Refugium in fluval evo

[MrMeanyHead]

Trying to plan out filtration chambers of fluval evo, any help would be appreciated.

I’ll refer to them as chambers 1-3, three being top and 1 being the bottom in the photo.

Currently I have return pump in chamber 3 and plan to put an ato there eventually.
Heater in chamber 2.
And 3D printed media basket in chamber 1. Currently running floss at the top, then once my cycle is done chemipure in the middle and then a bag of tidal 35 matrix in the bottom of the first chamber.

I want to try and run a refugium but can’t figure out the spacing for everything to fit it. Also going to eventually get an ai prime and mount it near the back there.

So basically 2 questions, one is a refugium worth it for a nano tank, and two would you lay it out.

Thanks in advance.

 

[StradicCi4]

you likely wont need a refugium, just keep up with your waterchanges, in a small tank such as that, doing 10g a month is easy.

 

[MrMeanyHead]

you likely wont need a refugium, just keep up with your waterchanges, in a small tank such as that, doing 10g a month is easy.

Sorry should have added, I wanted to be able to have copepods in the tank to help with biodiversity and as a possible supplemental food source for a Pygmy waspfish.

I plan on having some macro algae in the display but wanted to know if it would be good to have more in the back. Or to just dose pods every now and then.

 

[XSidsReef]

Hi - a little late to the thread (joined more recently) but I've found a refugium helped me with my pods and reducing nutrients in the display - more so as I learned that running a fuge light opposite the display light schedule helps keep my ph and alk stable. I had started in chamber 2 of the EVO 13, moved to a HOB refugium I cobbled together, then moved back to chamber 2 to keep things simpler. I've 3D printed a number of different versions, but going with simplicity I just have a simple chamber with a coarse sponge at the bottom so the Chaeto doesn't suck through into the return pump. I put a light on the outside, need to build a shield to block chamber 1 and 3 but it hasn't cause any algae issues there yet.

Chamber 1 is my overflow to filter floss and biological filtration, chamber 2 refugium with some rock rubble in bottom below the built in shelf for default included sponge filtration, and return pump and heater in chamber 3. I monitor chamber 3 for water level and have a simple bottle ATO I hang on the rim so the level doesn't get too low for the heater and maintains at the right salinity level due to evaporation.

Did you end up making one? You could also put a copepod hotel/condo in the bottom or in the display somewhere inconspicuous for the pod population. :)