Location
Upper East Side
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Who uses refugiums? For what purpose(s) (pods, nitrate export, place to keep naughty fish, second tank)? How have you set them up? Do you think it's been a benefit or detriment to your system? I've noticed a lot of discussion of fuges in other threads and thought it might be worthwhile to have a thread about them in and of itself.

I only recently added a fuge to my system, mainly for pod productions. It consists of a wide, shallow container with about an inch of sand, a ton of microbrittle stars, and a whole lot of cheato. I'm not sure what kind of flow I have through it, but it's not super fast (but apparently fast enough to produce some coraline growth near the return). It's hard to say whether or not it's been "beneficial" to my system, as I am skimming very aggressively and do 10% waters changes 1-2x per week. It's worked very well for pod production - I can see them in there swarming around when I put a flashlight up against the container when it's dark. I run the fuge on an alternate light cycle, and prune my cheato when other people want some.
 
Location
Howell, NJ
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hey lisa i used 2, then i got yelled at :screama: for having one so i got rid of it and dont notice any difference either way though :scratch: i did have pods in mine though... well at least i have a spot in my sump to watch new fish before i put them into the display tank...

if set up right which will def. be discussed here, there are many advantages to having a refugium

1. nitrate reduction
2. PO4 reduction
3. Area for pods to :bunnies:
4. have alternating lighting refugium/display and help with ph swing

im sure slamma and kathy will have some interesting things to say on this topic ;)
 
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dgthrasher

Reefer
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I have used a refugium for my reef tank for a couple of years now. I noticed a huge nitrate reduction and PO4 reduction. I run the lights 24hrs a day. Basically I have the reguium set up as a refugium sump for my 75gallon tank. I split a 30gallon with a piece of 3/4" plexiglass and seald it with aquarium sealant. I then on the refugium side put about 5" of sand, and some plants. I take out the plants once they get overgrown and through them out.
The other side I use as a sump, to have room for evaporation. Basically I have my main tank flow into the refugium, which then flows over the plexi into the sump where it returns to the tank.

I have found I only need to do water changes a couple of times a year, other then that just adding suplements and topping off with water
 

ming

LE Coral Killer
Location
Flushing, NY
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I have used a refugium for my reef tank for a couple of years now. I noticed a huge nitrate reduction and PO4 reduction. I run the lights 24hrs a day. Basically I have the reguium set up as a refugium sump for my 75gallon tank. I split a 30gallon with a piece of 3/4" plexiglass and seald it with aquarium sealant. I then on the refugium side put about 5" of sand, and some plants. I take out the plants once they get overgrown and through them out.
The other side I use as a sump, to have room for evaporation. Basically I have my main tank flow into the refugium, which then flows over the plexi into the sump where it returns to the tank.

I have found I only need to do water changes a couple of times a year, other then that just adding suplements and topping off with water

Got a pic of your tank? display and fuge please

I keep my fuge for my jaw fishes and nutrient reduction.
 
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loismustdie

chicks dig beckett men
Location
Brooklyn
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Got a pic of your tank? display and fuge please
I want to stay away from this thread, but I was about to say the same thing. Once again, believe everything we hear, but nothing that we see. This thread is useless without pics of main display and fuges. If you have excuses for why you can't take pics, don't post.
 
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Who uses refugiums? I Do For what purpose(s) (pods Yes, nitrate export Yes, place to keep naughty fish Crabs, second tank Thinking of)? How have you set them up? Do you think it's been a benefit or detriment to your system? I find both depends on which setup

However, I do find a risk(just like any equipment-it will fail no matter what) of having one. Couple weeks before the three day "no electricity and no heat" event I reported earlier, one of my tank's refugium started to melt and caused the DT to have cyano which I have not seen for at least a year. Some parameters jumped. Some anthelia and xenia along the direct path of the return flow from it withered while others in other area of the tank still grow OK. So far, I cannot find out a solid reason why that particular tank's refugium melted and why corals along the path of flow has problems. All macros in that refugium disintegrated-caulerpa, green grape and red grape-I don't have cheato's in that refugium.
 

