What do I really need for a refugium

[mtraylor]

If you are trying to export nutrients, I would not put sand in your refugium because over time it will trap detritus and other organics. With a refugium, you want a ton of flow in there, and I wouldn’t worry about adding pods because they will come with the macroalgae. I have a 60g refugium ties into my main system that keeps my po4 at 0 and my nitrate at .25 . I have 2 mp10s, live rock, and 5 different types of macro algae. You will definitely want a variety of macroalgae because each one takes of a different nutrients at a different rate. Having a wide variety of macroalgae, will uptake a wide variety of nutrients, along with heavy metals as well.

That's a nice show refugium I hear allot of people talking about them. Nice frag rack and anemone in there as well. What mixture of algae's are you using?

I wonder what the difference of your refugium would be if it was stocked to the hilt with chaeto. The flow wouldn't be as nice as it is in yours. That is for sure.

 

[NS Mike D]

Well ether way I would rather not have them if I can and bulk reef did a marine pure block text and found they really don't remove nitrates to kuch

if you have no corals, filter socks in your sump, and changing them weekly, will go a long way to removing detritus before it starts breaking down. you can really up your flow to keep detritus suspended and thus removed in the filter socks. this will reduce the need for water changes, and a lot easier that lugging water around.

and of course, the cheato will help keep nitrates and phosphates low, competing with algae for nutrients.

don't sweat 20 ppm.

 

[mtraylor]

I use filter socks. Have lots of corals. I get detrus build up only in the next chamber of the sump which is where my skimmer is. I don't see any anywhere else in the sump. I have no nitrates in my aquarium that I can measure, but I have to keep phosphates down with GFO. My chaeto doesn't remove it all.

 

[dankreef]

Chaeto also releases beneficial stuff into your water. I think my system is healthier with fuge. Just keep it trimmed back If your hitting 0

 

[Susan Edwards]

I typically run between 20-40 nitrates, 0-.1-.2 PO4. My corals are doing great, and I have no algae except coraline and some on the glass and back wall but not bad--a scrape every few weeks deals with it or the snails. I use phos guard for po4. when it climbs past .1 I put it in. When it bottoms out, I remove. I've decide not to stress about the nitrates. The tank and coral and fish are thriving

 

[Roggio]

I have five gallons of Pond Matrix in my fuge. The fuge has a separate feed pump from the sump so detritus isn’t really an issue. The Pond Matrix has become a great place for amphipods, mysdid shrimp, small anemones, sponges, and various other creatures to flourish. In the event I had to clean the fuge I could move the Pond Matrix around and get any buildup. It’s even visually pleasing. I highly recommend the Matrix and the Kessil 380 if you can afford it. If you have a calcium reactor it’s also worthwhile to drip the effluent into your fuge. I was also able to grow a substantial sponge population quickly with KZ’s Sponge Power.

 

[a119]

Bio reactor would do wonders

 

[Katrina71]

My KISS approach. Chaeto + jbj magnetic light. Pods love the chaeto.

 

[Forsaken77]

I have a pretty successful refugium, its been running for a year now. All I had for the longest time in it was chaeto. Over the last few months I have added a maxi jet pump to get more flow to the chaeto and began adding marine pure spheres. Id go with marine pure over live rock. I would suggest seeding it once you get up and running, with pods.

Refugiums are a pretty simple, yet highly effective component in a reef tank.

Just a quick safety precaution about seeding Marine Pure... You can easily get a bacterial bloom because it's so porous. Just don't add too much bacteria. You really don't need to seed it because bacteria will develop in no time, but just watch the amount added if you do.

While I agree, MP is a better thing than rock in a sump, I would go with the small squares or a large brick. The brick can house denitrificating bacteria and the cubes just make better use of the space than the spheres. I have the spheres and there's so much wasted space when they pile on top of each other. Just sayin .

