Refugium from GFO?

[jcook54]

I'm trying to add a refugium to my existing sump and I don't have a lot of room for additional powerheads. I have plenty of room in the cabinet but the sump itself is pretty full. I have a TLF phosban reactor set up and am wondering if I can supply the fuge by having the reactor empty into it. I know it wouldn't have much flow but is there anything else I'm failing to consider? The water from the reactor wouldn't have much phosphate in it but would cheato still be able to grow? All I want in it is matrix and cheato but am concerned that the freshly GFO'd water wouldn't allow the cheato to act as a nutrient export tool.

 

[jef4y]

move the output of the GFO reactor close to your return. If you can't, don't worry about it. You're not running 100% of your water through the GFO at once anyhow.

I'm not sure what your comment about room for powerheads is about. Can you clarify?

My sump/fuge setup is simple.

overflow falls into chamber with skimmer in it. That flows into main sump/fuge area which has 2" sand, a bunch of rock, a wad of chaeto and a few unruly emerald crabs. That then goes through a bubble trap to the return chamber which has my return pump and where I top off, and drip the calcium reactor.

Light is key. Flow is not really a big issue IMHO.

 

[jcook54]

I'm confused as well so I'll try to clarify. I have a powerhead in my sump that supplies my GFO reactor. Right now the water from the reactor goes directly back into the sump. I want to use the water from the reactor to feed a refugium. Water would go from the sump, through the reactor, into the refugium and back into the sump. Ideally I would install another powerhead to supply the refugium but I don't have enough room in the sump itself for an additional powerhead.

 

[budsreef]

What do you have as a return pump? Could you tee the return line to feed the refugium? Or tee the overflow with a ball valve going to the refugium so you can control the flow rate through the refugium with the majority still going to the sump.

 

[grouper therapy]

If the water is that clean leaving the reactor then you don't need the cheato.