Large refugium

ben schiess · Nov 5, 2017

Does anyone on here run a very large refugium? I'm putting plans together for an 800 gallon tank and I'm looking to put one in I would like to get away from using gfo and do a more natural approach this time. Any advice on the subject would be great.

trevormass7 · Nov 5, 2017

I'm in the process of setting up a 20 gallon refugium plumbed to my 40g dt. I'll let you know how it goes

Mark Derail · Nov 5, 2017

My refugium is 1/4 the volume of my sump, and sump is 50% the volume of display.

I can't even imagine a 400g sump and a 100g refugium !!! That would be like a dozen bags of magic mud for the refugium.

You should make a build thread, I love seeing the plans, the build process, the decisions, and even the $$$ that it took to make it happen.

trevormass7 · Nov 5, 2017

I'll definetly follow that thread

pgravis · Nov 5, 2017

I have a 60 display, 75 gallon sump, and a 90 gallon fuge.

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 5, 2017

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/randys-tank-description.172508/

See post #8.

Tyler_Fishman · Nov 6, 2017

You may aswell turn your fuge into a display fuge, planted saltwater tanks are becoming more popular, some tanks I've seen rival freshwater planted tanks, and again fuges are somewhat over looked, a 10 gallon tank with a ball of macro algae in it is not efficient enough to completely remove all the nitrates and phosphates in say a 50 gallon system, honestly fuges should be big

ben schiess · Nov 6, 2017

Mark Derail said:
My refugium is 1/4 the volume of my sump, and sump is 50% the volume of display.

I can't even imagine a 400g sump and a 100g refugium !!! That would be like a dozen bags of magic mud for the refugium.

You should make a build thread, I love seeing the plans, the build process, the decisions, and even the $$$ that it took to make it happen.

I'm planning on making the refugium and sump a minimum of 600 gallons. When I start the project I'll definitely do a thread on progress, building it everything.

ben schiess · Nov 6, 2017

pgravis said:
I have a 60 display, 75 gallon sump, and a 90 gallon fuge.

Very nice! How does it keep up?

mort · Nov 6, 2017

One of my tanks runs with more refugium volume than display volume and the other tank has a roughly half volume fuge. The first tank is far more stable and nutrients levels have been consistently low. I don't run a skimmer very often as it doesn't seem to pull much out, go is a thing of the past and I only use carbon periodically to remove the yellowing you can get with macro algae. The corals thrive because of all the natural food. You can get the same results with less volume by cleverly utilising the best methods, so size isn't everything but it helps.

ben schiess · Nov 6, 2017

mort said:
One of my tanks runs with more refugium volume than display volume and the other tank has a roughly half volume fuge. The first tank is far more stable and nutrients levels have been consistently low. I don't run a skimmer very often as it doesn't seem to pull much out, go is a thing of the past and I only use carbon periodically to remove the yellowing you can get with macro algae. The corals thrive because of all the natural food. You can get the same results with less volume by cleverly utilising the best methods, so size isn't everything but it helps.

I agree I'm thinking build a custom refugium with less water volume but more surface area for micro algae. Like a huge breeder tank.

madweazl · Nov 6, 2017

Tyler_Fishman said:
You may aswell turn your fuge into a display fuge, planted saltwater tanks are becoming more popular, some tanks I've seen rival freshwater planted tanks, and again fuges are somewhat over looked, a 10 gallon tank with a ball of macro algae in it is not efficient enough to completely remove all the nitrates and phosphates in say a 50 gallon system, honestly fuges should be big

Based on what? I dose nitrates with an eight gallon refugium on a 75g display (73-74g total volume) that is fed quite heavily with 10 fish.

Tyler_Fishman · Nov 6, 2017

madweazl said:
Based on what? I dose nitrates with an eight gallon refugium on a 75g display (73-74g total volume) that is fed quite heavily with 10 fish.

Though remeber, your system must be healthy and you probably are up to par with your water changes, if you slack on your tank and have a "the refugium will take care of it" mentality, then a fuge probably can't handle all the nitrates and phosphates in a tank

madweazl · Nov 6, 2017

Tyler_Fishman said:
Though remeber, your system must be healthy and you probably are up to par with your water changes, if you slack on your tank and have a "the refugium will take care of it" mentality, then a fuge probably can't handle all the nitrates and phosphates in a tank

I do water changes of roughly 13% (10 gallons) every two to three weeks but when the phosphate levels are zero to near zero and the nitrate levels are undetectable to begin with, the water change has very little to export (not that a water change that size would do much to alleviate elevated levels to begin with).

I do have an issue with a Copps rainbow undata that just doesn't want to stay healthy (looks good for a while than starts to die off, rinse and repeat) and I haven't been able to pinpoint a root cause; the only thing I can test for that has fluctuated at all is the salinity which drops from 35ppt to 33.5ppt over the course of the water change cycle. I bring the salinity up gradually via ATO but it seems to respond positively right after the water changes and falls off gradually from there so it has me wondering if trace elements are a causal factor. Anyways, another topic.

BigRedSpecial · Nov 8, 2017

My 40g display has a 55 sump, of which somewhere around 28g is refugium on a reverse light schedule. With nothing other than a skimmer and water changes, it's the most stable, algae free tank I've ever seen.

I absolutely love Randy's Brute can setup; I'll likely emulate that for my next build.

pgravis · Nov 8, 2017

ben schiess said:
Very nice! How does it keep up?

It does well. I need to add a brighter light on the fuge (just use clamp on cfl, and a shop light). But the system is very stable.

Crabs McJones · Nov 8, 2017

ben schiess said:
Does anyone on here run a very large refugium? I'm putting plans together for an 800 gallon tank and I'm looking to put one in I would like to get away from using gfo and do a more natural approach this time. Any advice on the subject would be great.

I run a small one,but I've seen people that take 40G Breeders and make them a full fuge. Basically they have an overflow in their sump that takes water to the fuge, and then a pump that pumps the water back to the main tank. I'll see if I can find it and post it.