120g refugium sizing question

Njdevils1220 · May 26, 2018

Hello all, I’m in the process of building a 120 system. I am planning to use a refugium in my system and had questions regarding the sizing..
My question is this; is there going to be that big of a difference when it comes to nutrient export if I use the second chamber vs the first?
My sump is 36x18x16, the first chamber is 17x18 and the second is 12x18. The sump I am using offers the ability to use either the first or second chamber as the refugium.
If I use the first chamber my Fuge will be close to 20g but I give up the option of running filter socks to polish the water *I don’t constantly run socks*.

Crabs McJones · May 26, 2018

Njdevils1220 said:
Hello all, I’m in the process of building a 120 system. I am planning to use a refugium in my system and had questions regarding the sizing..
My question is this; is there going to be that big of a difference when it comes to nutrient export if I use the second chamber vs the first?
My sump is 36x18x16, the first chamber is 17x18 and the second is 12x18. The sump I am using offers the ability to use either the first or second chamber as the refugium.
If I use the first chamber my Fuge will be close to 20g but I give up the option of running filter socks to polish the water *I don’t constantly run socks*.

Personally if you can use either or, I'd go with the bigger chamber. Gives you more potential room to grow your macro algae for better nutrient export

Njdevils1220 · May 27, 2018

Larg

Crabs Mcjones said:
Personally if you can use either or, I'd go with the bigger chamber. Gives you more potential room to grow your macro algae for better nutrient export

Larger chaeto size doesn’t mean better per say, denser chaeto with better color means it’s doing better absorption.