Refugiums and Macro Algae-the good the bad the ugly
I am hoping this thread will bring a lot of discussion, questions, and pictures asked from different threads into a common one. It would be nice to have a thread we can refer back and forth to when issues regarding refugiums pop up and or someone is looking for ideas in settting one up.
There seem to be some key issues regarding refugiums:
What kind do I set up—in sump, separate but joined to the water column, hob ect
What do I use my refugium for –added filtration of nitrates and phosphates; and or producing a greater variety of inverts and use full bacteria for the water column
Do kind of macro algae do I use –chaeto or caulerpa
Do I go with a deep sand bed or shallow sand bed or no sand bed at all
Do I clean my refugium from time to time
What do I have to feed the copepods ect in my refugium
What kind of flow rate should I have
I will go first for no other reason then to start the thread. In no way do I feel my setup is the be and endall of refugiums. And I encourge others to show their setups and discuss issues
My refugium is separate from the sump. The main waste line from the tank is t’ed so I can control the flow separately between the refugium and the sump. My refugium drains back into the sump, by gravity, in an area past the intake for the protein skimmer. I felt this was important so as to ensure that copepods ect are not being skimmed out before they reach the tank.
Because the primary function is invert production the flow is very slow through the refugium—just a trickle, I have added a 6 inch sand bed and lots of reef rubble. The reef rubble and sand bed provide a variety of habitats for different species.
I have gone strictly with chaeto macroalgae. I have always had great growth with the chaeto and no problems leaving the light on 24/7. The light is a 25 watt energy saver bulb.
I have not used caulerpa algae since it is a little more problematic then chaeto in that the spores could get back to the main tank and start growing in there. Also, it can go sexual(massive release of spores) where there is little possibility of that with chaeto.
my main drain line is t'ed with a control valve on each part of the t
the flow is downward from the tank above it at this point
the refugium is constructed from a 30 gal plastic tote, it has a clip on 25watt energy saver bulb
it is gravity feed back into the sump at an area past the intake for the skimmer and ready to be pumped back into the tank.
the chaeto algae is what has worked the best for me
