refugiums?

[sean obergfell]

How long does it take to begin to see pods and worms and ect. coming from the mineral mud in the fuge?
I have about 2" of mud and on the top of the mud is a single layer of live rock rubble. And a couple pieces of liverock and Chaeto.
The flow rate is about 50-60x the fuge. Been running about 2 weeks. My tank has been running for about year and a half.
Looking for as much info as possible.....
thanks.

 

[landlord]

Shouldn't take too long to start seeing small amphipods. I began seeing them in about 2 weeks if I remember correctly.

FWIW --landlord

 

[Aquarist007]

chances are the flow rate is too much through the fuge and they are being swept back into the main tank. Check at the main tank at night with a flashlight--you will probably notice the water teeming with them.

IMO there are two distinct uses of a refug dependant on the flow:

to raise a variety and quantity of inverts and usefull bacteria---the flow rate should be about 1/8 to 1/10 of the flow entering the sump.

to add extra filtration---the flow rate can match the flow entering the sump(some baffles might be needed)

In your case I would run a separate refugium with reduced flow to produce the desired copopods etc.

I like the idea of the mud refugium for filtration and am working towards that myself:

 

[sean obergfell]

I love the space you have.........however as much as i like it...I don't have the space.
I could buy a less powerful pump...I was thinking of the Mag 5.
Right now I have the CA 2200...it came with the filter.
what do ya think?

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11139172#post11139172 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sean obergfell
I love the space you have.........however as much as i like it...I don't have the space.
I could buy a less powerful pump...I was thinking of the Mag 5.
Right now I have the CA 2200...it came with the filter.
what do ya think?

post a pic or two and we will let ya know what we think:smokin:

 

[corals b 4 bills]

capn_hylinur-- Your berlin skimmer how is it working? I could never get those things to work properly.

 

[ActinopteryGuy]

what is a good flow rate for a fuge? 4-10x?

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11140036#post11140036 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by corals b 4 bills
capn_hylinur-- Your berlin skimmer how is it working? I could never get those things to work properly.

once and a while the air venturi on the pump gets clogged--otherwise it is ok---as long as I scrub out the collection tube every other day---and you should be doing that anyways.

I've got the big micron sock which does alot of the work prior to the skimmer so I don't really rely on it for the main mechanical filtration.
If I was to rely on it soley I would have bought a big Euro and not run it in the sump.
My next modification is to remove the skimmer from the sump and turn the sump into a mud rock mangrove refugium.
On one hand I am using the refugium to produce a variety of inverts and bacterium for the main tank--but on the other hand removing them through the micron sock and skimmer.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11140054#post11140054 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ActinopteryGuy
what is a good flow rate for a fuge? 4-10x?

that depends on what you are using the fuge for--

If you are using the fuge to produce a variety of inverts and bacterium for your main tank then the flow rate should be about 1/8 to 1/10 the main flow to the sump.

If you are using the fuge as a boost to the main filtration system then the flow to it can be split even with the flow going to the sump. In cases where the fuge is "in line" and the water is entering it first then the flow can be maximum(if you need to flow it down for any reason then you can add some baffles to the refug.

 

[Aquarist007]

.....my fug in the pics above is used to produce a variety of inverts etc---it is feed by a secondary flow off the main pvc and controlled by the red valve on the left.

an in line fug could be easily made by sectioning off part of the sump--in the diagram above I could remove the micron sock and having it flow directly into a mud refugium where the sock is(acutally something I am in the wishing I could do stage)

 

[ActinopteryGuy]

my sump has two baffles, each 6" from the end. water comes in to the left side gets skimmed goes into the center chamber w/ LR and then to the return. I have been waiting for my buddy to hook me up with some cheato so I can get it going.

 

[Aquarist007]

even with the live rock you need to slow the flow down through it-giving the bacteria longer time to work on it. If you added a good mass of cheato in there it will slow the water down some. If you can adjust the hight of the baffles then you should be able to regulate the flow also.