Gravity feed refugium from main tank, or pump feed from sump?

[Mr. Brooks]

Which do you think is better? You save energy by doing a gravity feed from the display tank, but I'd imagine you'd get a large build up of detritus over time. I'm considering T-ing off the return pump in the hopes of reducing detritus build up in the fuge. I'd get a Super Dart if I decide to go this route. Regular Dart if I gravity feed. Difference of about 10-20 watts.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My refugia are gravity fed from the display tanks, then they gravity feed into the sump.

[nikkipigtails]

Originally posted by Randy Holmes-Farley
My refugia are gravity fed from the display tanks, then they gravity feed into the sump.

That's kind of how mine is. I have 2 drains from my DT. One drains into a section of my sump that I made into a fuge. Then water spills over into the return section. (The skimmer section is on the other side of the return section.)

[Mr. Brooks]

That's how my 135 and QT are set up. I've noticed on my recently set up QT that a ton of detritus builds up in the fuge. The only reason I notice is because the fuge is bare bottom. I wonder if having a DSB in the fuge would help reduce detritus. Would the little critters that live in the sand eat the detritus?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

There is lots of detritus in my refugia, on top of sand and in bare bottom sections, but I expect that would be true regardless of the plumbing. It is a low flow area that allows settling.

[greggnyce]

I have mine t'd off of my return and it gravity feeds right into the return section. I like this set up because the pods will go through the tank before hitting the skimmer.

[Mr. Brooks]

I'll be running a sock in the sump, so most of the detritus coming from the display tank will be trapped there, as opposed to settling in the fuge. At least this is the theory.

[nikkipigtails]

I have a DBS with nassarius snails and a cucumber that keep the sand clean

[ScooterBlenny]

I have an over-the-tank refugium, and I enjoy it. I had an existing reef tank that wasn't reef-ready when I decided I wanted a fuge, and I didn't want to deal with an overflow box. My husband built a beautiful shelf to go over my display and hold the fuge, and it's working out great.

[uhuru]

I plan to gravity feed my fuge, keep it BB, no rocks, just chaeto. This way the detritus can settle there and easily be cleaned out.

[Mr. Brooks]

Originally posted by uhuru
I plan to gravity feed my fuge, keep it BB, no rocks, just chaeto. This way the detritus can settle there and easily be cleaned out.

Yea but what a pain! My fuge will be at ground level. Can't syphon it out. I'd have to set up a pump on a tube to pump it out.

[Cove Beach]

I pump water up to my frag tank which gravity feeds to the refugium, which then gravity feeds into the sump. The fuge contains a DSB with a small amout of LR and a huge mass of chaeto. It also has a 4" chiton, several nassarius snails and some cerith plus 5 peppermint shrimp.

[PaulieWalnuts]

i think the macro will grow faster if it is gravity fed, before the reactors and skimmers pull all the "bad" stuff out of the water. good luck

[uhuru]

Originally posted by thechad21
Yea but what a pain! My fuge will be at ground level. Can't syphon it out. I'd have to set up a pump on a tube to pump it out.

yeah you can use a powerhead or better yet get an eheim sludge extractor (what I use). With the eheim you don't even have to change the water it's like a vacuum with a micron bag that catches the detritus but lets the water back through. You can literally do this daily in less than a minute. When I had my BB tank I did this twice a day.

[PaulieWalnuts]

i may have to get one of those

[Mr. Brooks]

Originally posted by uhuru
yeah you can use a powerhead or better yet get an eheim sludge extractor (what I use). With the eheim you don't even have to change the water it's like a vacuum with a micron bag that catches the detritus but lets the water back through. You can literally do this daily in less than a minute. When I had my BB tank I did this twice a day.

Dude that sounds awesome! I want one!

[Mr. Brooks]

It's a dust buster for your fish tank lol.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_Aquari...extractor.html

[fishinbuc]

Originally posted by ScooterBlenny
I have an over-the-tank refugium, and I enjoy it. I had an existing reef tank that wasn't reef-ready when I decided I wanted a fuge, and I didn't want to deal with an overflow box. My husband built a beautiful shelf to go over my display and hold the fuge, and it's working out great.

I'm in the planning stage of re-doing my sump/fuge. This is how I'm thinking of doing mine.

[LobsterOfJustice]

I prefer to feed the fuge from a tee off the return to the tank, otherwise the fuge tends to be a bit of a settling chamber for crap from the main tank that would otherwise be filtered out.

[InsaneClownFish]

Lobster poses a sentiment that I am see with greater frequency on RC that values feeding the fuge from the return. I'm not convinced this is necessary, but people will use this method to suit their own individual needs.

I'm personally going to gravity feed my fuge from the main with a y to the skimmer compartment and a ball valve to the fuge. The Fuge will then Gravity feed to two points in the sump...half to the skimmer chamber and half to the fuge.

[sjm817]

I'm in the feed from return camp.

[PaulieWalnuts]

how well does your macro grow that way...i just thought that if it ran through carbon and rowaphos, and the skimmer that it would not feed the macro enough to grow?? does that make sense?

[Mr. Brooks]

Originally posted by LobsterOfJustice
I prefer to feed the fuge from a tee off the return to the tank, otherwise the fuge tends to be a bit of a settling chamber for crap from the main tank that would otherwise be filtered out.

This is what I'm talking about.

[Mr. Brooks]

Originally posted by PaulieWalnuts
how well does your macro grow that way...i just thought that if it ran through carbon and rowaphos, and the skimmer that it would not feed the macro enough to grow?? does that make sense?

I'm pretty sure skimmers and reactors are not 100% efficient. The water in the sump isn't ultra clean. I'd imagine the water in the sump still matches the tank water pretty closely, only slightly cleaner. So in theory the macro should still be able to do it's job.

[InsaneClownFish]

I just re-read my post and couldn't edit it. I just wanted to clarify that my fuge will gravity drain half into the skimmer chamber and half into the RETURN chamber. I misspoke when I stated it would return to the fuge...makes not sense.