Setting up a refugium

[lsu_fishfan]

Looking into setting up a refugium, but not sure how to best set it up. I plan to grow cheato so is rock necessary? What about sand? Should I buy any specific lighting or just the cheap 6500k Home Depot lights? Do I need to have a Powerhead to turn the cheato over?

Anything else I need to know?

Thanks

 

[hzheng33]

no need for sand. rocks maybe if you want space for copepods to breed. regular 15 dollars light from HD is good enough. some people say tumbling of chaeto is good while some say that if your light is strong enough, you don't need tumbling.

 

[atticusfit]

i purchased a new sump which came with a refug so i took advantage of it. Mine is small but dropped a small bag of sand, small bag of rock rubble and a mangrove. bought a tennis ball size of cheato and have throw away about 4 softball sizes. i use the eshopps curve led but mainly because everything else is eshopps and i have OCD about not matching products so sure a cheaper route would work. ill try so snap a pic tonight.

 

[lsu_fishfan]

Is there such thing as a Refugium that's to big for a system?

 

[schwaggs]

LSU_fishFan;1081481 wrote: Is there such thing as a Refugium that's to big for a system?

I don't think you can have one too big, however I think they can be too small to do any realistic good.

I have a standard 90 gallon tank as my fuge with a Tunze 6105 keeping things moving. I have a good amount of rock and a couple inches of sand. 2 54w T5 Aquamedic Plant Grow bulbs (pinkish color) that grow chaeto like mad. It overflows directly into my display. It works very well!

You and I look like we live close to each other. Let me know if you would like to stop by and see how I set up mine.