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View Full Version : Need a little help with refugiums


Donkin
08/17/2006, 06:45 PM
Well I am forced to take down my 110g reef and put up a 50 :(. Moved and no room. Most my corals I am giving to my friends and I am only keeping my 7 year old Maroon Clown. My new tank is going to be a 50g long tank with a 20 gallon sump. I was thinking of turning the sump into a refugium/sump by installing some black acrylic baffles... what are the advantages of a refugium in a tank this size? And what lighting should I use? Is a normal plant grow light from the Home Depot good enough? Also I had a question on metal halides. I have a magnetic ballast with a mogul base that is 250w. I was planing on putting that and 2x 55w coral life pcs. Will this be enough lighting in a 50g tank (3 feet long) to keep some sps? In my old setup I had 4x 96watt and 6x 65 watt pcs and that wasn't enough to keep them, and I do not want to make the same mistake twice. I know that these are a lot of questions but this is going to be my first setup to keep a few sps. Any input will be greatly appreciated. :)

scaryperson27
08/17/2006, 07:10 PM
That should be plenty of light for a tank that size. I'm guessing your tank is 18x18x36long right? The average halide can cover an area of 24x24" so you might have a dark spot on the edges of the tank but you could suppliment some of that with PC's T5's ect. and maybe stick some softies there. I think T5's are supposed to produce a lot more light per watt. You are talking about having 5 watts for the total volume of the tank which in reality is going to be 250 watts over a 24x24x18tall area (44.883 gallons) which amounts to 5.6watts per gallon with the halide alone. The 55 PC are going to be a actinics, right? If so I'm not sure if the spectrum of light is really benificial to the growth of SPS. 18" isn't that deep so the lumens at the bottom should not diminish that much.

Here is a very informative site which can help you with your sump/refugium setup.

Melev's site (http://www.melevsreef.com/f)

fuge light. (http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html)

Donkin
08/17/2006, 07:18 PM
I was also thinking of just adding one 96w pc 50/50 instead of the 2x 55w. I am going to use a spider reflector for the MH and use a 14k temp bulb. that should give me the color I am looking for :). This will come to 6.92 watts per gallon.. should be plenty of light, I hope enough for sps. The big thing I am in on the dark on is refugium lighting I have heard everything from a 70w MH to a 18w pc... any input on that subject whould be really helpful :)

scaryperson27
08/17/2006, 07:27 PM
I have a 55PC I got for free on mine. Your main objective for the lighting on a refugium is the color spectrum. Which spectrum provides the most growth for macro algae. Macro algae, and algae in general uses the nutrients in the water as a food source to grow and live (natures crap cleaner). Sunlight hits the water at a spectrum of 5500 kelvens. The deeper it goes the higher the kelvin rating becomes. I think at like 20 ft you get a rating of about 22,000k however I am not sure on that one. Macro algae really does not need that much light to grow. My light is a 55w PC unit and has a rating of 10,000k. I would rather have a lower rating but hey i got it for free.

Donkin
08/18/2006, 02:04 PM
Ya thats what I was thinking. Just got the tank today... unloading it in a few mins.. So im going to head over to home Depot for some acrylic for the baffles.. I'll check out the plant growing lights there to see what they have. I do have a 110watt pc 2x 55w that I decided to not put onto the tank itself.. so mabey ill use that for the refugium and throw some 6800 k lamps into it... but that is alot of juice for a 10 galon refugium buit into my sump.. there is also the concern of algea growing on the skimmer and pumps that I will have to take into account. Ill end up using black acrylick to solve that problem possibly. Thanks for the help scaryperson27! :)

socalreefer73
08/18/2006, 02:53 PM
I keep my actinics seperate from my 10k pcs so I can simulate sunrize/sunset -- something to think about...

As for the purpose/benefits of a refuge -- Mostly nutrient export via macro algae harvesting but also for isopod production. You'll want to think about putting the skimmer first before the fug so you don't skim out pods. That's not paramount... I just wouldn't want to skim pods I'm producing in my refuge when they can be free food to my fish...

110watts over 10 gal is a little excessive, but if you've got the equip, there's no need to let it sit unused...

socalreefer73
08/18/2006, 02:54 PM
oh, and algae growing on the sump components is better'n it growing on your LR or front of tank, no? :D

Donkin
08/18/2006, 03:00 PM
Thanks for the imput socalreefer! I guess I will be throwing the hamilton pc underneath. Going to run the refuguim at night so it will help with ph stabilization. I had it mapped out with the skimmer inlet in the first section and outlet in the refugium istelf to help with a little flow. And one more question... how deep should I make the sandbed in the refugium? I was thinking about 4 inches. Thanks for the help :)

socalreefer73
08/18/2006, 05:00 PM
I have no experience with DSBs, just make sure to stir small sections every month to help keep it from forming anoxic sections? That's what I would do, but again, I only hear of the dangers of DSBs. I might just put enough arag in there 2" or so so that the critters have something to grab on to, besides a podpile of LR rubble....

Donkin
08/18/2006, 11:13 PM
ok so I went to home depot and found a flood light that is 75 watts, I have not bought it yet because I know little of the builb spectrum other then its PAR number is 30... Im used to the numbers like 6800 and 20k so this is new to me.. can anyoe tell me what PAR 30 would translate into? ANd whould it be ok for a refugium?