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View Full Version : Soft corals in refugium


slgcmg
01/21/2014, 02:23 PM
I have read in a couple of places that people often grow soft corals such is xenias and Kenya trees in their sump to help maintain good water chemistry, similar to running macro. I have 1 section of macro in my sump and have another section that is completely empty.

Was wondering if these corals indeed help maintain water level, filtering nitrates, phosphates, etc... If so, what kind of light could I get away with using in that section of my sump. Currently use a $2 home depot bulb for my macro and it grows pretty good. Would something like that give me growth down there?

Anyone out there with experience in this?

Mikelush78
01/21/2014, 03:06 PM
I don't believe that soft corals will pull enough out of the water to make them useful int hat capacity. Its a place to house them and some will grow I am sure but I don't believe they will be helpful to your water for the amount that they will pull out..

Just my 2 Cents

skidoctor
01/21/2014, 03:31 PM
I guess it depends on how much you put in. I have seen great SPS tanks that run on Kenya, xenia and aptasia only in their fuge. I have a bunch of Kenya and anthelia growing in my fuge, only because I just throw it in there after weeding my DT and eventually they grab on to LR. Not sure that they reduce nutrients, but they grow well and seem happy.
PS- I tried a colt coral in the fuge and it was extremely unhappy.

cloak
01/21/2014, 03:45 PM
I don't believe that soft corals will pull enough out of the water to make them useful in that capacity. Its a place to house them and some will grow I am sure but I don't believe they will be helpful to your water for the amount that they will pull out..

Just my 2 Cents

+1.

I think it would be more of a hassle than anything else. The macro algae your already incorporating is much more viable IMO.

joeman1881
01/21/2014, 04:13 PM
I guess it depends on how much you put in. I have seen great SPS tanks that run on Kenya, xenia and aptasia only in their fuge. I have a bunch of Kenya and anthelia growing in my fuge, only because I just throw it in there after weeding my DT and eventually they grab on to LR. Not sure that they reduce nutrients, but they grow well and seem happy.
PS- I tried a colt coral in the fuge and it was extremely unhappy.

I've never heard of aptasia...interesting. Doesn't this allow it to jump into dt?

Budman422
01/21/2014, 05:32 PM
I have been throwing anthelia, xenia and and kenyas in my sump haven't notices any positives or negatives

slgcmg
01/21/2014, 05:41 PM
Great. Thanks all for the feedback.

Khemul
01/21/2014, 07:02 PM
Kenya Trees probably wouldn't pull out enough, unless you gave a very large area. Xenia, that could well work. You'd need large pieces, but that stuff (especially Elongata) grows fast when it gets a large base built up. But then, given equal space, macro should out grow Xenia for nutrient uptake. Guess you could grow Xenia on the macro, then you'd get the benefits of both. :lolspin:

The main benefits of a Xenia fuge over a macro fuge are less about nutrient uptake and more about profit. Xenia sells for a better price then macroalgae. A Xenia patch large enough to filter a tank would make a nice frag farm.


As for the lighting. I know Kenya Trees will grow under anything that'll grow macroalgae. Xenia I haven't tried though.