YOU SUCCESSFUL with Refugium's, CHECK IN !

[427HISS]

I'm going to set up a 125g mostly for fish, but will also have LPS's, leathers, mushrooms etc, but no SPS's for this tank.
I have a new 55g glass tank for the sump with a refugium.

I've been researching the types of refugium that are either bare bottom and use mainly cheato for sucking up nutrients and to feed fish to "Miracle Mud" or sand bottom with
a variety of macro algae's.

I guess first of all, I don't see myself having a bare bottom with the cheato just floating around, as a refugium,....BORING !

So, those of you that are very successful with planted refugium's, please explain your system.

Please,....add photo's and video's ?

Describe in full details !


1- Why did you want one ?

2-DIY custom or did you buy a manufactured system and from where ?

3-How you created one ?

4-What size display tank do you have ?

5- All in one sump/refugium or separate systems ?

6- Size of sump ?

7- Size of refugium, the other stages and baffles ?

8- How old is yours ?

9-What plants ?

10- What critters are in yours ?

10- Did you use mud, sand or other and why ?

11- How your plumbing works ?

12- What for lighting ?

13- Flow of your pump ?


Your success's and not so successful attempt's.

Your do's and dont's.

Products you like, don't like and why ?

And, what will you do next time ?

Regards,
Kevin

 

[427HISS]

You-Hoo !

 

[heathd.hd]

Mines pretty successful but it's nothing special. In your boring classification actually

 

[afamousjohnson]

The more simply it is the more simple to maintain. They get super nasty from my experience. On my new upgrade will not be using sand or rock in there. I have those in the display but I will fill it with macro because there is none of that in display.lol
just remember if going all out it will become another tank on your system you will have to maintain vs set n forget.lol

 

[heathd.hd]

So it's on the left there it gets its own gravity fed flow that I can regulate. I had sand in there but I removed it after my son threw 2 dishwasher packets in there one day. Now it's bare bottom with a bit of rock rubble around the edges. A few blue leg crabs that were eating my snails are in there. I have a wp - 10 In there tumbling my cheato. That's about it. 100 w CFL daylight bulb in a clip on reflector from farm and fleet. Cheato grows like weeds in June. Wouldn't change a thing I guess.

 

[choff]

I recently expanded my system. I removed my under tank sump and jumped up to a 125 and put in the basement below. I tied in a couple of 40b's as a frag tank and fuge. DT is 150g.

The fuge started out BB and chaeto, but as you said. Boring. I decided i would make it a true refugium and put things in there that I wanted, but wouldn't work in my DT. I have long wanted a pistol shrimp/ goby pair and I also wanted a blue spot jawfish. So, I went DSB added some rock and filled it macro algaes. We have a local guy that specializes in macros and I picked up 14 different varieties to see what would take. About half are thriving. I have a yasha goby, a couple of clowns, sexy shrimp and I did have a pearly head goby, but my god he destroyed the tank so he had to go. I recently upgraded my lights on my FT to kessils 160s and moved my radion g2 to the fuge. So now I'm going to get an anemone of some kind. Maybe long tentacle. I dropped in a few "ugly" corals that won't ever make it to the DT and can't even give them away.

My DT drains into my ft and fuge and they both independently drain into the sump. I currently have slightly more flow going through the FT. I also have a couple of rw 4s for additional circulation.

I'll take some pictures over the weekend. It's not the prettiest thing and the scape needs some love, but it's a work in progress.

 

[427HISS]

I recently expanded my system. I removed my under tank sump and jumped up to a 125 and put in the basement below. I tied in a couple of 40b's as a frag tank and fuge. DT is 150g.

The fuge started out BB and chaeto, but as you said. Boring. I decided i would make it a true refugium and put things in there that I wanted, but wouldn't work in my DT. I have long wanted a pistol shrimp/ goby pair and I also wanted a blue spot jawfish. So, I went DSB added some rock and filled it macro algaes. We have a local guy that specializes in macros and I picked up 14 different varieties to see what would take. About half are thriving. I have a yasha goby, a couple of clowns, sexy shrimp and I did have a pearly head goby, but my god he destroyed the tank so he had to go. I recently upgraded my lights on my FT to kessils 160s and moved my radion g2 to the fuge. So now I'm going to get an anemone of some kind. Maybe long tentacle. I dropped in a few "ugly" corals that won't ever make it to the DT and can't even give them away.

My DT drains into my ft and fuge and they both independently drain into the sump. I currently have slightly more flow going through the FT. I also have a couple of rw 4s for additional circulation.

I'll take some pictures over the weekend. It's not the prettiest thing and the scape needs some love, but it's a work in progress.

Photo's would be great, as it sounds like a wonderful system.

