What to put in refugium at start

[JosephM]

I have a 20 long that I’m converting to sump. Right now I’m at 7 inches for overflow that will run into sock and then go into a small chamber with matrix in some bags and then lead into a decent sized refugium. What has been working best for you guys in terms of substrate? And chaeto is out of stock in a lot of areas so I was going to go with sea lettuce and reg ogo from algae barn, are those good macro algaes? Do I add the algae when I first set the tank up or after it has been cycled? Thank you.

 

[KrisReef]

The algae needs nutrients and light to grow. Until the tank is cycled and you start feeding it regularly there shouldn't be much for algae to eat.
Scratch all that if you do an instant cycle with live rock and add fish?

 

[JosephM]

The algae needs nutrients and light to grow. Until the tank is cycled and you start feeding it regularly there shouldn't be much for algae to eat.
Scratch all that if you do an instant cycle with live rock and add fish?

I will have a 150w grow light over it. What do you feed them nutrient wise? And I’m planning on doing quite a lot of live rock so I’ll probably do half live rock half dry rock to help cut costs. Using live sand as well and will use turbo 9000, prime, and add a single hardy fish.

 

[KrisReef]

Plants eat nitrates and phosphates and carbon and light to grow. The first two are what people use a refuge for growing plants in a tank. The goal of plant growth is exporting excess nitrates and phosphates from the water.

(LOL_ Fritz Turbo 900?) "Turbo 9000" search gave me a car!

I would put all of the rock in the tank and let it soak in your new saltwater (that you made using RODI , not tap please) and afer 24-48 hours I would test the water for nitrate and phosphate. The new rock may release excess phosphate and nitrate when you start so that the plants will thrive, but it may not? That will depend on what is present on the rock when you start and only measuring will give you that answer. ( I have measured phosphate from dry rock.)

For reef tanks, folk like to keep phosphate around 0.05ppm or less, and nitrates less than 10ppm ( and lots of people have different target numbers less or greater than what I just provided) but for growing algae these numbers will get you started. If you have more nutrients then the algae grows faster but the higher numbers may not be ideal for some corals.

If you are only going to put fish in the system then you will have a lot more wiggle room with regards to nutrients and "numbers."

So the refuge with growing algae are designed to limit algae growth in the tank. If you have "clean" rock the new tank may not grow much algae. If you have "dirty" live rock you may grow tons of algae beginning on day one. That would be the case when you want to start the fuge the same day you start the tank. RUn the lights in the fuge and keep the tank dark so algae grows in the fuge.

Accurate test kits are very important for coral success when you are trying to get a new tank running. Hanna ULR phosphate test kit. People use different kits for nitrates, just avoid API test kits. You are better off without an API nutrient kit than having the numbers you will get with one, imo.

SOmebody else chime in and correct my errors and omissions. I am being called to make dinner and she is hungry. ME too. HTH

 

[JosephM]

Plants eat nitrates and phosphates and carbon and light to grow. The first two are what people use a refuge for growing plants in a tank. The goal of plant growth is exporting excess nitrates and phosphates from the water.

(LOL_ Fritz Turbo 900?) "Turbo 9000" search gave me a car!

I would put all of the rock in the tank and let it soak in your new saltwater (that you made using RODI , not tap please) and afer 24-48 hours I would test the water for nitrate and phosphate. The new rock may release excess phosphate and nitrate when you start so that the plants will thrive, but it may not? That will depend on what is present on the rock when you start and only measuring will give you that answer. ( I have measured phosphate from dry rock.)

For reef tanks, folk like to keep phosphate around 0.05ppm or less, and nitrates less than 10ppm ( and lots of people have different target numbers less or greater than what I just provided) but for growing algae these numbers will get you started. If you have more nutrients then the algae grows faster but the higher numbers may not be ideal for some corals.

If you are only going to put fish in the system then you will have a lot more wiggle room with regards to nutrients and "numbers."

So the refuge with growing algae are designed to limit algae growth in the tank. If you have "clean" rock the new tank may not grow much algae. If you have "dirty" live rock you may grow tons of algae beginning on day one. That would be the case when you want to start the fuge the same day you start the tank. RUn the lights in the fuge and keep the tank dark so algae grows in the fuge.

Accurate test kits are very important for coral success when you are trying to get a new tank running. Hanna ULR phosphate test kit. People use different kits for nitrates, just avoid API test kits. You are better off without an API nutrient kit than having the numbers you will get with one, imo.

SOmebody else chime in and correct my errors and omissions. I am being called to make dinner and she is hungry. ME too. HTH

Thank you for all of that useful information! And I meant to put turbostart 900, my bad.

 

[Ls7corvete]

You can always feed an empty tank to start a cycle, or a chunk of shrimp. That should be enough to keep your fuge macro alive.

 

[JosephM]

Would it be bad to do a bare bottom fuge? I’ve heard a lot about how hard it is to clean refugiums with any substrate.

 

[Ls7corvete]

Would it be bad to do a bare bottom fuge? I’ve heard a lot about how hard it is to clean refugiums with any substrate.

Not bad at all. Some people through in ceramic biomedia.

 

[BuBBly FiSh]

I have a 20 long that I’m converting to sump. Right now I’m at 7 inches for overflow that will run into sock and then go into a small chamber with matrix in some bags and then lead into a decent sized refugium. What has been working best for you guys in terms of substrate? And chaeto is out of stock in a lot of areas so I was going to go with sea lettuce and reg ogo from algae barn, are those good macro algaes? Do I add the algae when I first set the tank up or after it has been cycled? Thank you.

Turf scrubber then never (ever) worry about algae in your display