HOB equipment help

[Davidb6]

I have a 65 with no sump so I want to make the absolute best possible use of my HOB equipment / space. (next time I’ll add a sump)

I have –

Skimmer – Aqua C Remora Pro / with a pre filter box and a Mag 5 pump. Phosban reactor – Little fishes 150. Refugium – 2.5 gal with 100 gph flow, chaeto, figi mud, rubble live rock, pods

Am I making the best possible use of my HOB space?

I have mainly an SPS tank with some filter feeders - sponge, gorgonian, sea fan, cleaner clams, several dusters. I still have some algae in the tank but this could be the result of two things –
1, The tank is still fairly new (8 months) and going through the aging process.
2, I “”was”” using a water storage container (Rubbermaid roughneck) that is sometimes known to add phosphate to the tank. Phosphate always measures very low .2 to 0

Here’s where I can use some advanced help –Is a refugium of this size and volume really adding any value to the tank as it is setup today?

Considerations -

I want to feed the filter feeders but could I simply add pods and food to the display and get rid of the refug

I also have problems with chaeto making its way to the display even with the filter pad I added to the refugium.

I don’t intend to add a mandarin fish or other similar difficult feeder.

Would a mangrove be of greater value than the chaeto in eliminating waste in the tank.

Thanks

[demonsp]

Whats the problem your trying to solve?
You could get both cheato and mangrove. Just weed the cheato back. Both are great for helping to control nitrate and phosphate.

[JC VT]

I've owned a CPR hang on fuge and like them a ton. So my vote goes to hang on fuge. I only had sand and some rubble in there though.

[Davidb6]

This is more of a request for technical opinion rather than a problem. - am I making the best use of technology to clean my tanks water given that I do not have a sump.

I know that generally speaking a refug is a good thing and yes I do harvest the chaeto regularly. But, is there something better I should be using to reduce excess nutrients and clean the water than a 2.5 gal refugium with chaeto given I don't have room for a larger refug?

Also, I have to wonder if a 2.5 gal refugium is actually having a significant impact on reducing my excess nutriants given its small size and resulting small amt of chaeto.

[Nereaga]

I have the CPR 24'' AquaFuge on my 55g reef tank for about 5 months now. I think the 24'' one holds about 5 gallons, 4.7g to be exact.

Mine has a DSB of 4'', tons of rubble rock, and 2 huge balls of chaeto. Prior to adding the Aquafuge I always ran about 5 Mg/L of Nitrates. After about a month my Nitrates are undetectable now. I also had a GHA breakout that the fuge has all but killed. I like the CPR a ton and would advise it to anyone who doesnt have a sump.

I also had seen my pod population being eaten by my clown and I added a canary wrasse too. After a month, the wrasse has a constant supply of pods!

Brad

[murraycamp]

How much more room do you have to work with?

About the only two things you could do at this point, IMO, would be to upgrade the skimmer (not many options here - perhaps Deltec), increase the size of the fuge and/or add a second reactor to run carbon.

[murraycamp]

Also, consider a siphon overflow so you can add a sump. Increases your options significantly. Is there any particular reason why you cannot have a sump?

[Davidb6]

How much more room do you have to work with?
The whole back of my tank is pretty much used at this point.

upgrade the skimmer
It may be my lack of experience but I was thinking the only sure thing I had was the skimmer. It’s the pro version which is larger and it has the best power (Mag 3) based on the mfg recommendations. I also added the pre-skimmer box to get more of the surface water into the skimmer.

consider a siphon overflow
I have considered one but I am very concerned about power outages. We have them fairly often and 99% of the time they last a few minutes. This would break the siphon and..who knows. I know there’s options but….

reason why you cannot have a sump
Only that the stand (home made) was not designed for one and I don’t have a RR or drilled tank.

A CPR 24 (4.7 gal) with a 55 gal means you have a greater % (8%) of your total water (simple math) is in your refugium. A 65 gal with a 2.5 gal ref is a 4%. Not sure if this is significant but it sure makes me wonder if my refug is really able to accomplish what it’s supposed to do given its small size.

Has anybody ever seen any info on refugium min size to be truly beneficial?

[Nereaga]

I would assume that ANY added water volume would be beneficial to a setup, even if its just 4%. It will def give you a safe place to breed pods and a sandbed will help aid in de-nitrafication. I once converted an Aquaclear powerfilter to a fuge, soley for pod breeding. It actually churned out some pods! If you have the room, I say go for it!

Brad

[murraycamp]

Davidb6:

I use Lifereef overflows on two of my tanks and have never had a problem. Lifereef claims that there has never been an instance reported of one failing to re-start after a power outage. I cannot verify that claim except to say that I have confidence in them and have never heard of the claim being disputed.

My experience has been that the performance of in-sump or stand alone skimmers vs. HOB skimmers, including the Aqua C products, is remarkable.

[Davidb6]

I've been thinking of upgrading to a RR 90 and using my 65 as a sump. Sounds like I should go ahead with that plan rather then messing around with my current equipment.

Thanks

[murraycamp]

Let us know how it goes!

[918ReefCpl]

David, on the Aqua-C you can upgrade pump from the Mag 3 to a Mag 5 as it is dimensionally similar to the Mag 3 as that is what we did with ours (fits in the preskimmer box as well) and noticed an increase in skimmate production (had to readjust the cup level) - we have heard of people using even a Mag7 but that pump i believe is dimensionally larger and might not fit in the preskimmer box. The trade up in heat difference generated between the mag3 and mag 5 was immeasurable on our 125, so that may not be an issue with your setup as well. Go with the largest CPR HOB refugium you can safely fit, use both chaeto in the main area and a mangrove in the return or input side & if you have the room inside the phosban reactor your could put in carbon 1st, then a seperator pad & then the GFO (phosban) ontop and run it together until you got a 2nd reactor or a larger one (Deltec PF509?) good luck