Refugium Refusal : Why would you NOT run a refugium?

[stanleo]

I think a refugium is vital to a larger tank. The smaller nano tanks I think can run quite well with frequent water changes and no fuge. But I would never run a larger tank (55 gallon and up) without one. I love how diverse my fuge is with life. It provides constant live food for my fish like pods and mysis shrimp. And the chaeto grows super fast. I harvested more than half of it just a couple weeks ago and gave all of that away. It has already almost doubled in volume. I spend just as much time watching the critters in my fuge as I do the critters in my display.

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

One day if I'm driving through Indianapolis, I'll hit you up! Thanks haha.

Sure, any time

 

[Crustaceon]

I don’t feel like they’re worth the extra effort, so I don’t run one. I’m just using a large protein skimmer, a filter sock and a weekly 10% water change (20g every saturday) for nutrient control and just that alone seems to be plenty. I’ve had my new system up for a few weeks and check out the growth tips on this birdsnest! (This is a 200ish gallon system)

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

Because I'm lazy?



Space has always been an issue for me.

 

[Crustaceon]

Very old tank. I already struggle to have detectable nitrate and phosphate. Most of my money instead goes to feeding fish and coral food and I feed heavy. I also regularly dose PNS bacteria. No way for me to tell how the lack of a refugium affects my tank's biodiversity, but corals are healthy and grow quickly. I also see all sorts of pods/stomatella on rocks and tank glass. I'm probably fine without a refugium and don't feel the need to change what's already been working for me.

The only benefit I probably could reap from having a refugium is an increase in pH if I grew macro algae but mine is already a steady 8.4.

I’m on the same page here. Water change is my primary nutrient control method and also a way I’m guaranteeing my tank always has not just trace elements, but a balanced ratio of them, which I think matters to some degree. I’m dosing saturated kalk on a kamoer fx-stp and use the higher magnesium in reef crystals to supplement that. If water changes alone can’t keep up with mag consumption, I’ll just manually dose mag to the water change trashcan before adding it to the tank. Also, I have a mandarin who seems to have no issues continually finding pods with the lack of a refugium, but will greedily eat any passing mysis or brine I dump into the tank. While a good talking point for guests, I just don’t see the added complexity and maintenance of a refugium or even an ATS as being worth it in my case.

 

[Twillyg21]

I have a Refugium in my Red Sea 3xl 900, 240 gallon system underneath in my cabinet, I run an in tank refugium for balance during the day when my fuge lights are off, and I just added a couple mangroves to grow out of my overflow and hopefully grow up to my vaulted ceilings over the next few years!

I run Sea Lettuce, Red Ogo, and Caulerpa Prolifera in my lower refugium, and just Red Ogo in my in tank refugium. I also keep some purple rock rubble in the in tank refugium that I epoxy frag to instead of plugs when I get new coral

 

[Struttmaster]

Still early days do me but have decided to add a hang on refugium to my sump I’m hoping the extra volume, although only 10 litres roughly will assist a little with stability on my 50g.

 

[kaylajoy]

I'm scared of plumbing. Besides my tank is already full of algae.

 

[Nhjmc]

I picked up a Finnex HOB fuge with Stingray led light thought it would be great for mostly pod cultivating since I have a mandarin, key words "thought it'd be a good idea".....yeah not so much and not sure if just a coincidence but have had nothing but major algae issues since setup so took it down. Also couldn't keep chaeto alive so gave up on it.

 

[nick0206]

I do not use a refugium and a scrubber at this time, since my current tank works like a ULNS on the Korallen-zucht philosophy.
I love to experiment and currently it is ULNS.
Before that, I had both a refugium and a scrubber.
If you ask me, I think there is much more benefit from a scrubber.

 

[fragit]

I’ve been doing some reading and thinking. I’m going to try and use my 40 breeder as a partial cryptic caulerpa fuge. I’m gonna pull most of the sand which I’ve discovered has solidified in spots. I’m going to fill half with rubble and smaller bits of rock bare bottom and higher flow. I’m gonna use this sort of as a barrier. The other half I’m going to light opposite my DT and have a 2” or so sand bed for the Caulerpa to root in. See how this works in my tank. After pulling my Cheato I would say my SPS have more color. I’m worried about hair Algea taking off in my DT, however I really think my fuge has been just a waste collector. Gonna try and do this in small steps and not all at once.

 

[ZoWhat]

Bc refugium rhymes with dumb

Refugidumb....

 

[Lex_510]

I personally prefer a dark sump with bio-media, as I use bacteria and carbon source, so a fuge is unnecessary. This all depends on how you prefer to run your tank. Fuge can also have it's drawbacks too, it just shows we can run our tanks many different ways

Hello, what are some drawbacks on a fuge

 

[Muffin87]

Hello, what are some drawbacks on a fuge

I suppose a fuge may add extra maintenance.
Depending on the size, configuration, presence of a sandbed, they may be difficult to keep clean and trap detritus that would otherwise be removed by filter roller, skimmer.
Not that bio-media also doesn't have that potential theoretically.
Biomedia on the other hand isn't necessarily gonna give you any benefits if you do carbon dosing. Some interesting BRStv investigates videos had shown marine pure bio media doesn't improve denitrification (tho I wonder if they had the right bacteria in the tanks), but I know that there've studies about siporax showing it does help with denitrification (example: Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification using Siporax™ packing)

 

[Perry]

Hello, what are some drawbacks on a fuge

1. Requires pruning which will effect nutrient parameters and possibly cause swings
2. Depending on macro algae, can go sexual
3. If used in sump, corraline alagae can become a nuisance and require more frequent maintenance on skimmer and pumps with citric acid for removal
4. Can be linked to pulling trace, an ICP analysis can assist in determining what trace are low, likely iron, but also perhaps manganese and others

A remote/show fuge is ideal if it's possible, a real nice way to add volume to the system and keep fuge stuff in the fuge

 

[MnFish1]

Hello, what are some drawbacks on a fuge

It's one more thing to worry about, leak, etc. I'm not sure there is MUCH benefit. It's basically (to me) - the same as having a sump - with more work. When the stuff in the Refugium 'escapes' into the tank - it can be a significant problem

 

[Borat]

If you don't run a REFUGIUM, you are a little girl scared of monsters!

 

[MnFish1]

If you don't run a REFUGIUM, you are a little girl scared of monsters!

Typical for Borat

 

[Sean Clark]

Hello, what are some drawbacks on a fuge

The biggest drawback is that someone may think that you have a freshwater planted tank.