Refugium?

[gastone]

I'm in the process of setting up a 30G refugium for my 55. The 55 has been up and running for about four months now. After a hectic initial cycle in which I had no clue what I was doing, everything has come around nicely (thanks to the helpful reefers on wamas.org). I've just added 50lbs of SD and my water. I'm going to throw in 10# +/- of live sand here in the next day or so. I've got a refugium culture kit on hold which will be shipped as soon as I'm ready.....

 

My question is, when will I be ready? Should I let the fuge go through a cycle with the live sand/rock before adding the culture kit? When should I hook up the pump to my main tank in order to start reaping the benefits?

 

Thanks.

[Guest Kimo]

I've been gettting ready to set up a refugium too, and here is what I would do...

 

I'd add the sand/rock, wait for the cycle.  Once the Ammonia and Nitrites are zero, I would add the refugium kit.  I would then worry and stress about what will happen and hook the refugium to the main tank.

 

I wouldn't hook up a tank with elevated Ammonia/Nitrite levels to my reef and I certainly wouldn't add any livestock to an un-cycled tank (refugium kits included).

 

HTH,

 

Jamie