Refugium for Nano tank

[Julian.Rad17]

I have the Red Sea Reefer 28 gallon and I was thinking about setting up a small refugium. Since my sump is so small I am limited to only a few options. I was considering getting the CPR CITR In-Tank Refugium with the WavePoint LED Clamp LightI know this would be a very small refugium but I was hoping it could still be a home for pods and provide some nutrient export. Can someone give me some tips to staring a fuge and tell me if the refugium I'm considering is a good option. Thanks for the help.

 

[IowaReefer]

I would do a small hang-on-back type refugium with that light. I have been using a HOB fuge for over a decade (no sump)and am happy with the results.

 

[zeemofree]

I have the Red Sea Reefer 28 gallon and I was thinking about setting up a small refugium. Since my sump is so small I am limited to only a few options. I was considering getting the CPR CITR In-Tank Refugium with the WavePoint LED Clamp LightI know this would be a very small refugium but I was hoping it could still be a home for pods and provide some nutrient export. Can someone give me some tips to staring a fuge and tell me if the refugium I'm considering is a good option. Thanks for the help.

Can you fit a larger sump in the cabinet? Petco has a 1 dollar a gallon sale so you can get a tank to upgrade your sump at great price

 

[Julian.Rad17]

i made this accidentaly

 

[Julian.Rad17]

Can you fit a larger sump in the cabinet? Petco has a 1 dollar a gallon sale so you can get a tank to upgrade your sump at great price

No the sump fits very snugly with no extra space inside. Would a refugium that small still be effective? Could I still grow some macro algae and pods in it?

 

[zeemofree]

No the sump fits very snugly with no extra space inside. Would a refugium that small still be effective? Could I still grow some macro algae and pods in it?

Check out the waterfall turf scrubber it can fit into a small area

 

[Julian.Rad17]

.-,

 

[Julian.Rad17]

Check out the waterfall turf scrubber it can fit into a small area

Does the waterfall scrubber have to have a box around it? Also, what light should I use?

 

[s2nhle]

a small refugium does not help much. It just for the look only. The filter media and filter sock are better solution.

 

[Crawdads57]

I have a DIY refugium sump on my 15 gallon cube. Its a 4 gallon aquarium that I had glass cut for "baffles" to make a "circuit" - hard to explain, but water flows into an area where it goes through a nylon bag with matrix rocks, goes into the protein skimmer area (Tunze 9001) then goes through the area where I keep the chaeto and live rock rubble, then into the final area where I have a HOB filter with carbon. This is also where I have the return pump with a foam filter and my heater. Works great. Its really only about 2 gallons of water down there, but the skimmer still pulls and the chaeto grows. My nitrates always test below 5, more like 2. I also do water changes twice weekly, but only 1 gallon each time, so its pretty easy and gives me a 12% (or so) water change volume weekly. I dose CA / Alk / Mg via these water changes.

For a price similiar to these little sumps on the market I got the aquarium, light and protein skimmer. So this is why I built my own. I'm using this light: Finnex Aquarium Schuber Wright Marine LED Base, $50 on amazon. Only 6,000K but it still works for the chaeto.

So, light: $50, aquarium, $40, Protein skimmer $115, glass cut and drilled: $20. $225 - I already had the "10 gallon" HOB and heater.

The other nice thing about this is that I can do the water changes in the sump and it gets all my equipment out of my display. Just an idea. Works for me.

 

[Crawdads57]

I also have 3 hermits, and about 6 little ceriths in there. Saw some aiptasia down there one day and threw in a couple peppermints - problem solved and they are total content down there.

 

[Crawdads57]

Nevermind, just looked up your system, so I see that you are already aware of the virtues of a sump

I don't see why you can't grow some chaeto down there if you get a light. It won;t be much of course, but it'll be more than I can grow. If it's growing its doing something at least and if nothing else the pods will love it, then you can just "swish" it around in your display and get those pods off and into your display once in a while.

 

[Julian.Rad17]

Nevermind, just looked up your system, so I see that you are already aware of the virtues of a sump

I don't see why you can't grow some chaeto down there if you get a light. It won;t be much of course, but it'll be more than I can grow. If it's growing its doing something at least and if nothing else the pods will love it, then you can just "swish" it around in your display and get those pods off and into your display once in a while.

Ok thanks for the ideas, in addition to an area for pods to live I think I'm leaning more towards the waterfall algae scrubber since that kind of algae removes a lot of nutrients and grows fast. Anyone know more about scrubbers/things to consider when building?