Refugiums: Do's, don'ts, and what to look for.

[Mr.Acro]

Hey all,

Thought we could start a thread on how to run a successful refugium. These are important, yet often overlooked, aspects of our ecosystems. Any advice to beginners and advanced aquarists alike would be valued.

Thanks and happy reefing.

-Mr.Acro

 

[Crabs McJones]

I've been running a Chaeto refugium for quite some time now. It's a bare refugium with a ball of chaeto that is approximately 12% of my display tank water volume. It's lit by a Kessil H380. I'm pulling out a good amount of chaeto about every 2 weeks.

 

[ca1ore]

Have sensible expectations. A tiny refugium will have tiny benefits; a large one, large benefits. I'd suggest 10% of display size at minimum ...... no maximum. Mine was 25%; then I got a bigger tank, now it's 10%

 

[Crabs McJones]

Have sensible expectations. A tiny refugium will have tiny benefits; a large one, large benefits. I'd suggest 10% of display size at minimum ...... no maximum. Mine was 25%; then I got a bigger tank, now it's 10%

Sounds like it's time for a sump upgrade then or remote refugium. Display refugium would be pretty cool. Always wanted to try that.

 

[LBReefer]

Any suggestions on how to plumb a remote refugium?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Any suggestions on how to plumb a remote refugium?

Couple ways you can do it. You can basically think of it as another sump. You can have the water overflow from your sump to the fuge and then pump it back to the sump or display tank. Or if your fuge is going to be level or higher than your sump you can have your return pump send the water to the fuge and then a return pump send the water back to the display.

 

[Forsaken77]

Are we talking a real refugium, with sand or mud, rock, assorted creatures, or are we talking an area for algae growth? Two different things where the term "refugium" is used interchangeably.

 

[ca1ore]

Any suggestions on how to plumb a remote refugium?

I actually have a separate refugium on my system. It's a 120XH, but mostly in service of those animals that weren't thriving in the display. I guess I interpreted the OP question as pertaining to typical chaeto-based refugia; pod producers and nutrient consumers. In that sense mine is nominally 50 gallons, and somewhat small for a 450 display. My separate refugium is actually fed from one of the siphon drains from my main tank (I always try to take advantage of gravity rather than an extra pump) and then drains into the main sump. As long as the lowest sump is big enough, you can drain multiple tanks without issue.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Are we talking a real refugium, with sand or mud, rock, assorted creatures, or are we talking an area for algae growth? Two different things where the term "refugium" is used interchangeably.

IMHO they are both refugiums, just slightly different end goals in mind. It's kind of like 'Live Rock'. Are we talking rock with good bacteria for processing ammonia and nitrite or rock covered in all kinds of 'other stuff' like coraline algae, other algae, sponges, feather dusters and more. They are both live rock, just slightly different end desires. Sumps and refugiums can be very useful, but they are by no means required.

I had a 65g shallow reef (4'x2'x1') and a 25g frag tank that were both tied into a 125g sump/refugium (80% refugium, 20% filter socks and skimmer). The fuge was 30% chaeto and 70 live rock as there was very little rock in the tanks. I never had issues with nitrate or phosphate. Almost everything I tried in the tank did well... almost. And because I live in SW Florida I would bring home all kinds of critters from beach walks along the Gulf of Mexico or from snorkel trips to the Florida Keys.

But at the same time, I currently have downsized from 4 tanks to just one. And for the past 2 months the only thing my 50g cube is attached to is a Brute trash can with a filter sock, 25g of water and a return pump, not even any live rock and no skimmer! However that will change as I've made a new sump/refugium (40g) and ordered a new skimmer. But as it is, the stuff in the cube are doing just fine. I have lots of zoas, a few lps and sps corals, 30+ rock flower anemones, some RBTA and maxi-mini anemones, a few feather dusters, shrimp, fish, serpent stars, 2 different sea cucumbers, snails, crabs, 2 small urchins, macro algae and 2 mangroves!

 

[SteadyC]

Most important concepts for me. Powerful light with right spectrum. Don’t run light too low on the algae, or get an adjustable intensity light. My H380 is about 18 inches off the water. It’s not adjustable, so I have to watch how close I run it. Run light opposite of display lights, this is because CO2 builds up after corals are using it. Algae needs CO2 also, thus the algae light should be on as the CO2 increases after display lights turn off. Do not run algae light 24 hours, there are studies that show this is not beneficial.

If you use kalk, dose kalk after the algae. This is because kalk is high in PH and thus little CO2 available. If you run calcium reactor, dose before algae as it is high in CO2. If your dosing 2 part, I don’t know if it matters.

