HoB Refugium

[Hugh Mann]

I have a 55 gallon predator tank, and as such, I get fairly high nitrates, and need a way to bring them down without very frequent water changes, and I hear a refugium is the way to go.

My tank is not drilled for a sump, so I have to go for a HoB style, which will also help with circulation/oxygenation so I won't complain.

Anyways, my plan is to use an Aquaclear 70 with some live rock rubble, macro algae and copepods.

My Questions
Does anyone see any issues with this setup?

Where does a person source macro algae and whatnot? I assume they don't just materialize in the water.

What about lighting? Will my two lights hanging 18" over the tank provide enough light, or will I need a separate, smaller light specifically for the refugium, and if so, what is a good, yet inexpensive model?

Are there any other passive ways to keep nitrates in check?

Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to this long post.

 

[TheDragonsReef]

Look into an algea scrubber or cheato reactor. Both are more efficient. I have a hang on refuguim and at first it couldnt sustain algea cause there wasnt enough flow. so i added a small wave maker and now its working ok but i feel its not very efficient for the size and needs to be cleaned often. Probably going to change it out at some point.

 

[Hugh Mann]

I read up on those, most of them seem rather expensive and/or bulky. I've got a rather limited amount of space to work with.

As long as it works, I'm not overly concerned about efficiency, does yours do the job of controlling nitrates?

 

[TheDragonsReef]

I put it on to help with phosphates. Ive never had a nitrate problem. And it does help but not to the extent i was hoping, i think its just too small. A cheato reactor takes up the least space of all the options. If your space limited i would go that route.

 

[Hugh Mann]

What size/flow rate of pump were you using for it? Thinking if that's the issue I can just use a larger HoB filter.

I've done some reading on both systems, refugium and chaeto reactor, and I don't see much of a difference between the two?

 

[TheDragonsReef]

I was using the supplied pump that came with it. The reactor is just a contained refugium but you can put it anywhere which is the benefit.