What size refugium?

[Anubis1]

ok.. i am getting a new tank.. still not sure if it will be the 60 gallon, 70 gallon or holding out for a 120... (hubby gets the final vote)

I have looked.. but giessing i am looking in the wrong place..

is there a chart or reference on the "recommended" size of a refugium for tanks? i know a bigger tank would need a bigger refugium (well.. it makes sense anyway..) .. but is this written down anywhere?

Thanks!

 

[aquarius77]

I would say any fuge is better than none but the bigger the fuge the better IMO.
Reverse lighting the fuge will help keep the water parameters more stable so im sure the bigger the fuge the more volume of water, wich is a plus in keeping parameters stable also whatever u keep in your fuge like macro and live rock will do its photosynthesis when the display lights are off wich in turn will keep your ph from swinging at night. As for the size of the fuge and photosynthesis and PH goes im not sure how size would affect it. My bet is it could be fairly small as long as you crammed it good and full of sand, rock and macro.

I want to mod my filter into a fuge but im not sure how im going to keep the light from getting into the display at night when the fuge is lit, my filter is a HOB aqua tech peice of crap mainly used for flow.

Kevin

 

[mr_X]

my vote is: about half the size is good.
i have a 75, and a 40 fuge, and after i installed the partitions, it just seems kinda limited.
always, the more total water your system has, the better off you are. or..the easier things are....
i am setting up a 125 as we speak, and i will use a 55 gallon for the fuge.
think this way:
can it be too big? i have read alot of comments on this and other forums, and never heard that complaint.

 

[bleedingthought]

Focus on a sump first, then move on to the refugium. If your sump, is big enough, you could do a fuge in there. But I wouldn't. I have one and I want to separate them, for sure!

Your sump just needs to be big enough to hold all your equipment. 40 breeders are the best glass-tank-sumps in my book. I would use it on a 120, for sure. For the smaller tanks, go with the biggest sump that will fit under your tank. 20G longs, 29G, or the 40G breeders are popular.

And as far as a fuge, for a 120, I would do anywhere from a 29G to a 55G depending on how much room I have/what I'm playing with. If you go with the "60" or "70", you will be fine with a 20G-40G fuge, IMO.

Notice that I really like standard glass tanks for everything. They're cheap!