Water movement in Large Refugiums.....?

I currently have a 30 gal fuge running on my 265 gal tank. I run about 30 GPH over the fuge and was wondering if any of you put power heads in the fuges to keep water circulating since moving so little of water doesn't keep it stirred up much? :-/

 

I was thinking of doing that but on the protein skimmer compartment which is about 30gallons as well. Like that there is no detrius on the bottom. I dont know about adding it in the fuge though. I think i read somewhere that chaeto liked a lot of flow but not sure.

 

You don't want it stirred up really. Thats the whole point to allow the sediments to settle out. And if its healthy a pump will be fouled out soon from the grasses and scum.

The Refugium is just a salt swamp slow moving and quiet and safe for small inverts and fry Did I mention smelly

 

Thats the one thing that it is, good thing I have a exhaust fan in there that moves air outside.

 

My refugium connected to my 125gallon reef tank doesn't smell at all. With the live rock, macroalgae, deep sand bed and about 100gph on my 5gallon fuge, all is clean and has the same clean smell as my tank. Maybe you want to increase the water flow somewhat to counter that smell, and add carbon periodically. I also use two different types of refugium mud in my two refugiums for two of my tanks to add some alternative and diverse lifeforms.

 

I run a carbon reactor 24/7 on the tank. I believe the smell is coming from the sand that I moved from my 55 gal to make this fuge. I believe I had some die off and that is what I am smelling. My Green & Red Brain has been closed for the last couple of days so I shut circulation off to the fuge and put a PH in there to move water around for a while. I'm afraid I have some parameter spikes with the sand so I done about a 40 gal water change last night but I still have not put the fuge back in circulation yet. I will wait and run the fuge on it's own for a few days then test the water before I open the valve again.

 

I see how the smell could be a problem now...
with the stirring up and transfer of your sand. Die-off and gases being released into your refugium. Too bad you can't set up a skimmer just on the refugium tank to rid the contaminants before they are released into your main tank initially!
Let us know how everything ends up!
Good luck

 

I am actually thinking about pulling all that sand out to be safe and putting new Agra Alive sand in and start out fresh. I had nothing wrong with the 55 gal but it set for 2 months with nothing in it but all the filtration was still running. I know I lost all my bacteria but I at least thought the sand would still be ok. :-/

 

Just add a strong air stone to the fuge.. That way you will aerate it and not disturbe it to much.. Strange the smell from it.. I have little use for a DSB But in a fuge i run 5 to 7 inches if it.. Did you add sand over top of existing sand ?

 

No I just used the old 30 gal sump he had on the tank and made that into a fuge since I picked up a 75 gal tank to use for the sump. I did put all the 55's sand in the 30 so it is pretty deep.