Fuge suggestions

[reefgeezer]

I have a 15" X 15" X 12" deep fuge built into my sump. Right now it is lighted. It is fed solely by the skimmer and flows about 550 to 600 GPH. Right now, it just has a little caulerpa (sp?) in it. My nitrates stay low (<2 ppm) because the tank (75 Gal) doesn't have a very high bioload at the moment. That's going to change soon. I've thought of several ways to use this space but would appreciate everybody's opinion. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what I might put into the fuge? I'm primarily interested in nitrate and phosphate reduction and export.

Thanks in advance for the advice

 

[thegrun]

I would fill it half way with live rock (6”) and grow cheato on top for my nitrate/phosphate export.

 

[Bonvivant]

I would put a 5 inch sandbed of sugar fine agro. Put live rock and macroalgae on top.

 

[thegrun]

I would put a 5 inch sandbed of sugar fine agro. Put live rock and macroalgae on top.

At only 12" deep, I thought a DSB would take up too much room. You could go 5" DSB and then just cheato, but I still lean towards live rock/cheato.

 

[sullyfish]

Live rock and plenty of macro algea with a shallow sand bed works great for me. mangroves are also a great source of nitrate export and I would not have a refuge w/o some. I have 2 refuge's, one in-sump similar to your size and a 75 gal stand alone, with cheato, grape colerpa, & oar grass.

 

[GRREEF]

I'm with you... trying to figure it out myself....

 

[TrojanScott]

Nothing in your fuge should really hurt your tank, so I think you can do whatever you want. LR, macro, etc, anything in there should help matters. Up to you how you do it. Mine is jam packed with rock, sand and macro, and a couple mangroves. It's actually quite the cluster! But, I try to keep a low flow, pod population is important to me.

Edit: If you're really looking for nitrate export, I'd really go with the chaeto, and more that than anything else. Mangroves, there have been articles stating that they don't do all that much, and you'd need a TON of them to really make a difference. I only have a few because I just think it's cool looking. Any extra benefits they provide are a bonus. Live rock, without the high flow, may not be doing as much as you think. Have some in there, but if you really want to concentrate on exporting nutrients, I think macro is the best way to go. Just make sure you take 60% or so out when it is growing out of control. Keep pruning.

 

[kgross]

I would add some chaeto and brighter lights, nothing else. As the chaeto grows and you remove it from the system you will reduce N and P..... I would not suggest putting sand in there, the algea will work as a mechanical filter and you will get a lot of detritus settling in the fuge and you will want to siphon it out regularly.

 

[sjm817]

Macro and nothing else. No sand or rock. Macro takes in nutrients, grows, you prune it, remove it from the system. Nutrient export.