Refugium - DSB, RDSB, Plenum, no sand??
- Thread starter Graf-X
- Start date
FranktheTankTx
New member
I don't think I would do a plenum period... especially in a refugium. I'm not sure I really get the whole DSB or RDSB???
Personally, I would just put a DSB in your refugium with some LR and chaeto.
Personally, I would just put a DSB in your refugium with some LR and chaeto.
Ok this is all my opinion on a sump/refugium. My refugium is a habitat all in itself. I have been working on keeping it all biological no facy bells and whistles (reactors,skimmers, etc.) the only thing i have is liverock, seagrass a bed of lives and and some cheto algae. I also have a "home made" turf algae scrubber (my last piece of glass doesn't have water all the way up so algae is able to grow on the glass because of the waterfall effect). All this works for me as a biological filter. I also have a huge abundance of different types of tiny shrimp, copepods, and bristleworms as a clean up crew to help eat the detritus that floats on down. Peronally i would go w/ a deeper sandbed if you can down in your refugium because then u'll be able to have a good abundance of sand dwelling animals also. I hope that helps, and that i just what i've gather through my few years of reefing
Nope i never touch my fuge i just let everything be in it. In my main tank i use a clean turkey baster and blast the rocks w/ it about twice a week to get allt he sitting particulate off of it and it all washes away into the sump, and there i let it sit. My worms/copepods/amphipods etc., etc. chow down on it and havea good thanksgiving meal 
haha. There are also about a hundred tub worms that have grown in it and are another great source of filtration, becuase they are filter feeders, i've also started to grow a large supply of sponges. YAY! Here's a pic of it.....
Sorry it's not the best picture but, here is an overview of it from left to right. It starts out w/ the imput from my overflow. (my tank wasn't pre drilled its about 3 years old and use to be freshwater) Next is the actual refugium, starting out with the little seagrass i just got, then is the liverock, and last the cheto. I have just a screw in compact flourecent as lighting. From there it goes through the three piece of glass (setup used to stop bubbles form forming and flowing into main tank) and last is my return pump. It may look like i have some "unwanted algae" in it, but it is good to have in there it's where it belonges becuase it is another type of filtration, and isn't in the main tank at all.
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Here is the tank itself, this is the middle of the tank, just a little bit is cut out of each side but not much it's only a 75. (only about a year old and slowly growing, and i forgot to mention it's skimmerless!!)
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If you have any questions about it just ask i'll try and keep updated w/ this thread. For the 125 i would try and go w/ about a 40 breeder, or 55 gal sump this will give you a lot of room for your cheto/liverock/sand/seagrass (if you decide to go w/ that) and it will have more "area coverage" of the water that flows through. I'm not really sure what plenium is to tell u the truth....
haha. There are also about a hundred tub worms that have grown in it and are another great source of filtration, becuase they are filter feeders, i've also started to grow a large supply of sponges. YAY! Here's a pic of it.....Sorry it's not the best picture but, here is an overview of it from left to right. It starts out w/ the imput from my overflow. (my tank wasn't pre drilled its about 3 years old and use to be freshwater) Next is the actual refugium, starting out with the little seagrass i just got, then is the liverock, and last the cheto. I have just a screw in compact flourecent as lighting. From there it goes through the three piece of glass (setup used to stop bubbles form forming and flowing into main tank) and last is my return pump. It may look like i have some "unwanted algae" in it, but it is good to have in there it's where it belonges becuase it is another type of filtration, and isn't in the main tank at all.
Here is the tank itself, this is the middle of the tank, just a little bit is cut out of each side but not much it's only a 75. (only about a year old and slowly growing, and i forgot to mention it's skimmerless!!)
If you have any questions about it just ask i'll try and keep updated w/ this thread. For the 125 i would try and go w/ about a 40 breeder, or 55 gal sump this will give you a lot of room for your cheto/liverock/sand/seagrass (if you decide to go w/ that) and it will have more "area coverage" of the water that flows through. I'm not really sure what plenium is to tell u the truth....
Graf-X
New member
wow sltloser,
Thats a lot of life in the fuge there... I see fanworms even on the side of the glass... very nice.
a plenum is:
a space under the substrate, which separates your deep sand bed from the bottom of the tank/refugium. This space becomes filled with water and organic waste in the water gets transported into the plenum by way of diffusion. As the water goes through the sand, nitrifying bacteria in the upper layers of sand utilize the oxygen in the water and break down the organic waste from Ammonia, to Nitrite, and then into Nitrate. The Nitrate is then transported into the plenum via the oxygen reduced water. The Nitrate concentrates in the plenum and slowly gets broken down into harmless chemicals by denitrifying bacteria that live in the oxygen poor environment of the lower levels of the sand bed.
A lot of people have sited tanks that were going very well with DSBs in their main display and then the sand bed and tanks suddenly crash... I am wondering if the same may be true for a refugium with a DSB and if a plenum under the DSB in the fuge may be the best way to avoid this long term.
Any opinions out there??
Thats a lot of life in the fuge there... I see fanworms even on the side of the glass... very nice.
a plenum is:
a space under the substrate, which separates your deep sand bed from the bottom of the tank/refugium. This space becomes filled with water and organic waste in the water gets transported into the plenum by way of diffusion. As the water goes through the sand, nitrifying bacteria in the upper layers of sand utilize the oxygen in the water and break down the organic waste from Ammonia, to Nitrite, and then into Nitrate. The Nitrate is then transported into the plenum via the oxygen reduced water. The Nitrate concentrates in the plenum and slowly gets broken down into harmless chemicals by denitrifying bacteria that live in the oxygen poor environment of the lower levels of the sand bed.
A lot of people have sited tanks that were going very well with DSBs in their main display and then the sand bed and tanks suddenly crash... I am wondering if the same may be true for a refugium with a DSB and if a plenum under the DSB in the fuge may be the best way to avoid this long term.
Any opinions out there??
lancer99
New member
I have seen a couple of studies of plenum vs. no plenum, and the general conclusion is that plenums have zero effect, which concurs with my experience. I don't bother with plenums any more.
Most of the tank crash stories I've read happened after the DSB was disturbed, for example by a powerhead that fell & blew the sand around....there are all kinds of nasty things in there. But properly maintained and undisturbed, a DSB is good for many, many years.
In my fuges I have DSB, LR rubble (good habitat for 'pods), Chaeto & Caulerpa.
-R
Most of the tank crash stories I've read happened after the DSB was disturbed, for example by a powerhead that fell & blew the sand around....there are all kinds of nasty things in there. But properly maintained and undisturbed, a DSB is good for many, many years.
In my fuges I have DSB, LR rubble (good habitat for 'pods), Chaeto & Caulerpa.
-R
I think i agree with lancer. The only way u're going to lose your DSB is if it's disturbed otherwise there wouldnt' really be any other reason for your DSB to just suddently die. I suppose this may happen every once in a while but not very often. One of my friends has been running his 150 for over 12 years!! and has never had any issue with the sandbed he has. He has tried ever type of filtration method, but after 12 years of growth of corals and everything else he has finally gone to absaloutly 0 filtration. This tank is all self filtered the only thing he has in it are powerheads to move the water it is truely amazing in my eyes. But to answer the plenum question (now that u've jogged my memeory i have seen a few tanks w/ this) and i personally wouldn't do it just go w/ a fuge (as large as u can go i would prefer so u have more room for growth of every differenty type of organism) and if u are very daring u could try going SKIMMERLESS like me hehe
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