Need Refugium Advice

[Guest Kimo]

I'm finally going to set up a refugium for my 180 gallon tank, and I would like some advice.

 

I am planning on doing an external refugium fed by my return pump and overflowing into my sump. I was thinking about using a 20 Gallon tank, getting it drilled (somehow...) and installing a bulkhead with an elbow for a standpipe.

 

I would block off the overflow area with plastic gutter guard or eggcrate with screening to prevent the chaeto from clogging the return.

 

I would then use 2 of the HD light bulbs (the pcs in the floodlight) to light it and grow chaeto for export.

 

What do you all think? Could an IKEA TV stand hold up the tank? It's pretty beefy, so I would think so. At 8.33 lbs/gallon that would be 166.6 lbs. That's about the same as a big tv, like 36" or so.

 

Also, what kind of results have you seen from incorporating a refugium into your existing setup? Did it make a major difference?

 

Thanks!

 

Jamie

[steveoutlaw]

Jamie -

A refugium is great for the health of your tank. I won't ever have a tank without one. When I was doing research to set up my tank I got a lot of advice about the fuge. The concept that I heard over and over again is that you want "raw" (unskimmed) water going into the fuge and you want the fuge water going directly back to the tank (not through the skimmer and then back to the tank). The reasoning being that the algea in your fuge feeds off of the bad stuff in the water and puts good stuff back into the water.

 

Now, I'm by no means an expert but this system has worked very well with my tanks.

 

Steve

[JMsAquarium]

Jamie,

 

The first thing I would not use is the TV stand. It will be fine for a short while, but you are taking a risk of failure.

 

Second I set up a small fuge, about 3/4 gal critter tote, fed with a minijet 606 and return directly to the main tank. I drilled a hole and put a 1" bulkhead for the return, covered with a prefilter grid that stops algae from clogging the pipe. The pump sits inside the overflow. It gives a gentle flow and I use one of those 6000K cheap screw in PC bulbs from HD.

The algae grows fairly well and it foes absorbs most of my phosphates. The test we ran at the meeting were about 0.25 ppm. It also serves as a safe haven were pods reproduce merrily.

 

All in all, in my case it does a difference, since before the fuge was set up:

1- The Po levels in my tank were higher, around 2.5 to 3 ppm.

2- I could never have enough pods, they were almost non existent. I could barely see them at night. Now they are crawling everywhere.

 

JM

[Guest Kimo]

Thanks for the help -

 

I have been thinking today that I may just get a small rubbermaid or something adn use that for the time being, at least until I decide what I am going to use on a permanent basis. It seems that even a tiny refugium makes a big difference.

 

JM - Do you use a durso? Does the minijet in the overflow screw it up? What size tank do you have?

 

Keep the ideas coming guys.

 

Jamie

 

Jamie,

 

The first thing I would not use is the TV stand. It will be fine for a short while, but you are taking a risk of failure.

 

Second I set up a small fuge, about 3/4 gal critter tote, fed with a minijet 606 and return directly to the main tank. I drilled a hole and put a 1" bulkhead for the return, covered with a prefilter grid that stops algae from clogging the pipe. The pump sits inside the overflow. It gives a gentle flow and I use one of those 6000K cheap screw in PC bulbs from HD.

The algae grows fairly well and it foes absorbs most of my phosphates.  The test we ran at the meeting were about 0.25 ppm. It also serves as a safe haven were pods reproduce merrily.

 

All in all, in my case it does a difference, since before the fuge was set up:

1- The Po levels in my tank were higher, around 2.5 to 3 ppm.

2- I could never have enough pods, they were almost non existent. I could barely see them at night. Now they are crawling everywhere.

 

JM

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[dhoch]

Jamie,

 

I don't know the rest of your setup, but what I did was similar (I used a 29 for my refugium)...

 

I put mine under my tank (right next to my sump)... flow from one of my two overflows get's split and divereted into the refugium... here are some pics:

 

The refugium then has dual (I like redundancy) holes drilled into it that overflow back into the refugium.

