hang on fuge

[jimdogg187]

i'm thinking about buying a hang on refugium for my 125 fo tank. the sole purpose would be to help lower nitrates in the display. my nitrates test around 15-20 but i would like to lower them more. so my question is would a hang on refugium like this one
hang on fuge

be large enough to make a difference? i would put a lot macro in there with some argonite. the reason i want to do this is that i'm tierd of cleaning out the sump portion of my wet dry. i've got some macro in there now and i keep it lit 24/7 so there is always algae growing on everything. i would add some snails but there is just no room in there for them to move around. any suggestions? thanks, jim

 

[ste2k3]

Hi, in you sig you say you have a 25 gallon refugium already. why not just light that (if its not already lit, and put some caulerpa in there? that will do the same job as the hang on one. if thats not possable, then yes, the hang on one will be fine. A mate of mine who I used to work with had a very small (4 gallon) refugium on a 3' tank. it was just on a shelf above the tank with a single tube, some silt out of the live rock tank at work and caulerpa. he had 0 or very near to zero nitrates. Each aquarium is different so theres no guarente its going to get rid oof your nitrates but in theory, it should help.

ste

 

[jimdogg187]

thanks for the advice! the 25 gallon fuge is on my reef tank. i set my reef tank up with live rock/ refugium and skimmer filtration . it works absolutely perfectly. no nitrates. but my fish only set up is run with some live rock (maybe 25 lbs) and mainly very large wet/dry filter and skimmer. one of my lfs's told me this is the way to go with fish only set ups. i found out that later they lied. it works just fine but my end result is 10-20ppm of nitrates between water changes. i know that this is not bad, but i would like to do whatever i can to make sure the fish are in a healthier environment. i want to lower these and wasn't sure if a fuge that small would help. i see your a very knowlegable source so i appriciate your help. thanks a lot! jim.

 

[ostrow]

I was told it wouldn't give a noticable effect on my 75 gallon, for what that's worth.

 

[Navarre]

It might be possible to place mangroves in there? As long as they are kept trimmed they are great nutrient extractors.

 

[Great Lakes]

Jimdogg, I have that same exact fuge on my new 180.

Too early to tell, but I will let you know how it works.

 

[jimdogg187]

great, thanks a lot! one of my lfs told me that it would not be enough, but in theroy, it should at the very least help a little right? i don't plan to get rid of my nitrates entirley (in my fish only tank) because i have lot's of fish that eat a ton of meaty foods and a bit wet/dry that pumps out nitrates all day long. but i would like some other way of removing at least some nitrates. with regards to mangroves, i think i could place them in there but do they need special lights? all my lfs that have mangroves keep the under mh. i would love to put one in if i can. GL, please let me know how your fuge is working when enough time has passed to see some resluts. thanks again for all the help! jim