First of all I am new to this forum, and fairly new to the SW hobby, only been doing SW for about a year. I have a 75 gallon reef, and have built a 10 gallon refugium. What kind of flow rate should I have through it? And, should I have the light over it on 24/7 or same as my main display lights or on opposite of the main lights? I have looked for some info and haven't had much luck in finding it.
refugium questions
- Thread starter fanandy8
- Start date
Flow rate is kind of a judgment call-- not too fast or slow... 10 to 15x the fuge volume is about right IMO... it is probably better to err on the low side then the high side-- too much flow and your pods will get washed out rather then breed in the fuge.
Running the lights opposite can help stabilize your pH-- when I ran just one fuge, I ran them opposite my tank but added 3 hours to either side (18 hours total) while I had detectable nitrates. After getting my nitrates to 0, I dropped it to about 13 hours to get a slight overlap with my tank lights.
I am now running 2 fuges and lighting them opposite each other 12 hours each-- 0 nitrates for 16 months now
-- I grow mainly Chaetomorpha but do have some Caulerpa Taxifolia growing in there too and some hair algae which I let grow relatively freely-- good breeding ground for micro fauna...
HTH
Running the lights opposite can help stabilize your pH-- when I ran just one fuge, I ran them opposite my tank but added 3 hours to either side (18 hours total) while I had detectable nitrates. After getting my nitrates to 0, I dropped it to about 13 hours to get a slight overlap with my tank lights.
I am now running 2 fuges and lighting them opposite each other 12 hours each-- 0 nitrates for 16 months now
-- I grow mainly Chaetomorpha but do have some Caulerpa Taxifolia growing in there too and some hair algae which I let grow relatively freely-- good breeding ground for micro fauna...HTH
Hello and welcome to the nora section. I beleive for a refugium u want a somewhat slow rate of flow so it has time to take in all the nutrients. Im not 100% sure on a flow rate. 400-500 gph. There are many people here with far more expericance the myself and im sure they will chime in. With my HOB refugium i run the lights opposite of my main display. I think this helps keep the p.h from lowring when the lights go off.
