Refugium Refusal : Why would you NOT run a refugium?

[Crevalle]

I prefer a refugium with plenty of pods and red ogo instead of cheato. To each their own.

 

[ultraArcite]

1. Why don't you have a refugium running on your reef tank?

I do have one!

2. If you are running a refugium tell us about how they are worth setting up and maintaining?

I like that all the filtration is out of sight. It also allows me to run a protein skimmer easily. I have two types of algae along with copepods in my refugium. I set the day/night cycle to run opposite of the display tank so the algae are creating oxygen when the lights are off in the display tank.

 

[ultraArcite]

I have a refugium ready to go, just not running because I can't find chaeto

Live Aquaria has had it in Diver's Den most evenings!

 

[AJsReef]

Dump.one or the other. I would remove the Clarisea and see how it goes. I don't use any form.if prefiltration.

Valid point, very much prefer the simplicity of changing a filter mat every 6-8 weeks vs allowing detritus into the sump/refuge and the cleaning that entails. With the roller mat, my sump stays pretty much spotless and when I tear down my pumps to clean there is very little to actually clean.

I have considered adding a fuge coming off my manifold and just running low flow and or minimal hours a day lighting just to increase microfauna

 

[Siberwulf]

New 90 gallon and I have one going!

 

[MnFish1]

The refugium is an auxiliary tank on your main, display tank. It serves as a sort of refuge for both primary producers and primary consumers (i.e. intermediaries) such as pods. There, desirable and beneficial macroalgae are cultivated out of the reach of large, gluttonous herbivores such as tangs. Pods proliferate there too, safe from the constant predatory pressure of small fishes like damsels, gobies, etc. Even so, as the pods reproduce, they drift out of the refugium into the main tank to continuously feed fishes, corals, and so on. As the macroalgal bed grows to maximal carrying capacity, it is harvested and either discarded or (better yet!) fed out as a nutritious live veggie for fish and invert herbivores in the main tank. - Thanks AlgaeBarn

What's not to love about refugiums and why would you not set one up on your reef tank? Let's talk about it!

1. Why don't you have a refugium running on your reef tank?

Tried it, wasn't worth the time, effort, expense or monitoring. My tank does fine without it. I understand the rationale - if you want to lower nutrients with algae. For me the expense and potential issues with lighting, space, etc - was not worth the expense and issues. An algae reactor was smaller, easier, less expensive to run/maintain and did the same thing as when I had a Refugium.

2. If you are running a refugium tell us about how they are worth setting up and maintaining?

 

[Screwgunner]

The only reason I don't run a refugium is I run algea turf scrubber.

 

[zukihara]

This is called a refusium obviously.

 

[FLSharkvictim]

Rather would run an Alage srubber!

 

[WiscoFishNut]

1. I tried running a baseball/softball sized clump[ of chaeto previously, but it didn't work out. The problem I have is real estate. I'm using a cube sump (FijiCube20) and the fuge section wasn't big enough for what I was trying. The chaeto grew fine, but it also become a hot mess because it started getting overran by other types of algae.

I'm guessing I could have got it to work if I played with the light schedule a bit and maybe trimmed it back more so it could "tumble", but I got sick of messing with it. It sucks because it did an awesome job of keeping nitrates down (5'ish); now I'm running 10-15(sometimes 20) NO3 between WC's. I'm torn between trying it again, or using a reactor with biopellets..

 

[Klyle]

Algae. That's why. I like a clean sump and a fuge makes it very difficult to maintain. It's for this reason I just purchased a Pax Bellum ARID. Can't wait to get it going because why wouldn't you want to export nutrients via chaeto?!

 

[Clueless_Reefer]

I'm running a dedicated chaeto chamber in my sump. I've found it only works well if you are blasting it with a Kessil grow light - when I've culled the bulk off to give to the local shops...they don't use the same lights and withing weeks it ends up falling apart (not dying necessarily...just the mass falls apart).

