coming to a conclusion about refugia and lps...

[Sk8r]

I think a big fuge is a big asset to these corals: I look at my 20g fuge under magnification and see everything from very tiny mysids to copepods, small crawly things that move like inchworms, and things too numerous and odd to mention. All this soup gets flung up to the main tank and the lps are growing quite smug and large...

comments from other people with fuges? are you seeing an improvement in lps since you set up?

 

[121ddler]

you should see an improvment in everything if its done right.... natural food, export nutrients, stablize ph (reverse photoperiod). etc etc

 

[Solitaryensis]

Is your fuge drain going to a skimmer first or straight back into the tank?

 

[yellowslayer13]

that would defeat the point right into the tank

 

[Solitaryensis]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12789314#post12789314 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by yellowslayer13
that would defeat the point right into the tank

Well...if your logic follows, shooting it back up into the tank would too wouldnt it? If the presumption is that the skimmer pump would kill any organisms that would travel back into the tank, wouldnt the return pump do the same thing? Sure, having it go to the return would decrease the chances of it happening but I dont see how that would outright defeat the purpose. I have seen MANY systems where the sump is broken into 3 chambers where the water goes to a skimmer, then to the fuge, then to the return pump.

Sorry to throw this a bit off topic, Sk8r. Just wanted to hear about your own experiences on this and how you have your system set up

 

[KingRicky]

From what I understand, the skimmer pump is not the problem. The organisms get caught up in the skimate and thus never make it to the return pump. Please correct me if I am wrong, but my fuge goes straight to the return section and I have all kinds of pods in my DT. The pods were not present until I placed the fuge with Cheato into operation.

 

[Solitaryensis]

Ricky,
I am certainly no expert on fuges but what you are saying makes sense. BUT, ive seen many fuges in the middle of a sump, after a skimmer and before a return so it sounds like it can be done but probably just a reduction in the number of organisms that make their way back up to the tank.

 

[Sk8r]

I created mine by putting the skimmer up on eggcrate high and dry: gave me 20 g of my 30g sump for a fuge. My intake is in the last chamber with the main pump intake...but to solve bubbles and other problems, I route the skimmer outflow hose (Aqua c Ev 120) all the way back to the #1 chamber, so everything gets (sorta) two passes through.
I have an Iwaki 100 bulkheaded onto the last chamber, spinning away with the sound of an airplane engine, and copepods and even the stray mysis and amphipod make it through just fine. If they buy the farm on the trip, they become coral food. So nothing goes to waste except the skimmate.

 

[Jay03GT]

I never ran my tank without a fuge, but I do notice every night the various LPS and yuma's are catching food. I never target feed, but have been getting good growth out of the corals that have been in the tank for awhile. Went poking around with a flashlight a few nights back and there were pods everywhere! I was wondering about that as I have 2 wrasses and a diamond goby that I figured would really cut down on the pods. Now I'm considering getting a manderin. I set my sump up with the return in the middle, skimmer and fuge on either end. Then t'd off one of my returns for the fuge.

 

[maroun.c]

As far as I know the best way to set the fuge is to have the return in the middle and the sump and fuge on the sides this way yuo can have the major part of your return over the sump and a small part of it over the fuge as water has to pass slowly in the fuge area for phosphates to be consumed.
Pods will pass through the return pump and make it to the tank alive. if they die they could also still be captured by a coral like any dead food we through in the tank even if not direct feeding. there was a post some time ago about a small fish that made it through the return pump arrived alive but bruised from the beating it took in the propellor...