I always thought that refugiums were a great natural way to help control nitrates and phosphates. I thought it was absolutely necessary. When I built my current tank I made sure to have space in my sump for a refugium. It is still only about 4 gal volume on a 40 gal display with a 29 gal sump. I started with a few inches of sand, some rock/rubble and a clump of chaeto. Over time I've removed the sand (so I can clean it easier), then the rock and now it's just a clump of chaeto that seems to grow more slime algae on it than chaeto growth.
My tank is now over 1.5 years old. All this time I've had 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates until a few weeks ago when they both shot up. My nitrates are about 2 (ok with me) and my phosphates shot up to over 1.0, now down to 0.15 with some GFO and I'd like to get them much lower.
Talking with my LFS they think I should get rid of the chaeto. The theory is that small amount isn't helping with very much nutrient removal, and it's probably collecting more detritis than anything. They claim they've taken out refugiums in several tanks and seen nutrient levels drop. Recently cleaning the sump during a water change I pulled out the chaeto clump and tons of detritis/debris floated out. It got me thinking that removing this might be better.
I certainly see a lot of tanks without refugiums doing just fine. Besides the nutrient removal help, my biggest worry is pH drop at night. How big of a concern is this? I run the refugium light when display lights are off, hoping to stabilize pH, but I've never measured it. If I get rid of the fuge, I'd get rid of the light so I don't just grow algae in the sump. Maybe I could dose my ALK at night to help maintain higher pH.
So what's your theory on a refugium and what would you do in this case? I know Jake Adams on Reefbuilders has been against refugiums, but I can't find any info on why. Can someone explain? I'm thinking I might try removing the chaeto to see what happens.
My tank is now over 1.5 years old. All this time I've had 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates until a few weeks ago when they both shot up. My nitrates are about 2 (ok with me) and my phosphates shot up to over 1.0, now down to 0.15 with some GFO and I'd like to get them much lower.
Talking with my LFS they think I should get rid of the chaeto. The theory is that small amount isn't helping with very much nutrient removal, and it's probably collecting more detritis than anything. They claim they've taken out refugiums in several tanks and seen nutrient levels drop. Recently cleaning the sump during a water change I pulled out the chaeto clump and tons of detritis/debris floated out. It got me thinking that removing this might be better.
I certainly see a lot of tanks without refugiums doing just fine. Besides the nutrient removal help, my biggest worry is pH drop at night. How big of a concern is this? I run the refugium light when display lights are off, hoping to stabilize pH, but I've never measured it. If I get rid of the fuge, I'd get rid of the light so I don't just grow algae in the sump. Maybe I could dose my ALK at night to help maintain higher pH.
So what's your theory on a refugium and what would you do in this case? I know Jake Adams on Reefbuilders has been against refugiums, but I can't find any info on why. Can someone explain? I'm thinking I might try removing the chaeto to see what happens.