From No Refugium to Refugium

H

hegi

I recently (~3 weeks ago) added a refugium to my tank. I bought it from another member it is one of the HOB refugiums similar to a CPR. Anyway I just wanted to comment on the remarkable change I've seen in my tanks chemistry and the clarity of the water. I used to have a problem with nitrates and they are down to zero now and the PH is also at a constant 8.2-8.3, which I also used to have a problem with. I really had no way to put a refugium under the tank and my wife refused to allow me to put one near the tank on the outside because it would look bad :p. Anyway, if you haven't jumped on the refugium bandwagon it would be a wise move and really help improve the overall quality of your tank.
 
Preach on brother! :)

But... I still think display refuguims are quite pleasing to the eye, but I'll admit to being a little... weird... But to me a display refuguim is more like an indoor garden... I sit and watch the stuff happening in my fuge's ALMOST as much as I sit and watch what's happening in my dispaly tanks...
 
Agreed Serk.. I spend a few minutes each night with a magnifying glass on the fuge- since it is free of predation, you get to see all the microfauna that live in our tanks.
 
I use Chaeto and Grape Caulerpa as well as some Racemosa Caulerpa. I also like to watch my fuge. I wish I could have a bigger one b/c watching all the mysis, and pods is really interesting.
 
the HOB fuges aren't that bad at all, the old adage holds true, any fuge is better than no fuge. I agree with Serk and Ashlar, being able to see your fuge just makes it that much better, there are some cool little things in there.
 
Hey Ben,

I have been thinking of the same thing, only I can't envision it.

I noticed that your tank size is similar to mine and I have been having a problem with my perameters being a little unstable (higher nitrates) and want to fix the problem with a more permanent solution than just water changes. I have reading that a refugium and macroalgae might help.

I'm glad you shared your experience.

What type of refugium setup do you have? Would it be difficult for me to figure out? I'm not the best when it comes to plumbing. : )

I have a bakpak filter, so I assume that I will need a overflow box and hoses to/from refugium. Could I just hang the bakpak on the refugium instead on the display tank once everything is set up?

I know I sound lame, sorry you got stuck with the questions.

Gail
 
NP I'm happy to help. It is as easy as putting a bakpak on your aquarium. I use the same skimmer as well as a small power filter to run carbon. The Refugium is very similar to this one (see picture below). All you have to do is place it on the back of your tank like your skimmer. Mine isn't a CPR, I bought it used from another member, but the CPR ones are bascially the exact same ones.

The smallest one is around 2 gallons and the largest one is around 5 gallons. So, no plumbing involved, it's plug and play. The dimension for each one are: 13.5" L x 4.5" W x 12" T, the small one, 19" L x 4.5" W x 12" T, the medium one, and 25" L x 4.5" W x 12" T, the 5 gallon one. They are 89, 99, and 115 dollars respectively before tax and shipping on marineandreef.com. They actually make one now that has a built in skimmer as well.

The bank of my tank is ~36 inches across and the one I have is 18 inches long but is deeper then the CPR ones. I had plenty of room on the back including my BakPak and HOB power filter. I can't fit anything else back there now but I don't need to anyway :p.

Hope that helps
 
I meant to also mention that they have special lights that you can get for the fuge itself, but I just got a 20" flourescent fixture (you know the cheap kind that come with your aquarium but you don't need/use it) and put an aquaglo bulb in it. All my macro grows like crazy with the regular flourescent. I had the fixture and the bulb only cost around 10 dollars. They want you to pay ~50 for the "special" fixture. It is a power compact fixture, but for my purposes the flourescent fixture works fine.
 
Here Here.....
Ours is in the cabinet and the funny thing is, the doors are open more than they are closed since installing it.
My six year old daughter fell asleep watching the - As she calls them " Bugs " last Tuesday night.

FYI, I use a bulb from Walmart ( 6500K 23 watt spiral fluorescent ) and is $6.00 for 2 of them and the macro grows like weeds. I keep the light on 24 / 7 to keep from it going sexual.

Mike
 
This may be a really dumb question, but if your sump is multi chambered can you put a light on your sump and set up a chamber as a fuge? I have no space under the tank, and it is a 72 gal bowfront with a canopy. I have no place to hang a fuge either.
 
Here's a link to some examples of sumps.

http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

It's a very good page for sump ideas.
 
Here's some pics of mine which is a 20 gallon glass w/ acrylic baffles siliconed in. It's a modified version of one of Marc's designs.

Mike
 
I know my intellegence comes more and more into question with every post, but does having the skimmer after the fuge in the water flow back to the tank defeat the purpose? In other word won't the skimmer remove the critters from the water?
 
@ironbird456 wrote:
I know my intellegence comes more and more into question with every post said:
Yes, or so they say and I'm one that agrees with them.
It's hard to tell from the picture, but if you look close in the first picture you'll see the tank drains into a compartment on the far right where the Live Rock rubble is in the bottom ( I know, need more rubble... working on it! ) the MJ 1200 that feeds the AquaC Remora skimmer is in that compartment so it's water is coming straight from the overflow box of the display tank.
The Remora then dumps the effluent water into the Refuguim compartment.
The skimmer is getting the protein laden water and after cleaning it, dumps it into the Refuguim for more filtering. The critters are left to live in the Refuguim or go with the flow... Through the bubble trap and into the sump and through the pump and into the Display tank.
The Screen on the pump intake is there to stop snails, fish and anything large from going into the pump.

The water is flowing from right to left.... Guess I should have been a Chinese educated engineer?!? :roll:

Here's a picture of how the sump is laid out from looking down at it.

Hope this helps,
Mike
Click to expand...
 
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