Is a refugium worth the time?

[Dcon89]

Hello, I set a fluval evo 13.5 3 months ago. I'm pretty sure its fully cycled based on tests. I was curious if a refugium worth it in this tank? I have the inTank media baskets in chamber 1 & 2. I've never set a refugium up so if you could give me pros v cons. Also if you think I should what kind of light, algae, tips, etc. could you recommend?

 

[splitting_lanes]

The time you spend is setup, and the time you save is all the extra water changes or other things you’d have to do to export all the nitrate and phosphate that the refugium will do for you.

i used to just keep a ball of chaeto in my biocube. Now I run a refugium on a reverse schedule on my reefer, super easy to take care of once you set it up.

 

[Dcon89]

I run in my sump filter floss/ sponge/ chemo blue/ then tons of bio spheres. If I was to do a refugium where should I put it in the line up?

 

[splitting_lanes]

I don’t have a good answer for you on that question.

I’ve run all those things in the past, and have some bio spheres under my chaeto now. I don’t run any floss or mechanical filtration any more, I gradually replaced it with biological.

of your existing filter components, which one can you make due without?

 

[av8soulfly]

I would dump the bio spheres (assuming they are the plastic things) and get marine pur balls or plates. They have an insane amount of surface area for bacteria...way more than bio balls. The space you save by ditching the bio balls should make space for your refugium.
Hope this gives you something to think about.
https://www.marinedepot.com/marinepure-high-performance-biofilter-media-plate

 

[DibsOnMcRibs]

There are hang on back refugiums that you can buy. I have one and it works well.

https://aquarium.bulkreefsupply.com/reefing/Cpr-Aquafuge2-Hang--On-Refugium
You could also make one using a hang on back filter. I’ve seen a few of them made using Aquaclear filters.