Info on Refugiums

[gerryo]

Good Morning.

I would like some more info on the topic of fuges.   

Like ;  What is their purpose?
         What should be in them?
         How much flow should there be through the fuge?
         Where should they drain into the sump?
         Is there such a thing as being too large?
         

All these questions answered in ten words or less would be great. 

[martin_jones]

From what I understand, a refugium should be placed above the main aquarium, so that gravity can allow the water to flow from fuge to main tank (allowing copepods to get into the main tank without going through a pump).

More info here:
http://www.fishlore.com/refugium-setup.htm

Martin

[Hookup]

All these questions answered in ten words or less would be great. 

What is their purpose?
  - reduce nutrients such as phosphate, silicate and nitrate (8 words)

What should be in them?
- varying types of macro algae, Cheato being the most common (10 words, phew)

How much flow should there be through the fuge?
- same as your sump, flow is not too critical (9 words)

Where should they drain into the sump?
- as close to the return as possible (7 words)

Is there such a thing as being too large?
- nope (1 word FTW)


         

[C-Dog]

all i have in my fug is cheato red mangroves and some LR which then feeds to the rest of my sump with a section full of LR which then feeds into my return to the tank
easy

almost anything you do will benefit the tank.....

Corey

[gerryo]

  Thanx Guys.  Very fast response.

Martin:  Thanx for the link.  All kinds of info there and lots more links.  I am not able to set my fuge above my DT as it is quite large and needs to drain back into my sump.  Then water is pumped up into the DT.  Hope that the pods survive.

Hookup:  A lot of info in a few short words.  Didn't mean for you to take me so seriously.
Besides cheato is it possible to include other macro-algea or is it better to stay away from counteractive purposes?   Flow through the fuge will be with a Fluval @ 160GPH.  This seems to be pretty good.

C-Dog (Corey)  I thought Mangroves grew to be large trees.  Do I want these in my fuge?  I like your handle by the way.  My nickname is seadog, as I spent a few years with a sailboat then couldn't live down the name when we stopped sailing.

Thanx for the info ppl.  Confirms some of what I already new and supplied lots of new and interesting stuff.  It's hard to keep ahead of it all.

[Vincenzo.]

im my fuge (mine is Quite small) i have about 1lb of small pieces of holey rock. and a crap load of cheato. baby brittle stars & tiny baby snails. i dont have much flow, it's directly the off flow of my skimmer. works great, especially after i added the pound of rock.

[Hookup]

Hookup:  A lot of info in a few short words.  Didn't mean for you to take me so seriously.

I'm known for giant walls of text in my responses... so I kind of took it as a self learning excersize... in fact, It was fun and i was surpised I could do it...

Besides cheato is it possible to include other macro-algea or is it better to stay away from counteractive purposes? 

Yep... but there really isn't any reason... unless your fuge is on display... I've seen some OMG amazing looking macro algae's... but 99 of 100 fuges are hidden from view... cheato works, it grows fast, can be used as food for some fish and has a low chance of spreading due to light cycle times.. (basically put your fuge on a 12/12 hr cycle and forget it...)

Flow through the fuge will be with a Fluval @ 160GPH.  This seems to be pretty good.

Sounds perfect enough to work for me!  BTW, with low flow, you might get detrius coming out of suspension... which is good or bad...   I do not recommend putting LR or sand in with your fuge (ok, some LR is not bad)... but with the low-flow rates, you'll get detrius coming out of suspension and settling to the bottom of the tank... this is GOOD... IFF you vacume it out... if you do not.. well its BAD.. it rots...

Sand and large amounts of LR can hinder the process of getting the detrius from your fuge out...  which is why I do not recommend it.

[salvini55]

you deff need to vac it. I have that problem in my fuge, too much live rock rubble makes it hard to keep clean. everything settles in it making a nice home for decay.