Newbie Question- refugium

[marcom1234]

ok rookie newbie question i think.... how do i use a refugium to grow live food for my fish, and what food is it? once i grow it in the refugium how do i get it in the tank? maybe this is obvious to some but i haven't a clue thanks in advance

 

[marcom1234]

No answers or opinions?? maybe im in the wrong forum

 

[Dwayne]

[moved]

 

[Blown 346]

A refugium is a holding tank usually seperateof the sump. There are sump/fuges where it is a filter and a fuge in one setup instead of two differnt tanks.

All you need to do is get some sand, liverock if you want and some macro algae, some medium water flow through it and a light. You have a fuge. the food that grows in a refugium are pods, starfish, worms. This live food will be safe in the fuge since there arent any predators like fish to eat them, so they will eat reproduce and over and over.
The live food will go into the main tank for food for fish, mandarins etc.

A regular fuge is usually set up so it is higher than the main tank. You will need a powerhead in the main tank to pump water to the fuge, so a hose from the power head to the fuge. The fuge wil fill up with tank water. Then at the other end of te fuge you should have a bulkhead that will drain into the maintank.
So water fom the maintank enters the fuge, then that water will flow through the fuge and gravity wil take place and drain water from the fuge to the main tank.

The other type of fuge is a sump/fuge, where the sump and fuge are togther.
The overflow from your tank will go into you sump like normal but you will have a fuge in place there now. As the water flows through it will pick up pods etc. and get pumped back to the main tank.
Here is a pic of my sump/fuge...

 

[chillaxr6]

hmm how do pods get sent back through to the main tank ????
i have always wondered how the pods get transported. . .
surely they will learn dont go near the big hole you get sucked through it . . .

i was thinking of starting a fuge and wondered how good stuff would be transferred between the two. I understand you grab the sand and hopefully good things in the sand and place them in the fuge but do you need to leave some food so things just grow???

 

[Blown 346]

The pods wi get either sucked up thru the return pump back to the tank, or with a gravity fedd fuge, gravity when pulling water into the top of the main tank will carry pods with it.

The macro algae will grow with a proper light, good water flow and the nutrients/ organics of the tank. The pods will eat detritus, uneaten fish food, anything that gets pulled into the fuge.

 

[marcom1234]

thanks for your answer blown but im still a bit confused.... how do i start pods or whatever...

then how do i determine how much "food" has been grown so that i know my fish are getting enough?

and are pods the only food that grow?

 

[sandiegan]

Marcom
You don't 'start pods' per se. If you got any livesand from another reefer's tank, or some live rock (actual live rock, not dry base rock) then odds are you ahve some pods are there. Also, if/when you manage to get some macro algae from someone else's fuge, that should have some pods in it as well.

The most common use of a fuge I think, however, is for nutrient export. The growing macro algae uses nutrients in the water (phosephates, nitrates, etc) that other problem algae (cyano bacteria, hair algae, bubble algae, etc) would use to grow. Less nutrients of that type in the water also promote coral growth usually. While a fuge will grow food, the only fish that usually requires a fuge is a mandarin dragonette since they tend to only eat live pods. Most/all other fish should be weaned onto prepared/frozen foods. A fuge is not a replacement to good care and feeding.

No, pods arent the only things to grow. Bristle worms, mini stars, and a few other things will multiply in there, assuming you have a few of them to begin with.

Hope that all made sense, I'm a bit tired.

 

[mzeinstr]

hey, i'm from allegan..

what you want to do is ask any friends or LFS to give you some of their live sand to seed your refugium. i usually takes 6 months to a year to grow enough "pods" to support a mandarin.

are you thinking about going into saltwater? i see that on your bio you have freshwater.

marti

 

[marcom1234]

thanks for the reply sandiegan and yes that seemed to make sense to me. basically i only want to worry about pod production if i plan on having mandarins? i do enjoy those fish but don't know yet what it takes to keep one... so i'll do more research....

and hi mzeinstr... yes i plan on going saltwater.... lots of research first as i accumulate enough money to but quality stuff. and of course to learn more about what it's going to take. hopefully by summer i'll have both requirements lol we shall see

thanks for the replies .. would continue to have any and all replies .. helps my learning curve.

 

[sandiegan]

Marcom, you basically got it. Pods are cool, but don't need to especially worry about raising them. Life will find a way.