Are refugiums really necessary?

[Merv49]

Since I've had my 200 gallon tank up I've been battling back and forth with my refugium. Keeping Cheato alive and growing has been a constant battle. Sometimes it grows and sometimes it doesn't. What does grow, prolifically is GHA and the whole sump looks a mess from the light spilling over and growing unwanted GHA and coralline algae in my skimmer body. I'm thinking of getting rid of the cheato all together and just filling that part of the sump with marine pure blocks and live rock. I really don't think the area of my sump which is 10X18 inches is large enough to support enough macro algae to make much difference in my nutrient export in the first place and as often as not there isn't much growing there anyhow. I'm thinking the increase surface area for beneficial bacteria would serve the tank better than the gallon size ball of cheato currently growing there along with the mass of GHA. I don't have any algae issues in my tank. What do you guys think? Anyone else here that abandoned the macro algae?

 

[sixty_reefer]

I haven’t abandoned the algae but I would suggest you have a research on siporax the export of siporax and refugium are very similar.

 

[Mikedawg]

Since I've had my 200 gallon tank up I've been battling back and forth with my refugium. Keeping Cheato alive and growing has been a constant battle. Sometimes it grows and sometimes it doesn't. What does grow, prolifically is GHA and the whole sump looks a mess from the light spilling over and growing unwanted GHA and coralline algae in my skimmer body. I'm thinking of getting rid of the cheato all together and just filling that part of the sump with marine pure blocks and live rock. I really don't think the area of my sump which is 10X18 inches is large enough to support enough macro algae to make much difference in my nutrient export in the first place and as often as not there isn't much growing there anyhow. I'm thinking the increase surface area for beneficial bacteria would serve the tank better than the gallon size ball of cheato currently growing there along with the mass of GHA. I don't have any algae issues in my tank. What do you guys think? Anyone else here that abandoned the macro algae?

If you don't need a refugium to manage water parameters or house certain organisms including pods, I wouldn't fool with it.

 

[User1]

Multiple ways of running a tank as you know. A refugium is not necessary just like a skimmer isn't or several other options we hobbyist might add. It comes down to how the tank is setup and the overall husbandry of it. I do not use one but I'm only one of many a hobbyist.

 

[Jon Fishman]

I use big skimmer, UV, Ozone, socks, and ATS.

I have no room for a fuge and I haven’t noticed a need. I have lots of pods, but I also don’t have anything that relies on them