Refugium- in sump or separate tank?
- Thread starter sharis100
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I personally prefer to have a remote refugium, this slows me to regulate the amount of flow, control light spill over on equipment such as protein skimmer, and clean my refugium separately from the sump.
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How do you have it connected to your sump? I think a separate refugium would make keeping the sump clean easier, but extra plumbing means more chances for issues, so debating whether it is worth it. When I finish all the plumbing I will have two upstairs tanks and one tank in basement all plumbed to same sump and same system already.
Remote is a great way to go so you can control every aspect of it. This assumes you've got plenty of room. I also like a large remote refugium because you can cut it off from the rest of the system, drain the water, fill it back up and call that a really easy water change. My next system is going to have a separate tank dedicated to just that purpose.
Mine sits above the sump and has three drains to insure that it shouldn’t overflow. One drain is a dedicated emergency drain. I also use prefilter sponge to prevent drain line clogging with loose cheato or snails.
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Do you have a photo of that? Trying to visualize the setup. My sump will be in basement and I can build a stand to lift a refugium up and over sump. Do you use a separate pump or t- off the main return? I am new to figuring this sort of thing out as I have only run refugiums as a chamber in the sump.
I’ll take a photo tonight
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I have tried several times to start a fuge in the center chamber of my sump. There's just too much flow running through there and any macro's I put in get sucked through the bubble trap to the return chamber. I just put extra rock in that chamber now. If I didn't run an ATS I'd have put a fuge in it's place remotely.
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When I had a remote fuge I just T'd off the return line for it and the fuge would gravity feed back into the sump. I think its ideal to have the fuge gravity feed into the main tank if possible so you get lots of pods feeding the display.
That is what I thought, but trying to make sure I plan for the best possible outcome before I make any more permanent decisions on this upgrade.
No- it is super helpful! Thank you for sharing! So, the refugium sits on the sump and empties into it? I think I understand.
It’s a mess, I know.
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I have bought a plastic bin from home depot, drilled and attached to my sump. It works like a charm and I have my return flowing into it then to my actual sump for mechanical filtration. I use this bin as a refugium. Here it is: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Sterilite-27-Gal-Industrial-Storage-Tote-in-Black-14669004/206402052
Do you have a photo you could share of how you have attached to your sump? Thanks!
I sure have, here it is. Notice on last picture how much my chaeto/caleurpa has grown!
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Well, not exactly the last picture but the the first and third ones 
Exactly, I want as much gunk in my refugium so my socks last longer I do have a wave maker in there and a ton of shrimps and crabs.
I do have a wave maker in there and a ton of shrimps and crabs.