The biggest downfall is that it does get messy with the nutrient export - there's globs that end up getting discharged from the ball which routinely need to be cleaned up. Also, the chamber itself gets yucky from the excess algae which grows by default of having that light blasting into the chamber. I've also determined i need more flow in my new sump to help keep it happy with fresh flow...so that'll be a DIY project eventually.

Lastly - if you don't have a situation where the chaeto is always submerged, every few days your going to need to flip it over because it'll grow/float upwards toward the light and get bleached out.

Overall though - I noticed a significant PH drop when I took my chaeto offline for 4 months when dosing Vibrant. Since we have impact windows (but still have a fresh air intake for our AC unit), there's still not enough fresh air to keep the PH elevated in the house - the Chaeto easily brings the benefit in my situation of almost .10 added PH in non-photo periods for the display. I've added a fresh air intake for the skimmer, it helps slightly but not as much as the chaeto!

 

[Giancarlo_f]

Very old tank. I already struggle to have detectable nitrate and phosphate. Most of my money instead goes to feeding fish and coral food and I feed heavy. I also regularly dose PNS bacteria. No way for me to tell how the lack of a refugium affects my tank's biodiversity, but corals are healthy and grow quickly. I also see all sorts of pods/stomatella on rocks and tank glass. I'm probably fine without a refugium and don't feel the need to change what's already been working for me.

The only benefit I probably could reap from having a refugium is an increase in pH if I grew macro algae but mine is already a steady 8.4.

 

[Ichtha_yo Stuff]

One possible reason is it could strip the nutrients out of the water and effect coral growth.

 

[D E N I N O]

I use an ATS for nutrient removal, if I wanted pods I would add a refugium but I don't need pods for my livestock and an ATS is easier to clean.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

I run an ATS on all of my systems. They process waste much more efficiently than a refugium.

 

[atoll]

Valid point, very much prefer the simplicity of changing a filter mat every 6-8 weeks vs allowing detritus into the sump/refuge and the cleaning that entails. With the roller mat, my sump stays pretty much spotless and when I tear down my pumps to clean there is very little to actually clean.

I have considered adding a fuge coming off my manifold and just running low flow and or minimal hours a day lighting just to increase microfauna

I never clean my sump. nothing somer than that.

 

[PBnJOnWheat]

1. I do have a refugium but I see what you all are saying, lack of space, less equipment, maintenance, already in LACK of nutrients, and other methods (algae scrubbers) to fight back nutrients.

2. Being that I do run a successful refugium having failed several times it’s not that much work for the benefits it provides. Growing different types of desirable and undesirable macro algae has helped stabilize nutrient levels not just lowered them, provides a wide variety of life regarding consumers and producers to the tank (Which I think is important is having variety) whether it’s copepods of the many variants, phyto, bristle worms, mangroves, urchins, snails, starfish etc etc. the wide variety of things you can add in there is insane, not to mention heavily increased filtration. I know the pH stability is very helpful also;Bookworm;Cat

As far as maintenance it’s next to none IMO the only thing I do is go sell some chaeto to a fellow reefer or back to a LFS, and if there’s a chance to make money I wouldn’t call it maintenance!!! ;Greedy;Greedy;Nailbiting

The only time I wouldn’t do a refugium is if I didn’t have space and even then I’d make space. My current fuge is about 50% my total tank volume (44 gal I think) on my frag system, designed my stand and everything around my sump rather than my display. Keeps the water clean and full of beneficial organisms for my corals and adds a ton of flavor to the whole setup.

 

[David S]

I run a CPR HOB Refugium where I have Miracle mud, Purigen & Cuprisorb.
I also grow Gracilaria, which keeps my Phosphates down

 

[homer1475]

First issue is to define a refugium. Just a wad of cheato in a section of your sump to me is not a refugium.

A refugium to me is a nice slow flow place to grow beneficial algae(not just cheato), a place for benthic creatures to grow and procreate without predation.