refugium-a way to have both worlds?

[OneThunder]

Have been reading about refugiums. Specifically the hang on kind. >http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_miscellaneous_cpr_aquafuge_refugiums.asp?ast=&key=

Pros? Cons? The only thing is, the 75 gallon is like a "show piece" in the livingroom, I don't know how it would look with the hang on type and lights. Thinking,,,,thinking....

 

[Dubbin1]

I don't think it would be big enough to do you much good.

 

[selgado]

I agree with Dwayne. I didn't start seeing consisten nutrient removal with my fuge until I had 4-6 gallons of macro. I don't put much stock in those micro mini wonders.

Do you have any room under your tank for a fuge?

John

 

[OneThunder]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6849834#post6849834 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by selgado
I agree with Dwayne. I didn't start seeing consisten nutrient removal with my fuge until I had 4-6 gallons of macro. I don't put much stock in those micro mini wonders.

Do you have any room under your tank for a fuge?

John

Well the filter is kinda in the middle, but with a little rearranging, it could go down to the end and there would be half again as much room under the stand. But it has doors. Suppose to hide the stuff I guess. The filter is a two part device with bio balls on one side, with just water and my protein skimmer in the other side.

 

[MACDad]

onethunder,

Here are a few pictures of the space below my 75. Don't mind the mess. I have a couple little ones, so all my stuff goes in the stand or it grows legs and disappears.

Here is a picture of the Wetdry. It has two inlets, but only one is hooked up.

It is pretty busy. I have two return pumps in it. A Mag 7 to drive my DIY skimmer, and a rio 800 to feed my cheap refugium.

Here is my cheap refugium. It is made of a clear 10 gallon tote. There is a hole drilled in the left front side for the return to the wetdry. I am running 1 inch pvc for the return.

The tote sticks out the back of the stand a couple inches, and is too short. I made a very simple stand out of 1/2" plywood and 2x4's to raise it higher than the wetdry. I pump water into the back using the rio pump, and it flows out the front to the wetdry. This setup can't handle much more than 100-150 gpm, but you really want a slow flow for maximum effectiveness. Here is a picture of everything from the fron of the stand.

For me, I tried to find as large a container as possible that would fit in the stand, but still have clearance for the light. I am just using a cheap shop light with a sunbulb from lights of america. Don't have a good picture of that yet.

Sorry if that is a whole lot of info you didn't want. Just trying to be helpful. BTW...With a slow flow, I have a lot of cyano growing in the fuge, but it hasn't shown up in the display.

Fred

 

[selgado]

That's exactly how I have mine set up Fred. I had the same problems with cyano in the fuge until I removed the sand bed. Now I have no problems.

John

 

[bigbenji]

Dang, I've never heard of not having a sand bed in the fuge. I just thought I needed to increase flow in there somehow. Don't pods and critters need the sandbed and rock? BTW, I've got tons of little white star looking things coming from my return into the display. Are these pods?

 

[selgado]

Some people have an issue with the sand bed in the refugium, some people don't. I tried to increase flow, but my cheato started dying back. I do have a few large pieces of live rock and some live rock rubble in there. I put the most porous that I could find to help out pod reproduction. I can look in my fuge and see tons of pods crawling through the macro at the surface.

Not sure about your white stars. How big are they and where do you mostly see them gathering?

 

[bigbenji]

I'll start a new thread once I get some pics, or maybe I should try to research the darn things myself now that I'm home from work,

 

[MACDad]

I personally don't care about cyano in the refugium. It isn't out for display, and I figure it does its part in nutrient removal as well. As long as the display tank doesn't have it, I don't care. It may backfire on me. We shall see.

Ben, Are those white stars shaped like chocolate chip stars or serpent stars. I have hundreds of small serpent stars in my tank. As for the other ones, you may want to keep an eye on them. Some have been known to attack certain corals. Mostly SPS I think. There was some information on them in GARF.

Fred

 

[OneThunder]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6854129#post6854129 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MACDad
I personally don't care about cyano in the refugium. It isn't out for display, and I figure it does its part in nutrient removal as well. As long as the display tank doesn't have it, I don't care. It may backfire on me. We shall see.

Ben, Are those white stars shaped like chocolate chip stars or serpent stars. I have hundreds of small serpent stars in my tank. As for the other ones, you may want to keep an eye on them. Some have been known to attack certain corals. Mostly SPS I think. There was some information on them in GARF.

Fred

That sounds like a set up that would feed the fish
Okay, if not a hang on refugium, how bout an in-tank one>?
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1
little sand, a small piece of coral, grow some stuff Spot can eat...
Another question: is it easier to drill holes in glass or acrylic?