the stand. So I am going to have polyethelyne tanks connected with bulkheads. I have the same setup currently, but it's 20 years old and I am redoing my plumbing and these tanks are a lot more sturdy than the plastic totes I currently use. So my refugium will be its own 12X18X18 tank. From there it will go into a larger 24x18x18 tank that will only house my return pumps. I don't have an automatic top off for evaporated water, so I like my return pumps kept in a larger space. What are you using or what material did you make as a stand for your fuge? I need to make something similar that needs to be water resistant.

[artilespm]

I made it out of 2x2 lumber. This is strong enough for the 10 fuge. I primed it, gave it about 4 coats of semi gloss white spray paint and topped it off with 2 coats of sealant used on decks and fencing.


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[artilespm]

If using a bigger fuge you should go with 2x4.


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[artilespm]

Originally Posted by mcbaes72

Although I'm not a fan of LS in a fuge, that's deep enough to not be an issue. Nice set up!

Actually thinking of removing the sand. Going to remove all the sand in my display and going bare bottom. After that I’ll decide if I want to remove the sand from the fuge.


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[oseymour]

Over the past 3 years, I have experimented with so many different sizes, types and lights on refugiums and here are my thoughts.

Its a myth that it needs to tuble to do well - I never had my cheato tumble, I just didn't have space for it and it still grew. Maybe its because I always used powerful lights.

Powerful lights doesn't mean more expensive - I tested the Kessil H380 vs the UFO grow light vs Ackee grow light I found on Amazon and the spectrums were so similar it was hard to see the difference with my Seneye.

The smaller refugium space you have - the more I would invest in a better light and the more you have to prune.

If you are getting cheato from someone who grew it under shop lights or non-grow lights, take the time to acclimate the lights - You can burn and bleach it - The kessil H380 has about 1500 PAR if its 8 inches about the sump. Start with 2 hours and work your way up.

After a few months you might notice that your cheato growth slows - this is probably because the fuge is using certain elements from the tank that needs supplementing - my guess is iron, molybdenum and something else.