refugium

[jimdogg187]

I'm thinking about building a fuge for my tank. Just a few questions. My tank is 125 US gallons, so how big should my fuge be for optimal performance? Second, what are the absolute best things to place in this set up and how much of everything? Third, where is the best place to put it? I have a wet dry filter below my tank with a berlin skimmer outside the sump portion. On some online sources I have read that it is good to fill the fuge with my protein skimmer's water. Is this true? Also, I know that the water is supposed to move smoothly through the fuge, so what type of return pump would be best? Last, where should the return water go? Back to sump or directly to the tank? Thanks sooo much for anyone who bothered to read this. I appreciate all and any help and advice. Regards, Jim.

 

[Navarre]

I would place a refugium abovce the main tank. This way you can set up a small pump from the main tank to bring water to te refugium and give it a slow flow. The water can then return back via gravity to the main tank. This wilkl give the tank a near constant supply of pods for the fish to eat and yet keep the breeding population safe out of their way. By returning the water back to the sump you will not get any advantage of pods entering your tank for food.

 

[ostrow]

You can return the water to the sump no problem. Many, many pods will survive the pump ride back to the tank and live happily in the display. Those that die will still be yummy treats ("mmmm, fried pods....")

 

[Navarre]

HArdly any of my pods venture into the main tank from the sump. My sump is crawling with pods but if 1% actually made it to the main tank i would be amazed.
A refuguim placed above the main tank will feed far far more pods.

 

[Great Lakes]

Yes, refugiums were originally intended to be above the main tank.

You can put them in the sump, but it won't give you optimal benefits.

Size. A 20L would work well. About two inches of crushed coral, and some LR rubble and chunks, with a quality 50/50 tube is about all you need.

GL

 

[jimdogg187]

Thanks for all the info! My lfs told me that with my set up being the wat it is (fish only/ predator tank with a wet/dry bio ball system), that a refugium might not be the best avenue. I only want to reduce nitrates in the tank. So I took a 20 Us gallon tank I had lying around, put a pump and some caulerpa in side it and a power compact light over it. I was told that this will help if I grow enough caulerpa, and it will signifigantly reduce my nitrates, which remain around 40ppm at this time. Sooo.. is this true? I am also supplying the new tank with water from my berlin skimmer. Is this okay? Instead of buying another pump I thought this might work. The water then returns via pump to my sump in my wet/dry and then back to the tank. Will this set up be effective? If anyone feel pictures would help, please let me know and I can email some to you. Thanks for looking. Regards, Jim

 

[Great Lakes]

Yes, the Caluerpa should help greatly the way you have it.

 

[Navarre]

If you run a refugium above the tank for the purposes of nitrate extraction. I would be careful how you manage the caulerpa. Caulerpa really needs to be lit 24/7 to stop it going sexual and poluting the tank. This is easy in a sump as a light can be placed there and kept on 24/7 without stressing the fish in the main tank. (It also helps keep the PH stable).

Howevr, if its above the tank you wil have trouble keeping the aglea lit all the time as this will bleed over onto the main tank and stress the fish, if you turn the lights off then you run the risk of letting the caulerpa going sexual and crashing and also PH drops at night.
You can get around the caulerpa crashing by weekly pruning to keep it cut back to a managable leve (but this is no guarentee). This will of course not stop the PH drops as the caulerpa bleed Co2 back into the tank at night.

 

[jimdogg187]

Thanks for the info!! The new sump is below the tank so there will be no light stressing the fish. I have been told that keeping the light on 24/7 is the best method. This is what I intend to do. So if I trim the algea, it still my cause a crash in the tank? How much should I let grow for my tank size (125 US Gallons)? How long will this take to see a noticable difference in nitrate? How much of a difference will it make? I know theres no way to know for sure, but what would be a good estimate? I appriciate all of the help!! Regards, Jim

 

[Navarre]

You have the same size tank as me (or close enough as i have 100 gallons UK).
My sump doesnt have caulerpa for the very reason of it crashing. I use slower growing algeas but they are far more stable and i have no crashes (yet ). I also have 5 mangroves in the sump that are coming along nicely.

As far as caulerpa goes, its a fast grower (once it settles in) so i would just keep it at about 8-10 inches in length. This will probably be pruning each week but as long as you dont see the caulerpa drapping across the sirface of the water you should be fine.
Once caulerpa is growing well it reduces nitrates substanially. I think its commonly used as the best reducer of extracts because it grows fast and thus uses up phosphates and nitrates faster.

I decided to go for other macro algeas. These are more stable and are not prone to crashing as much. The down side is that they dont eat nitates quite as fast (though when the mangroves develope this will be better) and they use more calium in the water but im happy with this exchange for peace of mind.

I have Halymeda, Halymenia and Haliptilon algeas in my sump.

 

[Stryker]

Navarre, where did you get those macro algeas from? can they be bought mail order?

 

[Navarre]

Mine grew out of the live rock.
I only just took a load of cuttings and sent them off to a few UK aquarists last week

I will PM you will some helpful link that might be useful in tracking down some macro algeas.

 

[jimdogg187]

What will happen is the caulepra crahes? Is this a serious possibility even if I keep the lights on 24/7?

 

[jimdogg187]

Navarre, What types of mangroves are good for nitrate reduction? Do I need a special lights or supplements to grow them? Jim

 

[Navarre]

I just got a set of 5 mangroves froma person on Ebay (uk) they start out as purely stalks but the roots soon begin to grow. So far i have no leaves growing but the roots are still growing. It takes about 6 months for mangroves to really start to help the system but once they are established they really do work hard for the tank.

Any light will do, they are not fussy in these requirments. Freshwater lights are probably best (Grolux etc) as these are tailormade for plant growth.

As for caulerpa crashing. Caulerpa extracts nitrates and stores it in its body. When it crashes it releases all the toxins back into the ater that it has been cleaning over the last number of weeks/months etc. (Can be catastrophic.) Saying that though, many people run caulerpa and are successful. it just needs caution and respect.