We'll also be adopting one of the most beautiful fish's on the reef, the Blue Spot Jawfish !
The symbiotic relationships between fish, shrimps and anemone's are a true love of ours too !
In our 29g, we have a beautiful green Hadi Carpet Anemone, but no clownfish yet, but we will, and another beautiful Rose Bubble Tip
that our two Ocel clownfish are hosting. It's amazing, cute and fun to watch !
I love it when they feed the anemone !

Anyway, how long has your DSB been running, is it helping with lowering your nutrient's or do you just like a refugium and how do you like it ?

I also feel that having separate flow from the DT is a good idea, so you can adjust it to your refugium's needs.
You can also turn it off for any reason, without shutting off the return pump. I can't decide whether to have the refugium a completely
different system form the DT ?

Again, post some pics.

 

[Spinner]

You should use the "Search" regarding REFUGIUM'S it pack full of pretty good information

 

[427HISS]

I agree, there's a lot of info, good and not so good, but I could not find much about great success. That's why I started this thread.

 

[Trex]

Nothing special -- a newly set up tank -- but here is mine. Mainly a few rocks with marco on them that from my 75 that I am taking down for this tank.

Part of the whole sump,

Whole sump, for reference,

 

[rppvt]

I've used dsb fuge as part of my sump for a couple years, but when aptasia shows up there, it spreads nicely to the dt - I'm thinking that uv from the fuge to the dt might be a good idea. Anyone?

 

[reefcubed]

A lot of questions! I have a 93 gallon cube. I custom designed my sump and had it built, everything had to fit under the cabinet, it is PACKED in there. It is a 4 chamber sump. I have a fuge and a frag rack in there. I'll post pics first then description in the next post

 

[basile]

Hi guys; if you do a refugium that size , 75 G the thing to remember is that with that much macroalges beside and here the is beside chaeto , because chaeto doesn't realy needs it and don't ask me why i don't know. But dosing iron is very important with that much macro alges. Its part of the oxygen process and keeps the macros from fusing and releasing their basic element which is nitrates and phosphates and crashing your tank. You can loose your refugium biomass if you don't dose iron . I almost lost mine twice, and by dosing i mean for me its almost every 2 day. Testing for iron is very difficult because iron is absorbed almost completely in the first 35 minutes of its introductions so no test on the maket can detect it really. Its also has no ill effect on the other lifeforms in the tank.

A few articles you want to read on iron;

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners Part 2: What Chemicals Must be Supplemented by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iodine In Reef Tanks 2: Effects On Macroalgae Growth ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

Parameters - Reef Cleaners

Nutrient and iron limitation to Ulva blooms in a eutrophic coastal lagoon (Sacca di Goro, Italy) - Springer

In any case do your own research but you'll find many other articles on the subject that points in the same direction. good luck.

The iron i use and other product, even some fertilisers because sometimes their's not enough nitrates or phosphates the algaes grows too fast.

once a week only both.

​

 

[Midasreefs]

I split a 30 gallon aquarium into three equal parts using acrylic and silicone. The overflow splits down and half of the water goes to the left side and the other half goes to the right. On the left a have a particle filter bag and my skimmer and on the right side I have my refugium. Both sides flow into the middle part where a pump takes the water back to the top. My refugium has sand on the bottom lots of live rock in the middle and lots of cheato on top. With this setup I have never had algea (expect some spot algea) and nitrates have never shown up in testing. I have also been able to keep lots of tougher wrasses and anthias due to all the pods.
Good luck!

 

[427HISS]

Hi guys; if you do a refugium that size , 75 G the thing to remember is that with that much macroalges beside and here the is beside chaeto , because chaeto doesn't realy needs it and don't ask me why i don't know. But dosing iron is very important with that much macro alges. Its part of the oxygen process and keeps the macros from fusing and releasing their basic element which is nitrates and phosphates and crashing your tank. You can loose your refugium biomass if you don't dose iron . I almost lost mine twice, and by dosing i mean for me its almost every 2 day. Testing for iron is very difficult because iron is absorbed almost completely in the first 35 minutes of its introductions so no test on the maket can detect it really. Its also has no ill effect on the other lifeforms in the tank.

A few articles you want to read on iron;

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners Part 2: What Chemicals Must be Supplemented by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iodine In Reef Tanks 2: Effects On Macroalgae Growth ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

Parameters - Reef Cleaners

Nutrient and iron limitation to Ulva blooms in a eutrophic coastal lagoon (Sacca di Goro, Italy) - Springer

In any case do your own research but you'll find many other articles on the subject that points in the same direction. good luck.

The iron i use and other product, even some fertilisers because sometimes their's not enough nitrates or phosphates the algaes grows too fast.

once a week only both.

​

Thanks for the great links !