refugium setup help

[sangell153]

After running a 60 gal(uk) reef tank for quite a while now, I have started construction of a fishhouse in my garden which will have 440 gal(uk) rectangular acrylic reef tank. Im planning to have a refugium miracle mud setup, but after searching the web ive found quite a lot of different info on the size i will need and flow rates. Obviously I want my venture to be a success and if anyone here has experience/knowledge of the size this needs to be any help would be greatly appreciated.

Plenty of space is available within the fishhouse so size isnt a problem if it needs to be big.

Thanks

 

[Len]

Hi. My best advice is to get the largest refugium you feasibly can. There's really no rigid rule on the size of the fuge, but the consesus is the larger the better.

As for the miracle, my personal experience and opinion is you're better served with a refugium with regular aragonite-based sand. I've seen good success with miracle mud for the short term, but I've seen too many tanks crash with this type of filtration method in the long term. There's nothing "miracle" about miracle mud My advice: go with aragonite sand.

 

[Anonymous]

I have heard that refugiums should be at least 30-40% of the display.

IMO the miracle mud system is over priced and easily duplicated with much less expensive materials. For instance, I use silica play sand but circulate 5x water through a diy filter box with landscape lave rocks and crushed oyster shells. Sand, shells, and rocks cost $10 and I have been using them for over a year now. Tank has had fish and corals for over two years now.

Some thing else to consider in an in tank refugium. I just use a $10 egg crate. Plus there in no posibility of flooding like with any external sump/refug setup. FWIW.

 

[Anonymous]

What is the desired function(s) of your envisioned refugium? That will play a major part in determining it's minimum useful size and proper setup.

 

[Ben1]

If you have the space I would have the fuge be the same size as the main tank or larger. I would either use just some LR or a argonire based DSB.

diy filter box with landscape lave rocks and crushed oyster shells. Sand, shells, and rocks cost $10 and I have been using them for over a year now. Tank has had fish and corals for over two years now

How does that compair to the miracle mud system. I thought miracle mud was enhanced with iron and other minerals to feed the macros planted in it. 2 years isnt very long either...... :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

If you have the space I would have the fuge be the same size as the main tank or larger. I would either use just some LR or a argonire based DSB.

diy filter box with landscape lave rocks and crushed oyster shells. Sand, shells, and rocks cost $10 and I have been using them for over a year now. Tank has had fish and corals for over two years now

How does that compair to the miracle mud system. I thought miracle mud was enhanced with iron and other minerals to feed the macros planted in it. 2 years isnt very long either...... :lol:

Yep. IMO the macros do just fine with the nutrients the tank provides. Even with common silica sand and lava rocks.

 

[Ben1]

and easily duplicated with much less expensive materials.

ahhh yeah so this isnt a dplication but a totally different way to set it up. :roll:

 

[Mihai]

IMO the refugium is like the skimmer - the bigger the better. It also depends what you want to do with it. You can grow pods, grow macro-algae, have sea-grasses, keep it dark, grow xenia, etc.

If I'd have the space I'd go with a 60 gal long fuge. and split in 2-3 regions with different functions.

All the best,
M.