new refugium

[jtp7004ft]

Hello,

I have had my 90gal set up and running for about a month now. I have about 50lbs of live rock, 4 snails, 4 small hermit crabs and 2 damsels. I had a wisper filter set up untill i got my refugium going.

Now the wisper filter is gone and my refugium is built. I am using a 20gal tank that I partitioned off. I am pumping about 500gph through it.

first the water comes in through Bio bail.
for the refugium area I have spaghetti macroalge, 5lbs of live rick and 1" of crushed live coral.
then the water uverflows through ceramic rings then off to the sump.

I know I will need 1lb of live per gallon and a protein skimmer.

My question is am I off to a good start and how long (no rush) will it take for the refugium to kick off?


sorry this is so long
and thank you for reading this
Joel

 

[Gobie]

You have it set up like my 180, refugium without a skimmer, it will be perfect. My tanks been running like this for over five years, no problems.

 

[jtp7004ft]

cool, thats great to hear!!!
do I need to add anything to kick off the refugium ...... or just let it run its course?

I also have black hair algae all over the sand is this normal?

 

[Blown 346]

You dont have to add anything, the fuge will start working in a few weeks where you will be able to notice a change.
For a newly setup tank, yes hair algae,cyano etcis all normal until the tank stabilizes and starts to mature. Just siphon the algae out and it will slowly dissapate.

 

[jtp7004ft]

Thank you all for your help!!