Some minor and trace elements might be needed to aid in growth as well, such as iron. But do your research on where your tank is nutrient wise, before adding iron. Just be aware, that even if you have available nutrients, and your algae doesn’t grow, other limited elements might be why. I have lots of chaeto, it grows like a weed, and I dose iodine and iron. One reason I do is because my nutrients are really low, less than 1 nitrate and .02 phosphate.

 

[Maxwell Long]

I've been running a Chaeto refugium for quite some time now. It's a bare refugium with a ball of chaeto that is approximately 12% of my display tank water volume. It's lit by a Kessil H380. I'm pulling out a good amount of chaeto about every 2 weeks.

I literally just set one up this weekend exactly like yours. Mine is ~10% system volume, with probably not quite 10x flow. I’m loving the kessil h380, but was curious of two things - how long do you have yours set for, and how high is it above the water surface, and how high above the ball of chaeto is it?

 

[Crabs McJones]

I literally just set one up this weekend exactly like yours. Mine is ~10% system volume, with probably not quite 10x flow. I’m loving the kessil h380, but was curious of two things - how long do you have yours set for, and how high is it above the water surface, and how high above the ball of chaeto is it?

Due to height restrictions mine is about 10" above the waters surface. I run mine for 4 hours a night. The chaeto sits around a foot away from the light.

 

[Maxwell Long]

Due to height restrictions mine is about 10" above the waters surface. I run mine for 4 hours a night. The chaeto sits around a foot away from the light.

Thank you. I have height restrictions too, so mine is similar. I’m running for 12 hours at night, but may cut that back after hearing of your success.

 

[Captain Quint]

Couple ways you can do it. You can basically think of it as another sump. You can have the water overflow from your sump to the fuge and then pump it back to the sump or display tank. Or if your fuge is going to be level or higher than your sump you can have your return pump send the water to the fuge and then a return pump send the water back to the display.

+1 with Crabs Mcjones as a fuge can be done many ways. I love to make remote fuges. Gravity fed or pump fed as well as in sump dedicated fuge areas. Some good DIY info out there. I'll try to look through some of my picks for variations on different fuges I've done.

I say 'fuge' as a refugium IMHO naturally takes place in time whether it bee in the OF, plumbing or other parts of the system.

 

[Captain Quint]

Hey all,

Thought we could start a thread on how to run a successful refugium. These are important, yet often overlooked, aspects of our ecosystems. Any advice to beginners and advanced aquarists alike would be valued.

Thanks and happy reefing.

-Mr.Acro

Great thread!

 

[Captain Quint]

+1 with Crabs Mcjones as a fuge can be done many ways. I love to make remote fuges. Gravity fed or pump fed as well as in sump dedicated fuge areas. Some good DIY info out there. I'll try to look through some of my picks for variations on different fuges I've done.

I say 'fuge' as a refugium IMHO naturally takes place in time whether it bee in the OF, plumbing or other parts of the system.

I do know how to spell be versus bee...laughing at self for not proofreading. haha

 

[User1]

My sump doesn't have a area for this. I wish it did but then again another part of me thinks it should be separate. Thus why it doesn't have it. Having said that I do plan on adding a secondary unit - either a 40 breeder I have or a 29 gallon bio-cube. More than likely it will be the bio-cube once I see if I can drill it properly. I'm not really looking for nutrient export although it will be a by-product of growing algae to feed my tangs. When I had my 100 gallon years back I was growing IPSF's tang heaving and of course my yellow and kole tang love it. A simple package to start with, let it build up, and it was more or less self sustaining after that. I'd also like to get the pods out of there but I'm not sure how they will get from one tank to the other since I believe the drains will be high.

 

[lion king]

For me, the key to my success or failure has been flow. Debating on lighting is fine, many people are successfully with many different types of lighting; but if you study really hard you'll find macros respond best to warm white light ranging anywhere from 3200k to 8000k and combinations there of.

I never had success with refugiums in a flow through sump design, having very high flow. A separate refugium with flow control I found to be absolutely necessary. Even in high flow refugiums my macros were healthy, but just didn't do it's job, minimum nutrient uptake. Running flow closer to 250-300gph has been the perfect solution for me. In the same systems when I ditched the flow through refugiums with high flow, and replaced with macro algae reactors using an mj1200(262gph), nutrients have now dropped to minimum in both tanks I did this with.

 

[lbacha]

Macro algae refugiums are very dependent on balanced nutrients and good lighting. If you have no nitrates and high phosphates macro algae won't grow well and you won't reduce phosphates and vice versa if you have low phosphates. The amount of light also dictates how fast the algae grows and therefore removes nutrients. I have also found that if I forget to harvest my algae the fuge becomes inefficient. I attribute this to reduced flow through the algae and the inability for the light to penetrate past the first couple inches. For this reason reducing the amount of algae actually makes it more efficient.

 

[Maxwell Long]

Day 1 of my chaeto refugium - lots of floaters. Any idea what this is and should I be taking action?