Why isn't everyone using a refugium?

[LgTas]

I would love a refugium, in fact I have tried several times on several different systems. It just did not work for me . I used various lights, various "flow" patterns and bought cheato from multiple sources...but the cheato wouldn't grow, shrivle and get taken over by GHA. However, GHA grows so fast for me its almost unavoidable, so decided to go with an ATS. I would love to have a large thriving fuge with various algae's and microorganisms.

I had the same issues with cheato... melted multiple batches of it.

then one day I noticed a small macro algae was growing on one of my rocks in the sump. Turned out to be a species of Caulerpa. Not sure how it got in, potentially via the NSW I use, but its been amazing in all three fuges.

Try different species/genera and you may find something that will work for you.

 

[Robs Reef]

Been using refugium since 1996, works well for me.

 

[Kuzurí]

I have a Reefer 170 and a Red Sea RSK 300 skimmer (a bit over sized), setup is just over 2 years old. I've been trying to get a refugium going for a while, mostly for algae control and to increase pod population for my mandarin. I can't seem to get the Cheato going. Perhaps the space is too small, at around 9x3" footprint.

Currently my fug is after my skimmer. I've considered swapping them, since that would increase the space a bit, but would make lighting more difficult to arrange. I've also considered taking the skimmer offline (if I had to pick one, I'd rather the fug), to substantially increase the fug space, but I fear doing so would cause issues at first since this is a fairly established tank. For that reason, I think I'll keep trying with my narrow fug and hope for some luck I suppose.

 

[navada718]

For me, it comes back to a 3 letter acronym. AIO. I may be upgrading to a tank with a sump, so maybe I'll have one soon.

I have an 50 gal aio & added a Fiji cube hob refugium a couple of months ago. Definitely worth it.

 

[TMC]

I just built a new sump with a refugium section for macro a month ago because I couldn't get my nitrates and phosphates under control I don't know if it is because the nitrates, phosphates or something else but when they got pretty high I lost all three emeralds a peppermint and all but two of my hermits so over two weeks I changed 93 gal in a 95 gal system and was barely able to maintain since I added the Ulva my nitrates and phosphates has slowly but steadily dropped once I get to where I want hem I will adjust my lighting to maintain.