Plumbing the fuge?

[tank o tang]

I posted a responce in another thread and I was told I was wrong for suggesting it would be better to feed fuge with unskimmed water. Is it better to plumb the fuge off the return pump or feed it directly from a tank drain? And why?

 

[Nanook]

Unskimmed, raw water from the tank will have more nutrients to feed the benthic organisms and macroalgae compared to water that has gone through fractionation.

 

[das75]

Technically could see feeding from the drain better but it's not like all the dissolved nutrients would be stripped by your skimmer.

I feed my fuge from the drain and do notice I get a detritus buildup. Before the dedicated fuge, grew Chaeto quite well in the baffles of my sump, after the skimmer.

 

[Jeremy0322]

I would be more inclined to suggest using unskimmer water to feed a fuge, but you will have to watch with this because chaeto can do a really good job of catching detritus, so you will want to make sure it stays relatively clean by shaking it off in a bucket every now and then in some saltwater.

 

[EverettReef]

Feeding my refugium from the return section. Let the skimmer do its thing and let the refugium have a shot at the rest. Less detritus build up in the refugium. I have a separate 10 gallon tank as the refugium from the 30 gallon sump. Refugium overflows back to the return section.

 

[imcosmokramer]

+1, let the skimmer do it's job first, then either go to the return (and tee off to the fuge) or go to the fuge then the return.

 

[THE ROOK]

That is the one downside, IMO, to have a drain directly to the 'fuge. I get alot of detritus at the bottom & the chaeto is a magnet for the stuff. I've actually been thinking of switching to a return feed. This way I'll only really need to keep an eye on the skimmer section for buildup.

 

[tank o tang]

seems to be a split jury on this topic

 

[Nanook]

A refugium that is setup remotely (ie: not part of the sump, but a separate tank) will not become a settling area for detritus. If your fuge is in your sump, then there will be settling and it may be better to return after the skimmer.

Personally, I favor a separate refugium tank that is fed with a pump and allowed to drain by gravity back to the display. If it is stocked with detritivore kits and a sandbed, then the little detritus that is pumped into the fuge will act as a food source to the critters.

"Raw" water will better feed the macros versus water that has already been through the skimmer.

 

[qfrisco]

I think either method will work just as effectively. I happen to have my fuge fed directly from the overflow.

Remember, no skimmer will be 100% effective - so even if you feed your fuge with skimmed water, it's not going to be 100% devoid of "good stuff".

 

[o0jmadr0x0o]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14975557#post14975557 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Nanook
A refugium that is setup remotely (ie: not part of the sump, but a separate tank) will not become a settling area for detritus.

i disagree, i have a 50g fuge that gravity drains to my sump, it gets its water after the skimmer and i still have to shake out detritus regularly. maybe just a problem with my system, but it is not definite that you will not get detritus in your fuge

 

[sjm817]

I've done it both ways and dont like feeding it from the drain. Too much detritus gets into the fuge and it becomes a nutrient trap. I have a separate 65G fuge that is fed off the return and my chaeto grows like crazy. There is still enough nutrients to feed the fuge without all the excess gunk going in there.