120g refugium sizing question

Njdevils1220 · May 26, 2018

Hello all, I’m in the process of building a 120 system. I am planning to use a refugium in my system and had questions regarding the sizing..
My question is this; is there going to be that big of a difference when it comes to nutrient export if I use the second chamber vs the first?
My sump is 36x18x16, the first chamber is 17x18 and the second is 12x18. The sump I am using offers the ability to use either the first or second chamber as the refugium.
If I use the first chamber my Fuge will be close to 20g but I give up the option of running filter socks to polish the water *I don’t constantly run socks*.

Crabs McJones · May 26, 2018

Njdevils1220 said:
Hello all, I’m in the process of building a 120 system. I am planning to use a refugium in my system and had questions regarding the sizing..
My question is this; is there going to be that big of a difference when it comes to nutrient export if I use the second chamber vs the first?
My sump is 36x18x16, the first chamber is 17x18 and the second is 12x18. The sump I am using offers the ability to use either the first or second chamber as the refugium.
If I use the first chamber my Fuge will be close to 20g but I give up the option of running filter socks to polish the water *I don’t constantly run socks*.

Personally if you can use either or, I'd go with the bigger chamber. Gives you more potential room to grow your macro algae for better nutrient export :)

Njdevils1220 · May 27, 2018

Larg

Crabs Mcjones said:
Personally if you can use either or, I'd go with the bigger chamber. Gives you more potential room to grow your macro algae for better nutrient export :)

Larger chaeto size doesn’t mean better per say, denser chaeto with better color means it’s doing better absorption.