Who is Using a Refugium for Nutrient Control?

[naesco]

Originally Posted by pterfloth

I am interested in adding a refugium to my system, primarily to house macroalgae for nutrient control. I was wondering who is already doing this, what your experience has been and what you would recommend for my system. I have a 200 gal display tank and a 33 gal sump at present. I was either going to get a bigger sump and add a refugium section or plumb in a separate refugium.

I currently run zeolites, FM additives and have phosphates of ~0.00 and nitrates of <5 but am interested in a natural alternative.

How big should my refugium be and what type of macroalgae should I consider?

Your input would be very much appreciated.

I would not add a refugium to your sump.
If you plumb a pipe between the sump pump and the tank and have the refugium sit higher than your tank here is what you can do. You place a valve between the pipe and refugium and restrict the flow to very slow. The inlet pipe simple hangs into your refugium and the out pipe comes from the top of your refugium and into the display tank. It is a gravity flow.
That way in addition to chaeto you can cultivate tonnes of pods and other things in the refugium to feed your large tank. The pipe from the refugium should go right down to the bottom of the display tank. If you do not do this, fish simply hang around the pipe and feed as the critters flow into the display tank.
I feed my refugium daily with phyto to encourage a highly populated refugium.

[BlueAbyss]

Caulerpa and Chaeto seem to be okay on a 24 hour photoperiod, but few (if any) other macros will tolerate this. Gracillaria needs a period of darkness every day for sure. Many people use refugiums as a source of food items (ie: pods) if they have no predators in there (no crabs, shrimps, fish, etc.)... others use them as a nutrient export. Many people have had good results combining a 'fuge with skimming and other filtration methods.

[Zoaelite]

I run two fuges and 2 DSP, mangroves in both of them. Truthfully I think that's where my success as a reefer comes from, fuges have so many benefits and are so much fun to watch.

Benefits Include:
Nutrient export.
Upstream fuges provide a constant pod supply for lower line tanks.
Slow flowing tank, great to mix with a DSP.
Fuges are great homes for pipe fish/ seahorses and gobies/ pistol shrimps.
Cheaper and much more natural than some of the products on the market.
Harvestable macro algae to sell/ give away or feed to your tangs.
MORE WATER VOLUME .
Jail for evil crabs.

Levi

[whatcaneyedo]

Originally Posted by zoaElite

Jail for evil crabs.

Levi

More like fighting ring for evil crabs... I've put 5 in my fuge recently and the biggest one is the only one left!