Freshwater Refugium Plans

[Gage Zamrzla]

So I'm toying with the idea of a freshwater refugium for my 125g. I'm going to be moving my tigers up soon and want to try and make the set up as efficient as possible. I'm thinking of using my Fx5 for biological, the refugium for mechanical as well as a nitrate reducer. I don't have a build in overflow so I'll be using a hang on the back one and the tank will be facing away from the wall like an island counter top. I'm thinking of using anacharis in this case and will have a screen to help keep it from entering the main tank or clogging plumbing. I wanted to get opinions before I get started on set up to see if this seems like a good idea or if it's a waste of time. I want to do this primarily to keep nitrates down and as far as I can find (internet and in person) nobody can give a straight answer if this method is worth setting up in freshwater AND done it themselves. If the plan fails and the refugium idea doesn't pan out as planned at least I have a sump for convenience. The idea is pretty straight forward and simple but I drew up a picture in Paint.

Thoughts?

 

[Gage Zamrzla]

bump

 

[cypher1024]

Generally speaking, canisters are better at mechanical filtration and sumps are better at biological filtration (especially wet/dry setups). I think this is the reason you haven't found anyone with this kind of system. That's not to say that your setup won't work - with the right media I don't see why it wouldn't work. In fact, the refugium will probably end up housing a significant quantity of beneficial bacteria.

 

[Gage Zamrzla]

That may be, but I'm wanting to try this more to try and keep nitrates much lower with the refugium. What do you think about that?

 

[cypher1024]

I think it will work as long as the lights are adequate - it's basically an aquaponics system.

 

[Gage Zamrzla]

Two 33" 39watt Sunwave T5 lighting. That should be plenty efficient for a 33g mostly filled with anacharis ya?

 

[cypher1024]

That should work. You'll probably get some algae too, but who cares - it will consume nitrates too.

 

[flowingmotion]

The refugium will work at reducing nitrates assuming you have enough plants to consume the nitrates at a rate equal to or higher than you creating them. A lot of people use plants for this purpose but dont always create a dedicated refugium for the purpose. Many people plant in the tank itself or just stick some pothos in the sump or the top of the tank. I did this and had great results with reducing nitrates.

I dont understand what you mean when you refer to the refugium as a mechanical filter though. It is not going to do much mechanical filtration. Some larger particles may be trapped there but i would not call it a mechanical filter. You could add a section of mechanical filtration to the sump prior to the water entering the refugium area though.

 

[Gage Zamrzla]

I suppose I should have worded that different. It'd be very minimal mechanical filtration using a filter pad or sock, nothing much. I'd also have my Fx5 with sponge intakes for some mechanical filtration as well. I'm mainly doing the refugium idea because I don't plan on maintaining plants in the main tank and think it would be much easier maintenance keeping them in a sump below.

 

[jvision]

If your Tigers don't produce a huge amount of nitrates, then aquatic plants are great; however, as your fish grown and really start producing the nitrates, you'll find that terrestrial plants (like pothos already mentioned) will do a better job. Because terrestrial plants need more biomass to hold them up (aquatic stems are pretty much mush out of the water), they need more nutrients, and will do a better job of removing nitrates.

I currently have 8 tanks tied into a common sump and am using ivy and some other plant clippings to help remove excess nitrates. It takes a bit for the roots to grow right from clippings, but once they do, plants are putting out a new leaf every 10 days or so.