EvanStagnaro

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Hello everyone!

I recently set up a tank (within the past couple months) and have been trying to determine what an ideal flow rate is for my refugium section.

A little background... I have a 150 gallon display tank with a 13 gallon refugium, and about 15-18 gallons of additional water in the other areas of the sump, so roughly a 180 gallon system. My plumbing allows for me to give the refiugium its own flow rate, and I even have a flow sensor on the plumbing to that section of the tank. In the 'fuge I have MarinePure cubes, chaeto, and hopefully some copepods that are breeding...lol. I'm trying to determine what the best flow rate would be for the refugium that will both allow for the chaeto to absorb a decent amount of nutrients as water passes by, but also not too strong for the pods in there. Not even sure if that would be a big concern for them?

Thank you all in advance!
 

Subsea

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Thats a small refugium volume to display tank. Pods will flourish either way. They would probably prefer detritus to Chaeto.



Maximize your light and flow. If you are serious about maximizing, then evaluate effluent for change in pH, oxygen or carbon dioxide. Anyone of those three parameters will tell you your efficency/effect of algae refugium.

Personally, I would leave out the light and have a Cryptic Refugium”. If you want an opposite photo cycle to balance pH during night time low, I suggest more aeration to alleviate that issue.
 
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EvanStagnaro

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Thats a small refugium volume to display tank. Pods will flourish either way. They would probably prefer detritus to Chaeto.



Maximize your light and flow. If you are serious about maximizing, then evaluate effluent for change in pH, oxygen or carbon dioxide. Anyone of those three parameters will tell you your efficency/effect of algae refugium.

Personally, I would leave out the light and have a Cryptic Refugium”. If you want an opposite photo cycle to balance pH during night time low, I suggest more aeration to alleviate that issue.
Thank you for your tips! I appreciate the help!
 

MikeWill

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I have a small refugium below a 210- fudge section was only 10 gallons or so (out of 40 gallon sump). I think I liked tinkering with it more than any good it was doing for the tank. I had a hard time getting chaeto to even grow. Looking back over the last few months, I’m starting to wonder if I had the flow high enough. Once I did the math and realized I was turning the water over 2x an hour max I jacked it up. The tank is way louder but at least yo my eye it looks cleaner. My new theory is 10x turnover or juice not worth the squeeze
 

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