Display refugium effectiveness for nutrient export

[zwalter38]

So I’ve had a 135g tank set up for just a little under a year so far. I’ve been doing things a bit out of the ordinary in terms of filtering and plumbing. Basically I didn’t want to use a sump or a hang on the back skimmer. So the best thing I found was Macroalgae. I plumbed a 30gallon cube display refugium into the system to provide a source of nutrient export (Nitrates and Phosphates). The main display is then also filtered by two fluval fx4’s.

Basically my question is, is the 30g display fuge that is going to be dominated by caulerpa big enough to provide sufficient nutrient export for the 135g main display. I also do water changes about every 3 weeks or so. I understand it comes down to stocking in the main tank, what corals I will be housing in the main display and other specifics. I don’t have any specific plans so it’s hard to answer those questions. But I don’t plan on stocking too heavy and I don’t plan on venturing into sps corals. Mostly softies and a few Lps.

 

[Subsea]

So I’ve had a 135g tank set up for just a little under a year so far. I’ve been doing things a bit out of the ordinary in terms of filtering and plumbing. Basically I didn’t want to use a sump or a hang on the back skimmer. So the best thing I found was Macroalgae. I plumbed a 30gallon cube display refugium into the system to provide a source of nutrient export (Nitrates and Phosphates). The main display is then also filtered by two fluval fx4’s.

Basically my question is, is the 30g display fuge that is going to be dominated by caulerpa big enough to provide sufficient nutrient export for the 135g main display. I also do water changes about every 3 weeks or so. I understand it comes down to stocking in the main tank, what corals I will be housing in the main display and other specifics. I don’t have any specific plans so it’s hard to answer those questions. But I don’t plan on stocking too heavy and I don’t plan on venturing into sps corals. Mostly softies and a few Lps.

Big enough & sufficient are determined by how much you feed & your livestock. I don’t consider macro algae refugiums as much for nutrient export as a place to recycle nutrient into pods as live food and to grow ediable seaweed for your herbivores.

 

[Faurek]

Should be good enough, one thing I see in some of this type builds is not enough rock and media in the refugium.
If I ever did a separate refugium I would fill with a nice amount of ceramic media with holes in the middle and live rock, reason being is the ceramic can be all these tree:
Place for bacteria
Place for pods and other types of plankton
Anchor for macroalgae

Live rock will give the foundation to to start and effective biologically complete environment and the refugium will be a stabilizer for the display tank.
I would personally also use more then one type of macro algae.
This is just my opinion, you take it as you will.

 

[CHSUB]

I think yes, but definitely depends…haha! I would remove the canister filters, unless just filled with carbon and no mechanical media or cleaned more than weekly. You could do mangroves and nice macro algae that would become more interesting than the main DT.

 

[zwalter38]

I think yes, but definitely depends…haha! I would remove the canister filters, unless just filled with carbon and no mechanical media or cleaned more than weekly. You could do mangroves and nice macro algae that would become more interesting than the main DT.

Honestly I have considered taking out the canister filters. Well at least one of them. I figured I’d keep at a least one as mechanical filtration. But I really wanna use as much natural filtration as I can. things like sponges and feather dusters in the future.

 

[zwalter38]

Should be good enough, one thing I see in some of this type builds is not enough rock and media in the refugium.
If I ever did a separate refugium I would fill with a nice amount of ceramic media with holes in the middle and live rock, reason being is the ceramic can be all these tree:
Place for bacteria
Place for pods and other types of plankton
Anchor for macroalgae

Live rock will give the foundation to to start and effective biologically complete environment and the refugium will be a stabilizer for the display tank.
I would personally also use more then one type of macro algae.
This is just my opinion, you take it as you will.

I honestly never thought about using the ceramic media as anchors for the macro algae that’s a great idea. What kind of macro algae would you include in yours?

 

[GARRIGA]

Canister can function as a place to capture and decompose detritus which then feeds the Macroalgae thereby reduce the need for socks or other mechanical filters plus keeps the algae from getting clogged with detritus. Assuming efficiency and reduction of tasks appreciated. Plus in this format no need to open and service it as it’s likely not getting clogged. Did this in the 90s and worked which was appreciated as I didn’t have time to be constantly servicing the tank.

 

[zwalter38]

Canister can function as a place to capture and decompose detritus which then feeds the Macroalgae thereby reduce the need for socks or other mechanical filters plus keeps the algae from getting clogged with detritus. Assuming efficiency and reduction of tasks appreciated. Plus a n this format no need to open and service it as it’s likely not getting clogged. Did this in the 90s and worked which was appreciated as I didn’t have time to be constantly servicing the tank.

