Refuge or Biopellets

[azulikit]

Ok so nitrates and nitrites are still zero but I'm sure that ain't going to last. I have a bunch of LR in my refuge area with a grow light that runs for about 8 hours a day. There is very little algae, lots of very tiny shrimp swimming around. Tank has been running for a year.

Tank will primarily be SPS with a medium fish load.

So question is.....

Take all the live rock out and add Biopellets with a reactor or put some Cheato in the refuge see what happens. I have the reactor and pellets already, bought it early on.

What do you think? Thanks!

[reefermadness]

Pellets all the way.....

[reefme]

Originally Posted by reefermadness

Pellets all the way.....

Why?

[MarkoD]

if you have a big enough refugium, then refugium.

i run a 30 gallon remote refugium lite 24/7 and i keep my phosphates and nitrates at 0

and theres no chance of anything going crazy and crashing my system

[azulikit]

Refuge is large enough I believe so just wondering which way to go.

[reefgirl189]

Tagging along.

How do you know the proper way to size your refugium for your setup?

[reefermadness]

Originally Posted by reefme

Why?

Because....they are easy. They take little to no maintenance, very little space and you can't overdose. Did I mention they work.

Yes a refugium is not a bad idea but you need a large one which grows lots of algae to do the work that bio-pellets would do. Maybe a refug half the size of your display. But its hard to say because it depends on how well it is set up and how much algae it will grow (which can be inconsistent). A refug will take more electricity as well in lighting and pumps.

[Nano]

also tagging along for future reference! I'm doing a sump/refuge in the near future

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by reefermadness

Because....they are easy. They take little to no maintenance, very little space and you can't overdose. Did I mention they work.

Yes a refugium is not a bad idea but you need a large one which grows lots of algae to do the work that bio-pellets would do. Maybe a refug half the size of your display. But its hard to say because it depends on how well it is set up and how much algae it will grow (which can be inconsistent). A refug will take more electricity as well in lighting and pumps.

You can overdose bio pellets. Then they strip your system and corals bleach.

Plus if you don't have a large enough skimmer to take out the byproduct of the pellets it'll cause algae growth.

With a large fuge you can never go wrong. It regulates it self. If there's more nutrients, cheato grows faster.

[phyto4life]

Refuge all the way Just imo, 1/3 your display should do. Algae is such a powerful thing.