 

Here you can see the T coming off the return into the refugium:

 

 

Here is a pic of the refugium overflow into the sump:

 

 

I should note that the 29 is on a couple of pieces of wood ~1.5" to make the overflows high enough to go into the 40 gallon breader that is on the left hand side of this setup.

 

Dave

[JMsAquarium]

Jamie,

 

My tank is a 120 gal AGA (4x2x2) RR with 2 corner overflows (standard ones, not the megaflow). The sump is more or less a 40 gal acrylic. I must have about 120 gals of water total in the system. Yes I have a 1 inch durso standpipe in the overflow, as well as a 0.75" pevc pipe for the return.The pump does not affect the flow into the durso. It's a small flow pump after all. The fuge sits about 2 ft above the rim of the tank and the minijet provides a very small flow (which I like in a fuge). Oh, a little typo, the critter tote is 3 to 4 gals, not a 3/4.

You are welcome to come and have a look if you wish.

 

JM

[gastone]

Jamie, I've used 2 different refugium's in my set ups.

 

1 - had a 30gallon long which was gravity fed into my 42 hex. The water was pumped up to the fuge by a minijet and the fuge was lit by a LOA fixture from HD. Very slow turnover. My thoughts were that this would allow the algae plenty of time to absorb nutrients. Tank was drilled for a bulkhead and returned back to the display, no need for a standpipe as the flow was so slow that the noise was negligible. To me, this is definitely the way to go... gravity fed, slow turnover, 24 hr photoperiod.

 

2 - now I use a 100gallon stock tank for a sump/refuge. The thirty is plumbed into the 42 and now houses zoas. The refugium has a couple hundred pounds of sand and 30# +/- LR. I like the additional volume, but I definitely prefer the gravity fed system of old to establish/maintain pods. The macro does it's job and, through all of my other struggles, my NO2, NO3, PO4 are all undetectable using Salifert test kits.

 

Garrett.

[Carl]

JM, Garrett,

 

Both of you have slow turnover in the fuge...can you guess on approximate gallons/hour?

 

-Carl

[JMsAquarium]

JM, Garrett,

 

Both of you have slow turnover in the fuge...can you guess on approximate gallons/hour? 

 

-Carl

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Just did a calculation with a measurement cup. Turnover in my fuge is 12.6 gallons per hour.

[steveoutlaw]

Garrett-

Even though the pods don't make it into your show tank in one piece, don't your fish still feed on them?

[BeltwayBandit]

I used an old IO salt bucket for my fuge. I drilled a hole in it with a hole saw, used a Uniseal bulkhead fitting and have it gravity feed back into the sump. The nice thing is the bucket is taller than the sump so it makes it easy for the return and I don't have to have the bucket sitting on anything. It works great, except my original idea of using some netting to act as a screen on the overflow. Don't do that, bad juju. (It clogged and overflowed then my ATO kicked in and dumped 30-40 gallons FW into the tank during the stir cycle on my Kalk reactor.)

[gastone]

Carl, that was my old setup. The turnover now is much higher.

 

Steve, I'm sure some pods make it into the tanks, I just believe my old gravity fed system was better as a 'refuge' for pods.

 

IMO - gravity fed is better, unfortunately it is easier to run a fuge in-sump.

 

G.

[Guest Kimo]

I'm thinking of doing this - I have space for a bucket under my stand. I REALLY need to get a fuge going, I think my phosphate is out of control. I am going to test it tonight.

 

Update: No testable Phosphates, using Salifert.

 

I have an old IO bucket, as well as a bunch of regular HD buckets. This is a really simple idea.

 

Got pics?

 

I used an old IO salt bucket for my fuge.  I drilled a hole in it with a hole saw, used a Uniseal bulkhead fitting and have it gravity feed back into the sump.  The nice thing is the bucket is taller than the sump so it makes it easy for the return and I don't have to have the bucket sitting on anything.  It works great, except my original idea of using some netting to act as a screen on the overflow.  Don't do that, bad juju.  (It clogged and overflowed then my ATO kicked in and dumped 30-40 gallons FW into the tank during the stir cycle on my Kalk reactor.)

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