What goes first?

[thefedz]

In your water column. which should come first..the refugium (where i plan on growing chaeto)? or the sump (where my skimmer is)?

Is there a reason why?

 

[thefedz]

oh and does chaeto need any particular kind of light to grow? or can a regular incandescent bulb work for it?

 

[Tackett]

IMO the sump. Get a large turnover rate in a large sump, and get a monster sized skimmer. The refugium is not a necessity as far as im concerned but can help lots. The sump is way more important at this stage in the game.

 

[Anonymous]

I think the water should flow through the sump first, get skimmed, then through the refugium, then back to the tank. I think that is what you were asking.

It is nice to have the water go through the refugium right before it goes back to the tank because little critters that breed in the refuge will get carried along into your tank and provide fish food. If the water goes through the skimmer after the refugium, it is harder for those good critters to make it into your tank.

 

[Tackett]

O, sorry I misread that.

 

[thefedz]

ah okay. that makes sense.


i've never had a refugium before. just my sump with a skimmer in it. What else do people put in refugiums other then macroalgae?

 

[Tackett]

I would put any detrivore that I thought would be fishfood in my display in it.

 

[Anonymous]

Some people put live rock or a little sand in, to encourage various small critters like copepods and mysis shrimp and such to flourish, but really, they will do that in a bare tub with only chaeto. Those critters will come down from the main tank and take up residence there on their own pretty easy. I personally keep my refugium bare bottom with no sand because it tend to get build up of detritus, and I like to be able to siphon that out easily.

You CAN put other kinds of algae, like caulerpa in, but if I had it to do over again I would only have chaeto in my refuge. It is a much easier to manage algae.

 

[Bucktronix]

you need something more rubust than a lightbulb.. pick up a cheap cf mini lighting unit.