Refugium needed?

Hi all,

Wondering if you would recommend I add a refugium to my on going setup project.....

I have a 300 gallon FOWLR, and I expect to put in 300 to 450# of live rock, I have a Lifereef VS3-60 skimmer and a LS2-300 wet/dry. I will only use RO/DI water in the system. I have a Blueline HD70 main pump, (2) Koralia 7 & (2) Koralia 5 powerheads.

Do you think I should add a refugium? If so how big?

Thanks for the input!

Jack

 

Well. I guess it really depends on how you plan to stock it, and whether you want your water perfect or not. Refugium will chew up nitrates. I would think a 55g baffled up into a fuge would be plenty. I would never not recommend a fuge, honestly.

 

Thanks stonewilled......

I'm kinda new at this, exactly how would you hook it up to my current system? Should I just add a pump in the sump of the wet/dry to send water over to the fuge? What kind of flow do I need through it...slow or fast?


Thanks again for the help.

 

you can use a pump to send it into the fuge and from there back into the tank, I've heard that slow flow through the fuge is better, I have yet to plumb mine into the tank. Hopefully I will get that done this weekend.. lol. I plan on about 600 gph through the fuge.

 

Slower flow through the fuge is best no more than 10X the fuge's volume. You could have a tee on the supply line that goes to your sump to fill the fuge and then let the fuge overflow back to the return section of your sump.

 

I would also always recommend a refugium, but if your not doing a reef tank, then it's not necessary IMO. If you decide to add one, I would just incorporate it into your sump. A 55 would be a good size and you could just section it off to have a drain area, refugium, then return area. That's the easiest thing to do IMO.

 

I plan on having quite a few fish in this tank so the bio load will probably be heavy, so maybe a fuge would be a good idea to help with that????

I know that fuges are used to grow lots of different kinds of algae but do people put live rock and sand in their fuge?

 

I would.

 

live sand: yes. A fuge is a good place for a DSB, and the sand/mud is common for a place to grow certain macroalgaes. Chaetomorphia is the only common fuge algae I know of that doesn't need a sandbed to root in. But the DSB how ever small functions as a biological filter. From what I've seen it doesn't do anything live rock doesn't do tho - which is provide space for anaerobic bacteria to colonize.

Live rock: Yes, but more of an option than sand. Live rock in a fuge is usually good for seeding 'pods and gives them more surface to forage for food. It can also be used in the 'fuge / sump for added filtration. It does little to directly benefit the function of the 'fuge which is to make live food for the fish above and provide a place for algae for nutrient export.

A good reason for adding a fuge besides the filtration is that they provide plenty of live food for your fish. Pretty much ALL omnivorous and carnivorous fish, not just hard to feed obligates like seahorse and mandarins, feed on copepods and amphipods between meals. The bigger the fish the less likely they are to derive a whole lot of energy from such small meals, but it stimulates their hunting instincts and lets them go longer between tank feedings without showing signs of hunger.