Dark refugium

[buffalo123]

Would it be just as good to have a dark refugium as oppose to the lighted ones. There are a number of filter feeders and critters that can do a good job on any extra nutrient that make it there.
But they prefer the darkness to establish themselves.
?????

 

[alan214]

Well, my understanding is that it's better to have a lighted one with one or more macroalgae's in it to assist in the uptake of and removal of nutrients. It's also best to have the display tankand fuge on a reverse lighting cycle.

 

[Loralie]

It is much better to have you fuge on a reverse light cycle. I have the PC lights that Melev has on his site on my 110 gallon fuge. They are very cheap and cheap to run. Having macro, there needs to be lighting. My fuge is full of critters.

 

[dragonforce]

dark fuge would be a sump.

 

[gabegmonkey]

it might be cool to have both if you had the room... but if you have to choose one go for the lighted version... It would be interesting to see what kinds of critters did better in the dark vs. the lighted tank... to me anyway...

 

[danch]

Look at the "Sump concept" video (top row, second from left) here: http://www.reefvideos.com/

He talks about having a cryptic zone in the refugium. He still has the lighted section for macro, but he made a dark area for filter feeders and the like.

 

[buffalo123]

The dark zone would be a refugium , should be lots of critters that love the dark and some that will filter the water. Does not water changes do the same as macroalgae ,export nutrients; The skimmer is also an exporter.

 

[alan214]

The lighted fuge with macroalgae can actually extend the amount of time between water changes.

 

[buffalo123]

I would think most reef keepers do regular water changes anyways at least every 2-4 weeks. Some even better than that.
If you are doing water changes every 6 - 8 week or more i can ee it being helpful.Maybe more important macroalgae remove what those nuisance algae need. But then again so does water changes