Refugium size and flow question

[kaiser]

I've got a 75 Gallon tank. How large should the Refugium be, and how much GPH should I flow thru it.
TIA

[Kannin]

A fuge could be 5 to 20 gallons and should have maybe 2 to 400 gph running thru it... for a 75 gallon tank.

[kaiser]

So it's more a matter of available room and equipment rather than a certain percentage of the tank?

[K' Family Reef]

Originally posted by kaiser
So it's more a matter of available room and equipment rather than a certain percentage of the tank?

there is no 'standard' for refugium size

other then to say the larger the better!

author calfo recoms 20-25% of the display tank size as a good size.

we have a 125 w/ a display 50gal fuge
a lot of people are finding fuges to be almost as interesting and appealing as the main display tanks!

good luck

regards

[Bandsaw]

I got to echo WarrenAmy&Maddy's comments on the fuge. I have a 20g tall for my fuge on my 75. The fuge is in the basement along with my fish room that also doubles as our spare bedroom when we have company (my wife and I sleep there, the sump noise would not impress any company).

We can watch the fuge for hours when we are downstairs. For a time, it was getting more attention than the display. You can throw a couple of blood shrimp in the fuge to liven thing up. I've heard some folks even use sea horses, but I would not recommend that as sea horses produce a ton of waste due to their inefficient digestive systems and the fact that sea horses would do a number on the pod population (of which you want to protect hence the word refuge in refugium).

The one comments that I have in regards to flow through the fuge. You want the throughput slow enough to allow the fuge to do its job, that being absorb the nutrients and phosphates in the water. Yet you want the flow IN the fuge to be high enough that you are not going to get any cyno or other poor flow problems popping up. I need mine with a MixiJet 400 pump. I use a MaxiJet 900 inside the fuge to keep the water moving. The cheato also loves the better water movement as well.

[kaiser]

With the room I have available in the stand I can build a 16 x 12 x 18 Acrylic tank. That is roughly 15 gallons. I am going to install a bulkhead near the top to drain back into the Sump. I am using two overflow boxes, one of which will dump into the Fuge, the other in the sump, using a Mag 12 as a return pump. The way I have the return plumbed it's not flowing the full 1100GPH possible, I would guess more around 800GPH.By the way this is going to be more of a fish tank than a reef. For the time being anyway.

[lancer99]

Not to hijack this thread, but I don't understand why the flow rate through the fuge has any impact on nutrient absorption.

Let's say 10 gallons of water flows through the fuge in a given amount of time, and the macros absorb 10% of the nitrates.

Double the flow....the macros now absorb 5% of the nitrates, but 20 gallons of water is being processed.

Isn't it the same thing?

-R

[kaiser]

I think what he's trying to say is that the Macro needs some time to absorb anything, if they don't have the time nothing will happen. Sort of like when you are trying to eat a sandwich and everytime you try to bite into it it moved, leaving you with nothing.

[Bandsaw]

Thanks kaiser. That is a good way to put it. Just trade the sandwich for the nutrients that you want the fuge to process. If the flow through the fuge is too great, you won't be processing all the waste products in the water and returning the same nutrient rich water back to the display to fuel algae growth there.

[SlukBunWalla]

I was able to fit a 20L sump, calcium reactor w/components, skimmer in sump, and LG HOT CPR refugium (5 gal) all underneath my 75 gallon tank. I would like to go bigger definitely, but space constraints were an issue, so it's better than no fuge at all!

ltz,
andy

[Bandsaw]

BTW, lancer99, I don't think you hijacked the thread. This is what it is al about. Good debate and even better clarification

Now I'm getting off topic........