Is a HOB Refugium practical for a 30g?

mlb7225 · Jan 24, 2017

Hello.

So I am getting ready to set up my 30g JBJ tank for the 2nd time. I have a good amount of lessons learned from the first go round so I am excited to get going again.

One of my takeaways from previous was the difficulty in maintaining phosphates. I would dose phosphate reducers, run pellets, control feeding, etc. but was still having algae issues. This time I want to try a more natural phosphate reducer by running a refugium. It won't be practical for me to have a sump under my tank, so I started looking for other options. I came across CPR's HOB Aquafuge2 refugium for tanks like mine. I am having trouble though, trying to find reviews on these so wanted to reach out here to see if anyone has an opinion on this or better yet is actually running a HOB refugium. Any and all feedback will be great!

bairdimusprime · Jan 24, 2017

i'll be watching this thread, i don't use HOB's but this is interesting none the less

Elementalj · Jan 24, 2017

I use the smallest one from CPR and I love it for the smaller tanks. The only drawback is the pump being in the tank and blocking light. So I stuck cyphastrea under the shadow. [emoji6]

CPR makes several that I've seen and used, I'd suggest the one with built in skimmer as I had to add one for co2 scrubbing.

mlb7225 · Jan 24, 2017

Elementalj said:
I use the smallest one from CPR and I love it for the smaller tanks. The only drawback is the pump being in the tank and blocking light. So I stuck cyphastrea under the shadow. [emoji6]

CPR makes several that I've seen and used, I'd suggest the one with built in skimmer as I had to add one for co2 scrubbing.

Good point about the pump being in the actual tank. I need to look into that. I have a built in 'sump' in the back of my tank as it is the JBJ rimless model. I hope I can take the pump from the CPR model and place it into one of the baffles and fully submerged. I might have to put an extension pipe on it to reach??? I didn't see the CPR w/built in skimmer. I do love my Aquamax 1 HOB skimmer so will be hard to pull me away from that.

CodyRVA · Jan 24, 2017

I'd definitely use a HOB fuge, but honestly... I doubt this will make much of an impact on your nutrients alone. Typically you need a massive fuge to really export a lot of nutrients. I'd still set one up, but I'd run gfo, pellets, use RODI, avoid nutrient rich foods, etc... all on an as needed basis

AwildcatsZ · Jan 24, 2017

I also use a CPR HOB refugium on my 29 gallon. I've certainly seen a huge boost in POD population since using it. I cannot say it helps with the stability of water and removal of wastes, but I sure like to think so! My tank is very happy and water seems to be very stable (knock on wood).

It also works great as a place to add GFO, Carbon, or other filtration additives.

Elementalj · Jan 24, 2017

You put a strong enough light over it, you'll see the benefit. [emoji6]

Chrisfish · Jan 24, 2017

I had the Finnex HOB on my jbj 30 gal. RL with the water pump and was very happy with it.

Bdog4u2 · Jan 24, 2017

I run chaeto in sump area in the back of my 10 year old son's 5 gallon reef and it works great

mlb7225 · Jan 24, 2017

AwildcatsZ said:
I also use a CPR HOB refugium on my 29 gallon. I've certainly seen a huge boost in POD population since using it. I cannot say it helps with the stability of water and removal of wastes, but I sure like to think so! My tank is very happy and water seems to be very stable (knock on wood).

It also works great as a place to add GFO, Carbon, or other filtration additives.

I love the point on the POD population. I love mandarins so that will be a plus.

mlb7225 · Jan 24, 2017

Bdog4u2 said:
I run chaeto in sump area in the back of my 10 year old son's 5 gallon reef and it works great

I was actually looking at this on my first go round. I even bought the JBJ LED refug light for that purpose. I ended up running out of space between the chiller pump, return pumps, skimmer intake, etc. and couldn't see how I could keep chaeto in any specific area without it going everywhere.

saltyfilmfolks · Jan 24, 2017

I ran a 30g with a $14 breeder box fuge. yea, it works. I knew it wat time to clean it out when the glass on the tank got green quicker. tank ran 3.5 +years
https://www.amazon.com/Marina-Hang-...F8&qid=1485280486&sr=1-2&keywords=breeder+box
runs on an air pump. I also ran one on a $4 12dc pump in a 5g pico. that ran for 2 years.

Chrisfish · Jan 24, 2017

mlb7225 said:
I was actually looking at this on my first go round. I even bought the JBJ LED refug light for that purpose. I ended up running out of space between the chiller pump, return pumps, skimmer intake, etc. and couldn't see how I could keep chaeto in any specific area without it going everywhere.

As I said I took my hob off, well I placed the chaeto and rubble rock in the spare media basket and put it in the middle chamber, that way it is maintained.

Elementalj · Jan 24, 2017

The only issue that I foresee and have had with these has been surface skimming. If you have enough room you can use the skimmer attachments for canister filters that will fit inside the Rio pump intake. I don't have enough room in my little 5 1/2 gallon or I would've done that. I'll try to take some pictures later of a little set up that I've got so that you can see what I've got going on.

Elementalj · Jan 24, 2017

Here's a not so good one. But you get the picture.

Elementalj · Jan 24, 2017

That purple light is a gift from the heavens. It makes the ph swing almost non existent when timed right.

Elementalj · Jan 24, 2017

I would recommend that the sump itself be supported if it's on a rimless or on a super small tank. This fuge is supposed to hold two gallons I believe and that's a lot of stress on glass and acrylic.

mlb7225 · Jan 24, 2017

Elementalj said:
The only issue that I foresee and have had with these has been surface skimming. If you have enough room you can use the skimmer attachments for canister filters that will fit inside the Rio pump intake. I don't have enough room in my little 5 1/2 gallon or I would've done that. I'll try to take some pictures later of a little set up that I've got so that you can see what I've got going on.

On my 30g JBJ it has 2 built in overflows which fall into the small sump located on the backside of the tank. This allows for surface skimming. My intention is to then attach the HOB refuge onto the back of the sump.

mlb7225 · Jan 24, 2017

Elementalj said:
I would recommend that the sump itself be supported if it's on a rimless or on a super small tank. This fuge is supposed to hold two gallons I believe and that's a lot of stress on glass and acrylic.

I was thinking this too. The Aquafuge2 PS holds up to 4.5 g I believe. I will look at their install specs to see what thickness of glass they 'prefer' the HOB be installed on. Good point though, that is one failure I do not want to experience!!!