Purigen in a reactor or a refugium?

GHOSTLY · Nov 8, 2022

So I have 3 chambers in my aio tank. I got the first chamber which is filled to the brim with marine pure spheres, an empty second chamber, and my return pump in my third. I have an extra reactor sitting around and purigen. My question is would it be better to run a refugium or a purigen reactor? I wouldn't be able to run the reactor at night since it's way too bright for me to sleep so I was wondering if It would be better to run purigen in a reactor or a refugium?

GHOSTLY · Nov 9, 2022

olonmv · Nov 9, 2022

Are you trying to reduce n03?

homer1475 · Nov 9, 2022

Why all the biomedia? Not enough rock in the display?

Never really found purigen to do much.

GHOSTLY · Nov 9, 2022

homer1475 said:
Why all the biomedia? Not enough rock in the display?

Never really found purigen to do much.

I don't have enough rock in the live display and I wanna keep nitrates and phosphates steady at what I want

GHOSTLY · Nov 9, 2022

olonmv said:
Are you trying to reduce n03?

Kinda? I'm trying to keep nitrates and organics lower in my tank but steady at the same time

JoJosReef · Nov 9, 2022

Just reading out of curiosity on the Purigen, but now after reading your sig line, I'm more curious about your heliofungia!

olonmv · Nov 9, 2022

GHOSTLY said:
Kinda? I'm trying to keep nitrates and organics lower in my tank but steady at the same time

I built a denitrator that works beautifully. It’s in its infancy but it’s reduced my nitrates from 36ppm to 5ppm and I’m currently tweaking the carbon dosage and am maintaining at 5ppm.

Spare time · Nov 9, 2022

I wouldn't waste money on purigen. Just use high quality carbon. Purigen is basically carbon that only removes tannins and nitrogenous waste (of which has to be urea in this case).

GHOSTLY · Nov 9, 2022

JoJosReef said:
Just reading out of curiosity on the Purigen, but now after reading your sig line, I'm more curious about your heliofungia!

My sig line? Sorry I don't understand

GHOSTLY · Nov 9, 2022

Spare time said:
I wouldn't waste money on purigen. Just use high quality carbon. Purigen is basically carbon that only removes tannins and nitrogenous waste (of which has to be urea in this case).

So something like rox or actual carbon dosing

Spare time · Nov 9, 2022

GHOSTLY said:
So something like rox or actual carbon dosing

I meant activated carbon (such as rox). I wouldn't really expect carbon or purigen to make a dent on preventing nitrate from forming. If you are wanting something for nitrate and phosphate, a refugium would be my choice

afrokobe · Nov 9, 2022

GHOSTLY said:
My sig line? Sorry I don't understand

referring to your signature "Change of plans I got a heliofungia instead"

Aspect · Nov 9, 2022

Purigen is much easier to use than carbon and doesn't need to be replaced as often. It's so small in a reactor that you need really low flow though, I would use it in a high flow area of sump.

GHOSTLY · Nov 9, 2022

afrokobe said:
referring to your signature "Change of plans I got a heliofungia instead"

OHHHH. Yeah I got a heliofungia... couldn't have passed that beautiful plate

JoJosReef · Nov 9, 2022

GHOSTLY said:
OHHHH. Yeah I got a heliofungia... couldn't have passed that beautiful plate

Pictures?

trevorhiller · Nov 9, 2022

I've got a little section in my tank (Cade 600) that is designed for media baskets that I pulled out. It's about 4x12x9 and I convereted it into a mini refugium area. It works okay, but with refugiums, bigger is better I believe and even this is pretty tight to be usable.

I don't think that you'll be able to make anything productive in a AIO chamber. As for Purigen, I used it on a smaller tank in the past in a HOB filter. I did like that it can be soaked in bleach and recharged.

Do you have a skimmer? I feel like that would be more productive for lower nutrients. Mechanical>Carbon>Skimmer>Return was how I ran my old tank. There isn't too much you can do with most AIOs as the chambers are pretty small.

I've ditched the biomedia in my tank and seen no change, I won't buy it ever again as I think its uncessary and a waste of money.

GHOSTLY · Nov 9, 2022

trevorhiller said:
I've got a little section in my tank (Cade 600) that is designed for media baskets that I pulled out. It's about 4x12x9 and I convereted it into a mini refugium area. It works okay, but with refugiums, bigger is better I believe and even this is pretty tight to be usable.

I don't think that you'll be able to make anything productive in a AIO chamber. As for Purigen, I used it on a smaller tank in the past in a HOB filter. I did like that it can be soaked in bleach and recharged.

Do you have a skimmer? I feel like that would be more productive for lower nutrients. Mechanical>Carbon>Skimmer>Return was how I ran my old tank. There isn't too much you can do with most AIOs as the chambers are pretty small.

I've ditched the biomedia in my tank and seen no change, I won't buy it ever again as I think its uncessary and a waste of money.

No skimmer but because its only 15g with lower stocking I didn't see the use of having one