How effective is a small fuge?

[shiftline]

Are small fuges worth while? Do they make a big enough impact to just of the efforts?

I have a IM Nuvo 24 and was thinking of using one of the media baskets to grow cheato

Having two media baskets I would run chemipure in one half and cheato with a light in the other (either underwater one or back of glass)

My reasoning for the fuge /cheato is two fold. One to help with lowering phosphates and secondly to be a Refugium for pods as I would love to have Mandarin down the road.

For the sake of lowering nutrients. Is it worth doing in such a small area?

 

[beaslbob]

small is better then none.

 

[shiftline]

So cheato in one side. Chemipure in the other. And live rock filling the rest of the voids.

Is it beneficial to have sand in the bottom sides?

 

[shiftline]

Today I picked up a jbj nano fuge light. And way to much cheato

 

[maxxin69]

I think they are. Even if their nutrient export isn't amazing, they still allow a plethora of small invertebrate to breed and provide a sustainable food source. But I have found that even my small refugium in my 120 soaks up a lot of nitrates. I've been feeding like crazy and I still can't get them to go above undetectable.

 

[Dnahacker]

You need to seoperare the concepts of fuge and macroalgae for nutrient export. The are different things...

 

[stunreefer Verified Sponsor]

Small amounts of algae are highly ineffective for the purpose of nutrient export. They could be beneficial for growing small inverts as mentioned, but so is liverock, sand, etc.

In a tank that size water changes and chemical medias will prove much more effective long term :thumb:

 

[hart24601]

Small amounts of algae are highly ineffective for the purpose of nutrient export. They could be beneficial for growing small inverts as mentioned, but so is liverock, sand, etc.

In a tank that size water changes and chemical medias will prove much more effective long term :thumb:

+1 This is my experience as well. But with a small tank I never had any trouble managing levels with waterchanges.

 

[shiftline]

A side product of this fuge is to host lots of pods for a potential future Mandarin. I'm going to use two of the columns for cheato now

 

[DrBoxedWine]

I use one of these on my 20g QT http://www.amazon.com/Finnex-Extern...=UTF8&qid=1424815086&sr=8-1&keywords=refugium

It keeps my nitrates at undetectable levels with Chaeto in it. I probably cut it in half every 2-3 weeks. Keep in mind that my stocklist right now is just corals, snails and a cleaner shrimp. In the past it has never had more than 1 fish at a time in it so my bioload is always very low. This isn't exactly a scientific test, but that's my 2 cents.

 

[Chris-tico]

I use one of these on my 20g QT http://www.amazon.com/Finnex-Extern...=UTF8&qid=1424815086&sr=8-1&keywords=refugium

It keeps my nitrates at undetectable levels with Chaeto in it. I probably cut it in half every 2-3 weeks. Keep in mind that my stocklist right now is just corals, snails and a cleaner shrimp. In the past it has never had more than 1 fish at a time in it so my bioload is always very low. This isn't exactly a scientific test, but that's my 2 cents.

hey men how long have you been using this?
i'd like to give it a try on my 30gallons reef.!

 

[DrBoxedWine]

hey men how long have you been using this?
i'd like to give it a try on my 30gallons reef.!

I've had it up and running on my QT tank since about September. I use a Rio 90 with it as the air pump is pathetically weak (although it looks you have more options than just the airstone now).

One caveat about my setup... I run it 24/7. this means i had to paint it black on all the sides and the top part (where the light doesn't shine in from) so it doesn't illuminate the tank all the time as well as the room. It looks kinda janky. There are probably other ways around this, but i figured i should probably mention it. It's also a little on the flimsy side, and the water comes up pretty close to the top so you have to be careful when cleaning/servicing it that you don't spill water from it (putting my hand in it too quickly will cause it to overflow a little.

 

[LILBUDDHA]

CPR HOB fuges work out well too.

http://www.aquacave.com/aqua-fuge-2-hang-on-refugium-small-by-cpr-aquatic.html