Setting up a refugium

[Reefbuds]

I'm looking into setting up a refugium below my reef. What is the best way to go about this? Equipment? Inhabitants? This is something I've never done so I'm a total noob with refugiums. Also any information about them is appriciated.

 

[tdileo]

I'm looking into setting up a refugium below my reef. What is the best way to go about this? Equipment? Inhabitants? This is something I've never done so I'm a total noob with refugiums. Also any information about them is appriciated.

One in your sump or seperate? My fuge is just a mix of fine sand and crushed coral as well as some live rock fragments. Inside it I have an emerald crab, 2 hermits, and whatever whelks I find in my display tank. As far as plants go I have some chaeto that I keep small so it constantly spins as well as some grape caulerpa. I think I'm tearing it down soon though so I have room for a big skimmer. Although I have to leave a little rock and chaeto for my animals down there. Also, a fuge is a great place to grow copepods if you have any fish that eat them. Will keep them happy

 

[Reefbuds]

I don't have a sump I was just looking to add a refugium tank and circulate the water to and from. I'm running a 55g. What size tank would be sufficient? The area I'm putting it isn't very big, maybe big enough for a 8 to 10 gallon cube

 

[keddre]

I would do the 10 as larger is always better. Put an overflow on your tank and run it straight into your fuge; I would have it go straight to the bottom of the 10 and cascade the water onto a plate. Then set it up like a normal tank with sand, lr and add micro algae. For the pump up, get around a 400 gph to send it back up. I personally put a 1000gph and, with help on here, dialed it back with a valve for when I upgrade one day

 

[Michael Cronmiller]

Following..need to learn this for the next tank build

 

[Reefbuds]

OK got you on the 10 I'll see what I can fit reasonably and get the largest I can fit. So how would I set up an overflow? And what kind of pump would be needed besides gph. Any suggestions?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

OK got you on the 10 I'll see what I can fit reasonably and get the largest I can fit. So how would I set up an overflow? And what kind of pump would be needed besides gph. Any suggestions?

You'll need to look up sumps a bit. I'm sure we can dig up some info for you if you need.

A refugium can be as easy or complicated as you like. Basicly it's just flow light and a plant and it'll feed from the nutrints in the water.

You can add diverse macros as the seem to like slighty diffreent foods and diversity is always good.

The most simple and easy is just chato to start out. It's easier to keep clean. Then add nice macros and such. I encourage large rocks not rubble. Easy to clean. Mad you'll have some small pieces in there anyway to mount coral on probaly.

A deep sand bed helps with bio filter but should be deeep. Like 4 5 plus inches. Not good in small sumps and fuges though. And maybe not a great first choice. You can in fact add live sand there later.

Hang on the backs are available to and the same goes for those. But I'd avoid sand in those. They get dirty.

 

[Reefbuds]

Thanks for all the input salty! I really know next to nothing about refugiums so I'll take all the help I can get. You said live sand later? Why is that? The thing I'll have the most problem with is the mechanical part of it all. I've got the biological part down just not sure how to get water to and from the refugium.

 

[lion king]

What's your purpose; nutrient export, pod habitat, fun and creative, or all 3. For nutrient export only look into algae reactors; it will be easy as a snap to set up, pretty inexpensive, and very efficient. If you are looking for pod growth and maybe some diverse macro algae then a refugium is the way to go. In that case it will be a bit more intensive; needing an overflow from the display, the tank, and a return pump.

In the pics; the refugium is 23g of water volume on a 125g tank and it's not near as efficient in nutrient export as the algae reactors. The one in the pic is on a 29g, and I have one twice that size on a 90g; worth their weight in gold, footprint compared to efficiency.

 

[Reefbuds]

Main purpose for this is water quality stability. I feel like this may be the next step in increasing my bio load since I'm starting to pack my reef. I'm new to this so if a algae reactor is a better option I'd love to hear about it.

 

[lion king]

Main purpose for this is water quality stability. I feel like this may be the next step in increasing my bio load since I'm starting to pack my reef. I'm new to this so if a algae reactor is a better option I'd love to hear about it.

There's alot of threads here with info and reviews of algae reactors, as well as diy vids on youtube. Marine Depot even has a good one. Sounds like what you are looking for this may be right up your alley.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Thanks for all the input salty! I really know next to nothing about refugiums so I'll take all the help I can get. You said live sand later? Why is that? The thing I'll have the most problem with is the mechanical part of it all. I've got the biological part down just not sure how to get water to and from the refugium.

Depending on how your tank is set up, hob refugium, sump refugiim, and reactors are all options. You'll need to look into those and deduce what the best course of action is right for you.

I reccomended. Adding live sand in a full refugium later beacuse you may wind up with a huge amount of detritus in the fuge. With sand you'll never notice and it'll build up fast and only add to the high nutints. With a bare bottom you can clean it out or add a mechanical filter like socks ,sponges and floss.

 

[keddre]

Not trying to start a fight, but in my sump/refugium I have sand, rock rubble and different algae to feed my sea hare. As far as the rubble I went with that just so I could pack more in the space, and I never clean it as I have bristle worms and a dsb for that. As far as overflow you can get a hang on one or drill it, and for pump just drop one in at the other side of the fuge.

 

[tdileo]

Not trying to start a fight, but in my sump/refugium I have sand, rock rubble and different algae to feed my sea hare. As far as the rubble I went with that just so I could pack more in the space, and I never clean it as I have bristle worms and a dsb for that. As far as overflow you can get a hang on one or drill it, and for pump just drop one in at the other side of the fuge.

Mine is the exact same except it is pretty much bare bottom. I get some dust that comes from my crushed coral in the DT and also threw a little patch of crushed coral down there just in case the hermits or emerald want it

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I have a four in Dsb with live rock several macros feather dusters and a ton o bugs.
My sumpless 30 gal has a hob fuge with chato only.

My Dsb gets pretty funky without the socks.

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

Biggest improvement I made to my 140 gallon - several years ago - was to add a deep sand bed fuge. Ran it for about two years without cleaning it and the DT ran like a charm as far as parameters went. Took it out as part of my rebuild last year and the system degraded immediately. I kept snails, feather dusters and crabs in it and it produced tons of bugs. Mine was just gravity fed. I ran some of the water from the DT into it and then cascaded into the sump. No pumps involved.

 

[alex.mccann99]

Go to GlassHoles.com and order the complete kit to drill for an overflow and return. Best investment I ever made. I've used them 3 times now for all my tanks. You get everything you need to do it and keep it simple. Go buy a 10 gallon tank from Petco for cheap, that's what I used on my first two tanks for over a year before upgrading to a nicer acrylic sump. You can easily build your own sump, keep it simple. Plenty of youtube videos and write ups on how to do this. I would recommend not skimping on the return pump, but you don't have to break the bank either. I've used Sicce on my last two tanks, never failed me, runs nice and quiet.