Refugium setup
- Thread starter nemodad
- Start date
Help Support Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum:
Krish
RF STAFF
I think I did a poll on this. I'll check and if so, I'll send you a link. 
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Krish
RF STAFF
I checked and I did quite a few related to your question but not completely 100% accurate/specific to your question. Here's one you can browse at thought which may help. http://www.reeffrontiers.com/showthread.php?t=59929. As for me personally, it all depends what you are using the fuge for. This will determine what you should have in it. If going just for nutrient export, I'd skip the liverock and sand and just use a macro algae. If trying to grow pods etc, you may want to use a combination etc. so it all depends on your purpose for using a fuge and which approach you want to take. There are pros and cons to basically every method so you have to weight them out and see what suits you best.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last edited:
jrgilles
Well-known member
Mine is barebottom with some liverock. Makes it really easy to clean up. You can migrate the live rock to your DT to help transfer pods over if you want.
I have grape caulerpa and caulerpa mexicana in there. They grow extremely fast and do a great job of export, but they need 24H a day light, or they will go sexual. They are happy with not much flow.
Could go with chaeto if you wanted. It likes more flow though (and was quickly out competed in my fuge by the super fast growing caulerpas). Chaeto doesn't go sexual, so you don't have to light it 24-7.
Not sure how your fuge is set up, but if you are not lighting it 24-7, people often light it opposite the tank (ie. at night) to help minimize the pH swing caused when you shut your tank lights off.
Lots of options though, and there are many good ways to do it, depending on your setup and what you want out of your fuge.
I have grape caulerpa and caulerpa mexicana in there. They grow extremely fast and do a great job of export, but they need 24H a day light, or they will go sexual. They are happy with not much flow.
Could go with chaeto if you wanted. It likes more flow though (and was quickly out competed in my fuge by the super fast growing caulerpas). Chaeto doesn't go sexual, so you don't have to light it 24-7.
Not sure how your fuge is set up, but if you are not lighting it 24-7, people often light it opposite the tank (ie. at night) to help minimize the pH swing caused when you shut your tank lights off.
Lots of options though, and there are many good ways to do it, depending on your setup and what you want out of your fuge.
Krish
RF STAFF
It all depends again. DSB for what purpose? My 38gal was a bare bottom tank and my sump was bare bottom. No sand no where in the system and no macro. All I had was liverock in the tank only, high flow, a skimmer, phosban reactor and ran some carbon. Water changes consisted of about 10% weekly. Tank ran un-detectable nitrates with no algae issues so it all depends on the setup and what you are after. Some people like dsb's for dentrification. For me, I just don't like the up keep of sand LOL!
Krish
RF STAFF
It can get very confusing. Sand is not needed to keep a successful aquarium. Infact, it is not needed to keep a successful reef. Sand has it's pros and cons, but where biological filtration is concerned, your rock can handle it all on its own. Some people just use a very shallow sand bed just because they love the way it looks and also, some fish and critters require it like wrasses for example. The reason I didn't use sand was for one, I'd have a sand storm with the amount of flow I ran. The idea was to have enough flow to where you can keep all waste/detritus etc in suspension in the water column to either be filtered out or used up by corals. In a sand bed, waste can sometimes get lost in it where it can rott and degrade water quality so if you go with a sand bed, you have to understand the proper way to care for each type and know the pros and cons to each. Personally, I'd skip the rubble. It's not really adding any benefit to you having it in your sump. The liverock you have in your tank should be sufficient enough to biologically filter your tank. Addind rubble to your sump will just be another place detritus will settle which will probably cause more harm than good. Like I mentioned, it's a toss up and really what appeals to you. The good thing is people use every method and have been successful which is why you have to go which works best for you or appeals to you most, but where it comes to sand, it is not needed at all.
jrgilles
Well-known member
I have my sump return chamber full of live rock, live rock in the fuge, and also in the tank. As I put stuff into my DT I have been moving rock out of it into the sump/fuge.
Sometimes if I have algae in my DT, I will put the rock into my dark sump so get rid of the algae, and will pull a rock from the sump/fuge to the DT.
Not that I really know what I'm doing, but I am not seeing nitrates in the system.
rob
Sometimes if I have algae in my DT, I will put the rock into my dark sump so get rid of the algae, and will pull a rock from the sump/fuge to the DT.
Not that I really know what I'm doing, but I am not seeing nitrates in the system.
rob
