AIO Chamber Refugium Worth It?

[Ktran350]

Yes, thank you. I took it down. Although the Chaetomorpha did not die, it did not grow either. I decided my system was too young and the nutrients too low (I usually hover around 1-2 ppm Nitrate and <0.05 ppm Phosphate). I did grow a lot of hard to scrape green film algae on the acrylic and glass panes in the chamber and Cyanobacteria over the Chaetomorpha. That nuisance ultimately made me decide to give it up for now.

I did leave my grow light in place, so as my system matures, livestock is added and nutrients rise, I may try again.

Where did you eventually place it? How old was your tank when you the refugium installed? I’m hovering around the 2.5-5 ppm nitrate and .02 Phosphate. Just looking at doing something similar and install it in section 5 of your diagram in the bottom of an intank media basket.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I have the same tank and have my fuge in what is listed as chamber 2 on the first page. I did build a basket for that chamber to help with holding everything in place. It was just some egg crate zip tied together, but it works. For light I used a DIY light made from 3 of the led grow bulbs you get at Home Depot. I do not grow cheato in that tank though. I grow gracilaria, as my blennies love it. For my tank, it has helped a ton for NO3 and PO4. I feed heavy and have probably more of a bioload then I should, so the macro has nutrients. For example I was always at about 10-20 NO3 and now sit at about 2-5. That is where I want to be as this is mainly a softie tank. The only downside is having to remove a handful of macro every week. But that is not to bad lol. Drop some in the display, blennies eat it, throw some on a clip for the tangs in the big tank, and chunk the rest or feed it to the goats lol.

I also need to mention, I do have some green algae that grows on the glass, but once a month it gets scrubbed off and is never hard to remove.

 

[RyanReef]

+1 algae reactor. The reactor works well uses very little space and, most importantly, keeps the light and algae contained so algae does not grow all over your sump making a mess. I only wrapped 3/4 of mine because I think the light looks cool and I can see how full it is but you could black it out compleatly. I also run the return into a filter sock so no loose algae, down side to this is no pods. I restart it with the top amount shown and have no matinance for months.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Where did you eventually place it? How old was your tank when you the refugium installed? I’m hovering around the 2.5-5 ppm nitrate and .02 Phosphate. Just looking at doing something similar and install it in section 5 of your diagram in the bottom of an intank media basket.

I had it in the second chamber in an InTank Fuge Basket. I started it about one month into the tank if I recall. I never had a “cycle” per se as I used live rock.

 

[SteveEreef]

I have the fuge in the second chamber on 32 gallon biocube with carbon in a media bag and filter floss on top. I was running 24 hrs a day but my nitrates seem to drop too low. I’m now running at night to mainly keep the ph stable. I also run a skimmer during the day. Started to feed a little heavier to see if I can raise the NO3 a bit.

 

[ReeferReefer]

What lights are everyone using to mount to the back of the tank?