Refugium Yes/No

[Bruno]

I'm setting up a new sump and I'm debating on adding a refugium. I have one now on muy present sump but I'm not sure if I should even bother.

So what do you folks think Yes or No


Thanks

 

[skinz78]

I say yes, I won't have a tank without one.

 

[PnoyToiTz]

Its depends on what you going to do. If you plan on dosing carbon, zeo etc. Your refugium will be useless .

 

[sprinklerdudes]

I have a beer budjet setup, after the tank had run for about a year, I set one up, it helped with algea outbreaks in the tank, and the refugium has tons of pods and shrimp, wich I belive help the fish and coral, I have moved it up by the tank, it is almost as interesting to watch as the tank itself, i do not see any down falls to it, if you have a high end system with carbon and high efficancy filters it wouldn't work well, because the plants wouldn't have anything to eat, a refugium is a cheaper and better natural filter in my opion

 

[Dez]

i have run both over the years and I find that the ultra low nutrient systems are easier to keep. I have never had an algae outbreak. The refugium does take up more real estate. I do enjoy seeing pods in the fuge though, however I sill see tons in my frag tank.

 

[beaslbob]

yes

 

[butts182]

I feel that a refugium has to be very large to have a great benefit.

 

[dakotasreef]

As my tank was cycling, I believe it was a benefit. But now that I have an ULNS I feel it would serve no purpose. I have a frag tank attached to my main tank and had some cheato, but once I reached ULNS it no longer grows. With the solid carbon dosing I do not have to add anything, and do not have the extra electricity of the fuge light.

 

[SlackTide]

refugiums are reefer perverted, a refugium is a place of safety and not a nutrient sink, if you have some delicate species to protect or want an area to grow pods, fine, if you want nutrient reduction via algae growth you should look at an algae scrubber maybe

 

[SaraB]

I'm kind of on the fence with the refugium on my system actually. I have a 75G Fuge and it HAD a Deep Sandbed (12") and I grow Chaeto in one half of it for nutrient export and I have liverock in both halves for the pods and critters to hide out in as well. Because I keep the flow lower in the fuge, I had a huge build-up of detritus and the sandbed became a nutrient sink and all but about 1" of the sand was removed a couple months ago. The chaeto grows well (i.e. plenty of nutrients), but do I really need a dedicated 75G with the extra water volume or can I get away with growing the macro algae in a basket in the sump or in my frag tank. I have intentions of doing some sort of dosing in the future .... so my fuge may be on its way out. I will also be able to deduct 75G from my 520 total volume, so that makes me happy!

Many tanks are going the route of ULNS (ultra low nutrient systems) with vodka dosing, Zeo, Prodibio or the pellets or liquid polymers from Instant Ocean ... so the question is are they really needed anymore or not. I'm starting the lean the direction of not personally, but I think it depends on your system and how you maintain it and what you are or are not dosing.

 

[vnreef]

Yes, 30 gal chaeto with some rock, 3 inch sand bed.

 

[scrapz]

refugium doesn't have to consist of macro algae. Refugium can just be live rock in a safe location away from predators. I'll always keep one so pods/mysids etc can reproduce safely, also good for new fish to acclimate while you prep them for prepared foods.

 

[Mr Beardsley]

Depending on what you are trying to achieve, you may want to just skip it. You can save money by not having to run another light or potentially another pump. Also without the refugium in the sump, you can take your sump out from time to time for a good scrubbing. My personal preference is to not have one.

 

[solitude127]

When I had my custom sump made, I debated about this as well. I ended up adding this to my sump design. I figure that if the fuge no longer had a purpose, I could always use it as a frag tank.