Powerhead in the Refugium... What?

[OffTopic]

Hello,

So I was scrolling through R2R and I saw that some people use Powerheads in their Refugiums. I assume they are used for additional circulation and cause surface disturbance. My question, are powerhead's truly beneficial for the refugium or is great Chaeto growth doable without having a powerhead in the Refugium.

Thanks

 

[Ebone]

I keep one in mine, it runs 15 min every hour... spins the chaeto and stirs up everything

 

[PDR]

Hello,

So I was scrolling through R2R and I saw that some people use Powerheads in their Refugiums. I assume they are used for additional circulation and cause surface disturbance. My question, are powerhead's truly beneficial for the refugium or is great Chaeto growth doable without having a powerhead in the Refugium.

Thanks

Imo it really depends on the individual fuge. I ran a successful fuge with and without extra powerheads. You should be able to grow chaeto just fine without one.

 

[cracker]

Hello, I run a power head in my refugium 24/7 . I think it's a Maxi jet 1200 with the foam filter over the intake . This keeps the bits & pieces of chaeto from clogging the pump. I have a nice big green ball of chaeto rolling . It also stirs up crud that wants to build up.

 

[Reefpuck]

My return pump just tees off and dumps water in my fuge (like most people's probably do). If you use a ball valve, and split the flow into different directions, you can adjust flow as needed and should be fine.

Always trying to avoid an extra plug if I can.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I don’t prefer or reccomend it.

A sump is a gravity filter. Organics have weight and in a low flow area they sink. The baffles also stop particles before they get to the return pump and sink as well.
IMO , a power head is going stir stuff up and send it back to the display or not let it settle and send it back to the display.
A higher return rate will do more for macros.(part of the triton method) Spinning chato is neat , but not a need.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I agree with saltyfilmfolks to a point. Having stuff settle out in a sump CAN be part of its usefulness.

But I go a different route. I use filter socks so not nearly as much 'stuff' gets into the sump. So I don't run a powerhead or wavemaker in my sump, I run a gyre and stir it up good. The skimmer will remove some of the stuff the filter socks and algae don't get. And some of it will even end up back in the DT. I don't think that's a problem. And based strictly on how my corals, fish and other invers are doing, I think they agree. In fact my rock flower anemones have spawned twice in the last year and I've gone from 5 to 17 to over 35.

 

[teller]

Depend on your water movement in the refugium. I have an open sump so I use a low power powerhead, 3w tunze 6015 to help with my chaeto.
Só IMO depends on the water flow in refugium. I believe all creatures like constant flow around them, no matter if is sponges, macro algae or others.