bb with refug dsb or not

[sm fragman]

i am having a 10 gallon refug on my sps system to aid in nut. export my ? is should i put a deep sand bed in the refug or not ,,i am using chato for algee ,,

 

[JMBoehling]

Go barebottom all the way. I tried a DSB in the Fuge and it created a HUGE rotting egg. I just let my Chaeto roll around in my BB fuge, works great... 0 Nitrates.. Always were 60 to 80 ppm when I had DSB in my fuge.

 

[JB NY]

I've tried a few different types of refugium designs, the one I'm using now works the best. Keep it BB and siphon any detritus that collects once a week. Keep it high flow to prevent the refugium from becoming a nutrient soup and causing problems. Use Cheatomorpha for macro algae export, do not use Caulerpa. Caulerpa has been shown in many studies to release toxins that can affect fish, invertebrates and in some cases acropora.

I switched to this method in my refugium a few years ago and have had nothing but great success with it. Prior to that I had a refugium with Caulerpa and a shallow sand bed. I had nothing but problems with it. So much so that I was seriously debating the use of a refugium in ones system. After re-doing it I find no problems with it at all. The only maintenance in it is to siphon detritus and remove extra macro algae once every few months.

For lighting I'm getting good results using 10000K PC lamps on a reverse daylight schedule.

 

[sm fragman]

thanks guys guess i will have to get the shop vac out to get the sand out ,,lol,,

joe that is why i asked i was looking at you web and saw that you where not using sand anymore though there might be something to it ,,i am feed my refug from my returm pump so no problem there for flow ,glade i stuck wiht the panwork 100px-x now feeding my reactor wiht it to ,,

joe ? for you since i have you here i see you do not use a controler on your ozone unit i am thinking of goign this route as well i will only be running it a few time a month ,,maybe once a week for a 2 hour time frame ,,what are your thoughts on this

thank you shawn

 

[JB NY]

I don' think it's a problem at that levels. Just don't use too much and you will be fine. I run mine at about 20% of the 200mg/hr unit I have(on 280 gallons total system volume). Running it only about 4 hours a day.

 

[sm fragman]

thanks i will be running the 50mg unit on about 120 gallon system ,,thanks for you time i love your frag tank the way you have it set up wiht the race way for flow,,very nice ,,