I have thought of that as well. I feel like the system I have pictured in my head will have significant growing pains, however once it stabilizes it will be fairly self sustaining except for occasional water changes and a few things that would needed to be dosed.

 

[GARRIGA]

I have thought of that as well. I feel like the system I have pictured in my head will have significant growing pains, however once it stabilizes it will be fairly self sustaining except for occasional water changes and a few things that would needed to be dosed.

Older I get the lazier I get and nature figured this out long before we all started and yet we sometimes over complicate a hobby intended to relax us with color and tranquility.

Consider Ulva as that's one of the best I've been told at processing nutrients although my favorite is Pom Pom because of the red color and more rigid structure along with Dragon's Breath because of how that looks under blue lights. Both lack the performance of caulerpa species but don't go sexual and I ran Pom Pom under 24/7 lights and it prospered. Guessing so would the others and in fact often recommended to avoid caulerpa from going sexual. One way to manage nutrients in how much juice the plants are provided in the form of light. Just keep an eye on trace as they will compete with corals and especially for iron. I dosed ChaetoGro without even testing and just by appearance of the algae. It looked good. I assumed it was plenty.

Here's an option if aesthetics not high on the list and all about performance and reducing the chance of GHA attaching. He has another video where there's chaeto growing Triton style and so think it holds a bottle of juice. Crazy.

 

[GARRIGA]

Check this out... Hold my pods :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

 

[zwalter38]

Older I get the lazier I get and nature figured this out long before we all started and yet we sometimes over complicate a hobby intended to relax us with color and tranquility.

Consider Ulva as that's one of the best I've been told at processing nutrients although my favorite is Pom Pom because of the red color and more rigid structure along with Dragon's Breath because of how that looks under blue lights. Both lack the performance of caulerpa species but don't go sexual and I ran Pom Pom under 24/7 lights and it prospered. Guessing so would the others and in fact often recommended to avoid caulerpa from going sexual. One way to manage nutrients in how much juice the plants are provided in the form of light. Just keep an eye on trace as they will compete with corals and especially for iron. I dosed ChaetoGro without even testing and just by appearance of the algae. It looked good. I assumed it was plenty.

Here's an option if aesthetics not high on the list and all about performance and reducing the chance of GHA attaching. He has another video where there's chaeto growing Triton style and so think it holds a bottle of juice. Crazy.

Yea I definitely am going to get a variety of different colors and types of macros. The refugium I’ve got is more of a display so just filling it with chaeto or something like that would be sorta ugly lol. I am debating using some behind the rock work but that is to be determined. I set it up once before but I had a little crash in the entire system and cyano took out most of the algae I had. I have since gotten it under control in my main display and I’m going to be doing a reset on my fuge. However when I did have it up and running it was working pretty well, I had some species of caulerpa and had no issues with it going sexual. I love the way most species of caulerpa look so I’ll just cross my fingers and keep a close eye on it.

 

[FUNGI]

Honestly I have considered taking out the canister filters. Well at least one of them. I figured I’d keep at a least one as mechanical filtration. But I really wanna use as much natural filtration as I can. things like sponges and feather dusters in the future.

remove the sponges (except last one to the pump intake) and fill with LR rubble.....Rinse out once a year....I have 3 FX6's on my 120G running that way....

 

[FUNGI]

and IMO, Chaeto would be a faster and better option.....

 

[zwalter38]

remove the sponges (except last one to the pump intake) and fill with LR rubble.....Rinse out once a year....I have 3 FX6's on my 120G running that way....

So my question is, what do you use for mechanical filtration then? Or do you not really bother with it? Also what do you have stocked in the tank in terms of fish and corals?

And I definitely don’t disagree that the chaeto would mostly likely be the most efficient. But I’m more so going for a natural look. Almost so I have two display tanks working together to create an ecosystem that will sustain itself (with a bit of help from me).

 

[FUNGI]

 

[FUNGI]

almost night time picture....so thats why so blue....I run a skimmer, chaeto reactor and 3FX6's.

 

[zwalter38]

Looks great! Do you have a sump then? I would assume not since you got the canisters. But the. How do you run the chaeto reactor and the skimmer.

 

[FUNGI]

LATE AFTERNOON ON THE REEF:

 

[FUNGI]

I dont have sump, I run Icecap K3-250 HOB skimmer and reactor is in-line....like this one

LR-200 Chaeto Algae 8" Reactor - Reef Octopus​

 

[FUNGI]

also, dont expect to see any changes in NO3 or Phosphates for several months after your refugium goes live....it will take time