Would a fuge benefit me?

[steveoutlaw]

I have a 120g with a DSB (about 5") and would rather use my sump as just a sump rather than a fuge. Will a fuge (with macro) benifit me already having a DSB?

[Grav]

Yes, yes it will.

 

A fuge will allow stuff to grow and multiply that wouldn't last in the main tank.

 

Also it will stablize your PH if you set the lighting on a reverse of the desplay lights.

[pez]

I hate to disagree with Grav, but I don't see it as cut and dry. In theory they add biodiversity by providing a refuge for otherwise high value targets (e.g., things that will get eaten quickly). However, my fuge doesn't seem to have much growing in it that isn't in the main tank somewhere. Perhaps there are more copepods, isopods, etc. because of the fuge, but my testing hasn't bore that out.

 

I've done it both ways and have found little clear benefit to having one. My current system has a fuge and I disconnected it for 6 months to see what would happen. My tank looked no different, better or worse, with or without the fuge.

 

If the fuge is on a reverse schedule for lighting, it will help buffer the pH if you have a lot of plant material. However, if your alkalinity is good and you're dosing kalkwasser, the argument is somewhat less compelling.

 

The best reason for one, IMHO, is added volume and a place to put things when you need to. It's great to "banish" unknown crabs to the fuge and see what they do in there. Safer than letting them run amock in your display tank and trying to find them after your corals start to disappear.

 

Factoring in the added plumbing and extra stuff, I'm not sure the benfits out weigh the complexity. It's your call.

 

0.02.

 

 

-Tom

[Folta]

I think there are different levels of fuges that you can have. Since you already have a sump, it wouldn't take that much more work to add a 'fuge'.

 

The way I look at it is this: If I have macroalgae in my sump, its pulling nutrients from the water that algae in the main tank would use. So its like a competition between them (and if nothing else, there are at least less nutrients available for the microalgae in the display tank). All I did was take a handful of macro algae (chaeto, in my case) and stuck in loosely in my sump. I put it in in manner that the water that comes from the main tank passes through it. I also have a clip on light with a 60 watt bulb pointed at that section of my sump. As for how effective it is? I have no clue, really. But my cost was cheap : $10 for the lamp (and if I ever stopped using it on the fuge, I could use it in other places) and I got the chaeto for free. I didn't mod my sump in the slightest, just added it in.