How Important Is It To Have A Refugium?

[Fishel]

I have a 240 Gallon Tank and will have a sump for my ASM G4+ Skimmer, Heaters, Etc. but I don't believe I have enough room for a refugium. I am limited on sump size as only a 48in long tank will fit through my stand doors. I could cut a hole in the side of the stand to fit a larger tank but right now I just want to get the tank wet and running. I may do this in the future.

I plan on keeping a FOWLR tank for awhile but will eventually go to full reef.

How many of you out there have full reef tanks without refugiums?

Do you wish you had one? Why?

[badgerlaw]

I think a refugium is a nice addition to a tank but is not necessary. As long as adequate protein skimming is utilized there will be no problem especially in a FOWLR.

I believe that they are beneficial for a reef system as they help keep up water conditons. THey are also good food sources for the fish and corals.
Just my 2 cents

[Henry Bowman]

If you seriously want a full blown reef, you'll eventually see the necessity in having a fuge. More particularly if you intend on keeping sps, having a fuge will definitely make things more stable. I view it as creating more of a complete ecosystem for my tank than an optional part .

[green814]

Just a thought, but what about a 2nd tank ( maybe 15g tall or standard 20 ) for the fuge. Drill it near the top & set it up to drain into the sump tank. I am probably going to do this for a 75g I am working on setting up.
Chris

[ridetheducati]

A refugium is a good way to add volume. But I took my 55g refugium down because my skimmer was so efficient I could not keep the macro algae alive.

[Fishel]

ugh.. keep going back and forth... i guess it comes down to me not wanting to cut the side of the stand to get a bigger tank in there.....

i'll crunch the numbers with adding a 2nd tank as the return... so it'll go

skimmer -> refugium -> 2nd tank as return......

[Fishel]

ok.. I'm not sure adding a 2nd tank will help.......

my first sump tank will be 48 x 18 x 15 with a 10 inch water height.. due to my skimmer size this leaves a refugium of only 25 x 18 x 10 = 19.5 gallons.. minus 4 inches for DSB in fuge and this is only = 11.7 gallons for a fuge... just doesn't seem like enough to be effective?????

the 2nd tank (dedicated return tank) would have been 24 x 18 x 15 with a water height of 10 inches = 18.7 gallons... which i think is reasonable.. i have read you want a LARGE return area due to evaporation etc....

not sure a 11.7 gallon fuge on a 240 gallon aquarium will be sufficient?

[ACBlinky]

I've got two 'fuge areas in my 30g sump: 6g of water up front with rubble, 2-3" of sugar-sized aragonite sand and a little chaeto, some other bits and pieces of algae popping up, and another ~4g of water in back (after the bubble trap) stuffed with chaeto and nothing else. There are pods on the walls, in the chaeto, on the sand, in the rubble -- each type of pod seems to prefer different living conditions. Phosphates and nitrates in my 90g are undetectable, and I'm not shy about feeding.

An 11-18g area would be very beneficial used as a fuge -- it's certainly better than just leaving that area full of water as part of the sump. 11g of chaeto would make a decent dent in NO3 and provide a nice place for all sorts of critters to live and breed. I think having a DSB in that small area is probably pointless as far as nitrate reduction is concerned, but I would put at least 1" or so in -- certain pods seem to enjoy living on sand.