People say stay away from wet/dry filters just use a refugium-All right..what type?

[John Hartford]

If wet/dry filters are prone to releasing large amounts of nitrates into your tank, then from what I gathered from other people is that one should use a refugium instead, as is it has better filtration becuase the plants/sand take out all of the "bad stuff" from the tank, at the same time growing food for your tanks inhabitants.

So is what type of refugium do pepople use? What are some of the better brands that are out there?

As you can see under my profile I currently have a 125 gallon reef that is doing very well. But i currently have a proclear 200 wet dry fitler on it with no refugium. So that is why am I am in need of a lot of information, becuase I never set one up.

I hear people say that you can build one, but lets say that..."well I a am not the best craftsman around"

So if I could purchase one that would save me a lot of time, and frustration.

 

[Shooter7]

You could buy a used tank for cheap and subdivide it into skimmer, refugium, and return compartments

 

[coralights]

A refugium is just another smaller tank that fits under a big tank ... the larger the better .....

you keep the lights on 7/24 to promote macroalgae ... harvest it to promote constant rapid growth and make sure your linked up pump & plumbing are set-up to avoid an overflow/ check valve etc etc ... in fact except for the constant light (which can be blocked out with a sliding door etc) a refugium should be made viewable & if kept up & filled with lots of goodies will supply as much life to enjoy watching as the main tank, even fish!

 

[Fast Fred]

Sumps and fuges are almost always homemade. probably due to the fact that it's so simple to do.

Marc has some great pictures and ideas on his site:

http://www.melevsreef.com/

 

[mg426]

I also have a 125 reef. I made my refugium out of a 29 gallon tank that I had laying around. I built a stand about 1 foot higher than my main tank. Used a maxijet 900 to feed the fuge. Made a homemade skimmer box for the return. Plumbed everything in PVC. Used Chaeto in the fuge with a 5 inch DSB. Reverse cycle lighting 85 watts PCs. Nitrates were 10 to 20 PPM before now they are zero (Salifert kit) been running about three months. total cost for lights pwerhead sand pvc etc.etc 125 $$$ Best thing I ever did.

 

[mg426]

Almost forgot, Floatswitch in fuge to shutdown powerrhead if anything stupid happens. No problems yet.