 

[RobertP]

My kessil h380 grows chaeto so fast I have to harvest it every 2-3 weeks. Pods are cool but you will lose some when you harvest. Just buy some chaeto from LFS and there will be pods in it.
I also have 4 mangroves stubs/trees in my fuge. They prefer sand but I have none and they are growing roots and leaves.

 

[Joshua Agostoni]

I got the h 80 my refugium is only about 5 gallons

 

[Roggio]

Just a quick safety precaution about seeding Marine Pure... You can easily get a bacterial bloom because it's so porous. Just don't add too much bacteria. You really don't need to seed it because bacteria will develop in no time, but just watch the amount added if you do.

While I agree, MP is a better thing than rock in a sump, I would go with the small squares or a large brick. The brick can house denitrificating bacteria and the cubes just make better use of the space than the spheres. I have the spheres and there's so much wasted space when they pile on top of each other. Just sayin .

In my experience the bricks are much more fragile than the spheres. I originally bought a brick and now that it's close to a year old it's brittle enough to fall apart when you touch it. I seed all of my marinepure with Bio-Spira because I've found it to house denitrifying bacteria. The bloom concept is interesting. I haven't had it happen but they're typically harmless. Why not spend the 10 bucks and jump start your bio media. I have a brick and six gallons of spheres in my sump.

 

[TreyC2010]

I also had the kessil light, chaeto, and the marine pure blocks. Worked great for me. I didn’t seed it. You just need flow going through that chaeto. It doesn’t have to tumble but it does need the flow.

 

[Joshua Agostoni]

So I bought non live porous rock. Some algea a bottle of pods and a vessel h80 also bought a bottle of doctor tims to seed the rock

 

[Joshua Agostoni]

Mines mo tumbling but i think i have some good flow going through. My return pump cycles my tank about 3 times per hour I have 75 gallon system and I can see that the more algae sit on the side toward the pump from the water flow.

 

[Forsaken77]

In my experience the bricks are much more fragile than the spheres. I originally bought a brick and now that it's close to a year old it's brittle enough to fall apart when you touch it. I seed all of my marinepure with Bio-Spira because I've found it to house denitrifying bacteria. The bloom concept is interesting. I haven't had it happen but they're typically harmless. Why not spend the 10 bucks and jump start your bio media. I have a brick and six gallons of spheres in my sump.

Yea, I got the spheres before the small cubes came out (not the brick). I'm just concerned with my tank that too much MP may leech too much aluminum.

The spheres, a gallon, suit where I have them (under the filter socks) and I have an air stone down there so debris doesn't settle as much. But in a fuge section the flat cubes may occupy space better.

I used some Fritz sludge bacteria in a bucket of saltwater with the spheres overnight and when I put them in the tank... BAM... Crazy bloom. I had to call Fritz and ask them what to do because my skimmer was overflowing. They said to let the skimmer drain into a 5 gallon pail. That got rid of the bloom after about 3 gallons from the skimmer. May have been the type of bacteria I used that caused the bloom. It's harmless, but makes things a pain. Slimy glass and crazy skimmer, lol.

 

[Roggio]

Yea, I got the spheres before the small cubes came out (not the brick). I'm just concerned with my tank that too much MP may leech too much aluminum.

The spheres, a gallon, suit where I have them (under the filter socks) and I have an air stone down there so debris doesn't settle as much. But in a fuge section the flat cubes may occupy space better.

I used some Fritz sludge bacteria in a bucket of saltwater with the spheres overnight and when I put them in the tank... BAM... Crazy bloom. I had to call Fritz and ask them what to do because my skimmer was overflowing. They said to let the skimmer drain into a 5 gallon pail. That got rid of the bloom after about 3 gallons from the skimmer. May have been the type of bacteria I used that caused the bloom. It's harmless, but makes things a pain. Slimy glass and crazy skimmer, lol.

I’d say! Fritz is extremely potent. When I set up one of my systems with ammonia and dumped fritz in and it was a slimey mess. The fritz was so strong the tank went stagenent. I ended up having to dose in a bunch of Coca-cola to get the cycle to go.