what should I put in my refugium?

a&cbowman · #1 12/07/2007, 01:31 PM

So I finally got a refugium built into my sump. I placed some sand in there but I am going to put some more. My question is what macroalgae should I put in there? Which one will be more beneficial to my take and remove the most junk in the tank? Also what critters should I put in there? Oh yeah and last of all.... Who has some macro to give me to help start my refugium?

any other pointers for me would be great as I want this refugium to be very efficient and benefiial. thanx for your help!

hermanx7 · #2 12/07/2007, 01:56 PM

At least a 4" sandbed. If I were you I would only put in cheato. Most of the others can release the nutrients back into the water. Other critters should come from the macro that you get from somebody.(pods and whatnot) Sorry I just trimmed otherwise I would offer some. I have Pep shrimp in mine. They have babies like crazy and I then get the babies out with a turkey baster and feed my main tank.

soni · #3 12/07/2007, 06:38 PM

I like miracle mud

JMCAquarium · #4 12/08/2007, 03:05 AM

I would put water in it >:P

osprey3883 · #5 12/19/2007, 03:48 PM

Hello,
Any opinions about if you need a sandbed in your refugium if you have a DSB in your main tank?

Thanks,
Matt

30reef · #6 12/19/2007, 11:27 PM

It's prolly still a good idea to use sugar sized aragonite sand in the refugium. I've read good things on the Miracle Mud also as Soni mentioned. As the name suggests, it is a refuge for critters that may not have a chance in the display.

Does anyone that uses a refugium also run a filter sock? I ask because when I had my refugium up and running, I did not utilize any means of mechanically filtering the water from the display which resulted in a huge mess in the 'fuge sand. Not from a sandstorm but from all of the detritus that collected there. I ultimately had to remove it. I am gathering ideas to try and incorporate it again though.

This will be a good thread if it is kept going.

GustavoAZ · #7 12/20/2007, 12:40 PM

I'm not so sure you should put completely unfiltered water in the fuge, when I had mine up and running it was feed with water that had already had a chance thru the skimmer, detirus can really build up in one. Typically you grow macros in there that pull stuff out of the water column if not broken down it's just going to collect. I like the idea of a remote fuge being fed with a pump thats on the return side of your sump. Then overflowingfrom the fuge back to the sump or even better is to
put it over the DT and have it overflow into it.

I think miricale mud would be good if you put a layer down on the very bottom and then sand on top. It tends to clould the water if on top and you have critters going thru it.

I love the little white stars that grow in a fuge, dunno what they are called but once they get in the display I think they are better than any sand sifting star. I have watched a fish poop, land on the sand and almost immediately the stars will go clean it up.

WarrenAmy&Maddy · #8 12/20/2007, 05:13 PM

i put a dsb in both display and 50gal display fuge
thought it un-necessary but did it anyway - happy w/ results

although like someone else said
was getting detritus accumulation in there... increased the flow and also added quite a few nassarius snails to keep sand clean.

recently started feeding more heavily
like 3-5x per day for last several weeks (frozen + flake mixed in)... then last nite accidentally dumped way too much food in the tank - thought to measure nitrates today for the first time in mos (assuming/knowing would have nitrates and/or problems)...

but as always - zero!
actually was quite surprised about this (perhaps in disbelief - also using saiferts)... so the dsb and everything else appears to be doing its job... havent done a water change in atleast 2 mos either... on top of that my skimmer is 'bordering' on being worthless!

here is a photo of this system primarily LPS
but considering (trying to talk myself out of it!) converting into sps.

the display fuge (under display) receives 90% of water
fed via pump from skimmer stage (thus keeping some of the detritus out of fuge area) - then overflows into return stage of sump

re to original OP question

like to use XENIA as nutrient exporters in fuge...
although many dont like xenia (for obvious reasons) i like to keep a small amount in my main display - trim it regularly as to control spreading... then all that gets removed from display gets thrown into fuge

and my personal view is that it does a tremendous job at nutrient export! (perhaps grossly underestimated in this capacity imo)

but also use for nutrient export
gsp in the fuge and some in main display as well as chaeto...

there are zoanthids in there and other misc corals etc LR rubble... tons of pods, the tiny little starfish w/ the long legs... also an urchin and had a green dragonet in there to fatten up from a fellow reefer who didnt have the pods to sustain it (since been moved to another tank)...

would encourage you
to quarantine your chaeto/macro that you decide to go with (as well as anything/everything before being added to your system)

sound crazy???
who QT macro???

= how i got FW (flatworms) in my system
purchased chaeto at lfs (which will remain un-named but one of the better ones most of us like to use in valley)... then threw it into my system when got home... few days later noticed fw in their system at lfs and not long thereafter in my tank at home (the mandarin in main display likes to eat them)...

if it werent for having had fw in my system
would offer you some free chaeto/xenia but would be better off taking it from someone else - sure there are plenty around who have it to offer you!

good luck in setting yours up!

regards

regards

NealNano · #9 12/28/2007, 09:38 PM

Mineral mud and sand work great. I have always used chaeto untill recently. I switch to calurpra and it all die off inside a week. Made my tank all cloudy, that was a big mistake. Go with chaeto.

corivus · #10 12/28/2007, 10:15 PM

chaeto has worked very well for me, and I've had a pretty clear tank running it in tandem in my sump/refugium

a&cbowman · #11 12/31/2007, 02:52 AM

Thanx for all the replies I added sand and rubble to it about a week ago. I was going to do the mud thing but was poor at the time. All I need now is some well seeded chaeto, preferably with out flatworms

I got a light for it from hd its I think a 120w that might be a little overkill but I want to be able to put my rbta's in there after they split so they can heal and are easier to get out once I sell them. So anybody out there ready to trim their chaeto? Lmk and I can pick up tommorow... Thanx.