Refugium questions

[stumpy08]

I have been trying to find out more information on refugiums and how to set them up. I'm still not exactly sure how to do it and exactly what the benefit of having one would be. I have a 54 gallon corner tank. I have a 10 gallon tank that I could use for the refugium. I would like to put it inside the stand.
1. How do I get the water to go from the 10 gal up to the 54 and viceversa?
2. Do I need to light it?
3. Do I put cheato (sp) in it?
4. How much more maintenace involved?
Any step by step "how to's" would be really appreciated.

[ledford1]

About how a sump and/or fuge works, look here:
http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/gt/index.php

You can do a couple of things with a fuge, such as nutrient export or pod production. If your goal includes the former, yes, you'll want a light to grow macros such as chaetomorpha.

HTH with a few questions at least.

[Mavrk]

What do you want to accomplish with the fuge? Hide equipment? Add water volume? Grow pods? Nutrient export?

By the way it is chaeto (chaetomorpha).

[stumpy08]

I would love to be able to hide some equipment. It is kind of tight having a hang on back filter, skimmer and uv filter on a corner tank. I would like for it to help with nusiance algea in the main tank.

[stumpy08]

bump

[skaterzero22]

1. you will need a pump to get the water back to the main tank. and an overflow(drain) to get it into the fuge from the main tank.

2. You only need to light it if you are adding a macro algae or animals.

3. You don't NEED to put chaeto in it. a refugium could be for housing animals that get picked on in the main tank or for the animals being agressive in the main tank. Adding chaeto is a great idea tho. You can get rid of some bad nutriets and kill some of that hair algae in your tank. it can also help grow copepods, which are a great source of food for tank inhabitants.

4. I'm no expert but i believe it will cause less maintenance. You will still need to do monthly or bi-weekly water changes. And still need to dose some supplements for your corals(only if you have any).

check out www.melevsreef.com for some really great information. it may even help you understand what kind of sump you want to make out of that 10 gallon. i can't remember correctly but i think he even has a 10 gallon sump on their for an example.

Hope this helps.

[aquaman67]

Here's an article for you.

http://www.aquatouch.com/AquaTech%20Refugium%20article.htm

How do you like your 54 corner tank? I was thinking about getting one, either that or the 92 gallon version.

[stumpy08]

Thanks for the help everyone!

I've only had the 54 set up for 3 months but I really like it. I had a 30 gal before it and it was setting diagonally in the corner. My wife and I always wanted a corner tank but couldn't afford it. A friend at church mentioned one day he had a aquarium he was wanting to give away and it was the 54 corner!