Strategy for stocking a refugium

[joelq]

Hi all - I converted a 29 gallon into a sump/refugium for my 90 gallon reef. I used Marc's Model F design for this one. I wanted to maximize my return area, so the refugium portion is fairly small - 5 x 12 x 13, although I did make it high. Hopefully this will still be big enough to help.

The silicone is curing right now, and I should be able to do leak tests this weekend. Just planning ahead on stocking the refugium.

- how much sand bed? Also, can I use some sand from a freshwater setup I just took down?
- should I seed with the sand from the display?
- how about LR? How much?
- any opinions on any of the commercially available muds? IPSF, etc?
- anything else I'm not thinking of?

Thanks!

 

[psteeleb]

that small a footprint won't do much for a sand or mud bed other then providing a harbor for microfauna you may want in there.

main thing is cheato, it works wonders and provides a nice harbor for pods. depending on how much flow, don't count out puting some stuff in you main area they are still refugiums but the higher flows tend to wash out micro fuana and sand beds. But if you put some base or live rock in there you will can still get some pods growing

I'd be wary of the sand from your fresh water tank unless you wash it very well, even then, if it's fresh it will conatin bacteria that will most likely die off in the salt water and may cause a problem. see if you can find some pulverised limestone (it's heap and works great)

I'm not much of a proponent of the muds, even if they are a miracle, you just aren't talking about that much space

good luck, I think you'll find just going a sump with cheato is going to improve things alot over not having them.

keep us posted and take some pics

 

[joelq]

Thanks very much for the quick feedback! I'll definitely be taking and posting some pics of the new sump/refugium.

I definitely plan on getting some cheato based on everything I've read on this forum.

And when you talk about putting some stuff into my "main area", are you talking about the return portion of the sump, or in the display itself? If it's in the return portion of the sump, do I need to be concerned about the cheato getting into and gumming up my return pump?

Thanks!

 

[psteeleb]

@joelq wrote:

I was not refering to the display tank, rather the other two areas ( I had to go lok at Marc's model F) space permitting rock in these areas provides harbor for beneficial life forms (bacteria and micro fauna) . Not macro algeas, keep this in your refuge section for the reason you mention. Most people like to keep their return area clear for maintenance, but if there is space use it. good luck with your build