To Refugium or not to Refugium

[mattgee87]

So I've been reading a lot on refugiums and I'm honestly thinking of pulling mine offline. I have a Trigger crystal sump ( 36" long ) and I don't know that I really see enough positives of running such a small refugium ( maybe 6 gallons in a 75 gallon tank ) . I find the theory of pod making it through the layer of foam and through the impellers of the return, kind of unbelievable, or not enough to make a difference. I also was thinking if I didn't have to have a refugium, I wouldn't have to light the sump, I wouldn't have to worry about coraline algae growing on the skimmer and all in the sump. So I wanted to ask you guys , Do you run a refugium?

PS, This is the video that got me thinking

 

[pkaugusta]

I dont have a refugium for several months . I have a 125g with sps/LPS/and some fish. So far the system is running smoothly. My protein skimmer is an HOB one. actually non-refugium saved my tank. When I went out for a long weekend arranged a automatic feeder and HOB refugium . Just under the skimmer I placed a 20 gallon platic tote. Well when I came back , the unthinkable has happened. Aparently the automatic feeder attachment was not sturdy. I've programmed it to feed to fish 2-3 times a day. All that rotation made it to break from the attachment to the tank and fell in to the tank. Imagine all that food in one dose. That's going to kill the whole tank. But fortunately my skimmer kicked in. There was little bit color in the water, but still fish were alive and health ( also corals) . I had about 15 gallons of skimmer overflow with lot of protein !!! . If it was a refugium setting skimmer would recycle all this back . there is no way I can setup an overflow mechanism for a 15 gallons of skimmate !!! . So in this particular incidence it saved my tank. But I have seen people attaching really sophisticated equipments/reactors to their refugium. It will be ugly to have all of them in a HOB setup.

 

[bluespot]

I like the idea of a refugium but have never had one. They weren't really popular years ago when I had my first reef tanks. But then again bioballs and the crazy biowheel in sumps were. I had the space then but not so much now as I have a 92g corner tank and space underneath is a premium due to the footprint. A lot of people have them and swear by them. The logic seems pretty sound from pod breeding, extra sand/rock/filtration and macro algae for nutrient export and breakdown, and keeping critters you don't want in your display tank. Even running the lights on the fuge opposite of the tank lights to help pH swings overnight. I can't comment on whether or not such a small fuge is beneficial to your system or not or what the "magic" ratio of fuge to tank volume should be. I can tell you that I have not personally missed one, even though I would like one on a future tank to play with. People keep successful tanks all the time without them so I guess the question is if you really think it is worth it on your system?

 

[marquiseo]

Small refugiums - only good for pod production

Large refugiums - good for bring down nitrates and phosphates as well as increased pod production



BLUFF: If you are going to do one, just make a big one and not waste your time and become disappointed at the lack of results from a small refugium.

 

[bcrueter]

"BLUFF: If you are going to do one, just make a big one and not waste your time and become disappointed at the lack of results from a small refugium"



Thats what she said...

 

[mattgee87]

bcrueter;989092 wrote: "BLUFF: If you are going to do one, just make a big one and not waste your time and become disappointed at the lack of results from a small refugium"



Thats what she said...

LOL

 

[elfloyd]

I run a refugium. Two main reasons... (primary) load it with rock so I can have less rock in the DT. (secondary) pod creation.

I've also thought about using it as a frag tank.

That said... a refugium is not absolutely necessary.

 

[bcavalli]

I have my 30 gallon Fuge tied in to my system of 200 gallons total. I have chaeto, an algea scrubber and 7 red mangrove trees. I keep about 20 lbs of live rock and a very poorly behaved bicolored dottyback. Can I assure anyone that it makes a decent impact on the reduction of nitrates and phosphates? I have no idea.

But, Recently I had an anemone go through a power head and was pretty damaged I found 3 more small pieces of what was left of the side that was chopped off in my filter sock. I put him and the three pieces in my Fuge and all three all are developing bubbles and growing and the original one is well on his way to recovery. I was very surprised.

But, the point of this long story is that it can be used for other purposes other than the reduction of nitrates and phosphates.

 

[wannabeeareefkeeper]

Bcavalli;989163 wrote: I have my 30 gallon Fuge tied in to my system of 200 gallons total. I have chaeto, an algea scrubber and 7 red mangrove trees. I keep about 20 lbs of live rock and a very poorly behaved bicolored dottyback. Can I assure anyone that it makes a decent impact on the reduction of nitrates and phosphates? I have no idea.

But, Recently I had an anemone go through a power head and was pretty damaged I found 3 more small pieces of what was left of the side that was chopped off in my filter sock. I put him and the three pieces in my Fuge and all three all are developing bubbles and growing and the original one is well on his way to recovery. I was very surprised.

But, the point of this long story is that it can be used for other purposes other than the reduction of nitrates and phosphates.

Any chance you can upload some pictures of your refugium? I would like to see the setup with the mangroves and algae scrubber.


Wannabee

 

[bcavalli]

Sure here you go.

First picture is the whole refuge setup. The chamber on the right has the Chaeto and algea scrubber. The seconds picture a closeup of the chamber. (Sorry about the bad picture)

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