I've got a 260 gal FOWLR with a healthy fish load, which I feed generously to avoid tankmates snacking on each other. My filtration is strictly the live rock (Ready Reef) and 2-3" sandbed in the DT, and a sump with two filter socks in the overflow and a Reef Octopus skimmer. I have brown microalgae growing on my live rock, not bad but not pretty to look at either. I wanted to add a refugium to help bring down nitrates (generally 40-80 ppm despite weekly 20% water changes), minimize the microalgae, and also provide food for my fish (both macroalgae for my tangs, and pods for my wrasses and other smaller fish).
My sump is a straight sump, not a refugium, and since the tank is built into the wall I can't replace it, but I do have room to add a separate refugium under the tank, next to the sump. Due to access limitations the biggest I could fit is an 8 gal refugium, just one big chamber (aside from the return pump). The refugium will be elevated, so a pump in the main sump pumps water into it, and it will gravity drain back into the main sump.
This is my first refugium, so a few questions for the board:
My sump is a straight sump, not a refugium, and since the tank is built into the wall I can't replace it, but I do have room to add a separate refugium under the tank, next to the sump. Due to access limitations the biggest I could fit is an 8 gal refugium, just one big chamber (aside from the return pump). The refugium will be elevated, so a pump in the main sump pumps water into it, and it will gravity drain back into the main sump.
This is my first refugium, so a few questions for the board:
- Will an 8-gal dedicated refugium on a system this size be able to grow enough algae to make a difference in my nitrates? How big of a difference can I expect?
- From what I have read, it seems that you have to choose between a high flow to grow algae quickly for nutrient uptake, and a low flow to grow pods. Is that right? Will pods not be able to hang on to the algae in a refugium tuned for nutrient export?
- When stocking the refugium, I was planning to order the Refugium Starter Kit from LA, with a mix of chaeto, ulva and granularia algae, as well as amphipods and copepods. Have folks tried this kit? It seems like the right mix from the research I've done.
- I've got a filter sponge in my sump just before the return pump. Do I need to remove that enable the pods that get swept out of my refugium to get pumped up to the DT? Does the return pump not kill the pods?