Tim

Tim`s Aquatics
Location
Rockland County
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Here is some shots of my fuge.It has been up and running for about two years. It is fed from the sump part of the tank through a phosban reactor and drains back into the sump. Tons of pods and stars, no phos. and very low nitrates.....
 

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Tim

Tim`s Aquatics
Location
Rockland County
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The sump portion is to the right of the fuge with the skimmer in it.Here`s some pics:
 

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vanceny

Senior Member
Location
Woodside, Queens
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Very nice Tim. I've always used a refugium for a place for pod productions and nitrate removal. Perhaps it does very little in either department to make a difference but I'm not sure since its always been a part of the system. I doesn't seem to hurt anything so why get rid of it?
 

Tim

Tim`s Aquatics
Location
Rockland County
Rating - 100%
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I agree. If it ain`t broke, don`t try and fix it. As you can see and you can ask anyone who has seen my tank in person my corals are thriving and the colors are great....
 

loismustdie

chicks dig beckett men
Location
Brooklyn
Rating - 100%
31   0   0
I'm probably the most outspoken member on the site against fuges and I must say, even I'm surprised by the fact that only 1 person has shown a nice tank. I though we would be up to at least 5, closer to 10 people by now. Are you guys busy cleaning your algae before you take the shot?
Out of the people who say they have "noticed" NO3 and PO4 reduction... what does noticed mean? Did you test? I find that many inexperienced people parrot the statement that fuges reduce NO3/PO4, yet they don't even test. Many feel that "since I have a fuge, my PO4 and NO3 must be low".
Go in the noob forum. You can find tons of threads regarding algae, nutrient, coral, etc. issues and many of them seem to have fuges. Go in the advanced forum and you will find most who post there don't have fuges.
Tony, you did so much to your tank, a new tank at that, you really can't comment on what your fuge did, if anything at all, positive or negative. I will say that after what we discussed last night about your PO4 which is now lower after removal of your fuge... it seems like a positive step to me. I know you think it was something else. I disagree.
I'm not taking anything away from Tim either. I'd say he's known around here for knowing his stuff, but do you really think your tank is thriving because of the fuge? I'd give more credit to the other equipment I see. Pod population? Looking at your tank, we can't even see most of your rock. No way in hell fish fit in there. That leaves hundreds, if not thousands of square inches of surface area for pods to reproduce all they want. With all that, do you really think it is a 30 gallon fuge to thank for a high pod population. I don't even have a fuge, but I pull pods out of my filter socks by the dozen. At the same time, I agree with you, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I don't see anything that needs to be fixed on your tank.
Honestly, anyone who has an overflow on their tanks reasonably has an area of refuge. I also don't feel refugiums are all bad. I just don't understand why people scramble to make room in already tight quarters, expend energy and maintenance time on something that shows to have little positive impact on our tanks. And hearing newbies parroting misinformation about them and not backing it up is getting old.
We've beaten up Deltec, BK, MRC and countless other things on this site, including each other. I guess it's time the fuge had its day.
 

loismustdie

chicks dig beckett men
Location
Brooklyn
Rating - 100%
31   0   0
I have used a refugium for my reef tank for a couple of years now. I noticed a huge nitrate reduction and PO4 reduction. I run the lights 24hrs a day. Basically I have the reguium set up as a refugium sump for my 75gallon tank. I split a 30gallon with a piece of 3/4" plexiglass and seald it with aquarium sealant. I then on the refugium side put about 5" of sand, and some plants. I take out the plants once they get overgrown and through them out.
The other side I use as a sump, to have room for evaporation. Basically I have my main tank flow into the refugium, which then flows over the plexi into the sump where it returns to the tank.

I have found I only need to do water changes a couple of times a year, other then that just adding suplements and topping off with water

moz-screenshot-7.jpg

This appears to be dgthrashers FTS I found in the FS/FT forum.
 

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