What to put in refugium

[Oakes1523]

I have a 4-5 gallon refugium and I want to put it on my 29 gallon. Is it really worth adding the refugium? If so, what do I put in it? I know chaeto but do I have to have a light? And how much sand? A few pieces of rock? What else?

[Kyle461]

Live rock rubble would be beneficial. And yes you do need light for the chaeto. 6500K cfl bulbs have been reported to work great.

[Prince4li]

I started a refugium myself, pretty much live rock rubble, live sand, and i added macro algae.
How about pods? can that be added? ive seen them being sold by the bagful, is it safe to just toss them into the fuge?

[Kyle461]

You can spend money on pods if you feel like it, but it's not necessary. They will come with the chaeto or rubble you buy from the LFS. Over time they will populate your fuge and DT.

[Prince4li]

What if you dont have Chaeto in the fuge? The only thing in my ruge is macro algea. My tank is only 3 months old.

[Kyle461]

What kind of macro? Chaeto is a form of macro algae. Pods usually come with all forms of macro.

[Prince4li]

To be honest im not quite sure, my LFS called it red macro algea.

[Kyle461]

Red Dragon Macro probably.

http://www.reefs2go.com/category/sea_life.macro_algae/

Pretty sure you will see pods sooner or later with any type of macro in the fuge. Just have to give it time. Looks for tiny white specks on the sides of the fuge or DT that move.

[cloak]

Being that your DT is pretty small you might want to see if you can create a happy healthy reef tank without a refuge first. If you happen to find out later that your tank does in fact NEED one to prosper there's no shame in setting one up then.

Less is more sometimes, KISS etc. GL.