Is a refugium worth adding to my sump?

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CharlieTuna

CharlieTuna

Gambusia
MFK Member
Sep 18, 2010
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I'm in the process of putting together a 220g I purchased off of CL. I have decided that I'm going to build the sump myself, either using an old glass aquarium or building one out of acrylic. Anyway, is it worth the effort/cost to incorporate a planted (or maybe DSB?) refugium in the sump? This will be a Lake Malawi Cichlid tank.
 
Depends on your desire to avoid water changes, I think. Both a DSB and refugium are aimed at nutrient export and nitrate reduction. They're primarily salt water concepts that go in and out of favor with the current thinking of reefkeeping. At the moment, DSBs are out, and refugiums are in. Refugiums for nutrient export are a great idea IMO, and I can't think of a drawback to having one. However, there are perils associated with DSB that can be catastrophic for your tank. There is a thread in the DIY section that is currently discussing the risk vs reward.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=358146

Hope that helps
 
How heavily and what should be planted in one? How about the substrate assuming no DSB? How about a 50g fuge for a 220g tank? Sorry about all of the questions, this is a new concept for me.
 
Fast growing algaes are the easiest to cultivate because they do grow so quickly. This allows you to do the nutrient export. Hmm, there is a thread on here about a nitrate reducer. I think SantaMonica is the author. Check it out. It's a great read and will give you a few ideas that you can use to incorporate into a 'fuge.
 
I use a 40G breeder for a sump with a 20G refugium section on a 210G tank. I've tried dfifferent combos of plants and have gotten very good results. Wish I had gone with a larger fuge section, you should be getting excellent results with 50G of refugium.

The better the fuge works the more maintenance that is required.
 
More. You would not believe how much time you will spend pruning and keeping floaters outta the pump chamber. The better the plants are at removing nitrAtes the more work is involved keeping that fuge clean.

I've switched from coon tail and duck weed to wysteria and low lights and though it is not as effecient as before I can go a few weeks w/ out having to do maintenance down there.

You still need to do waterchanges with a fuge, there is no avoiding that.
 
I'm not trying to eliminate or even reduce water changes, just provide a healthy environment for my fish.

How densely should the fuge be stocked with plants from the beginning? How about adding snails or maybe some freshwater clams?
 
Not too dense at first. The growth is what removes the trAtes so you want to keep things growing.

I have cherry shrimp and nuisance snails in there as cleanup crew.
 
fox3;4508002; said:
More. You would not believe how much time you will spend pruning and keeping floaters outta the pump chamber. The better the plants are at removing nitrAtes the more work is involved keeping that fuge clean.

I've switched from coon tail and duck weed to wysteria and low lights and though it is not as effecient as before I can go a few weeks w/ out having to do maintenance down there.

You still need to do waterchanges with a fuge, there is no avoiding that.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of doing a fuge also, so would a second mechanical type of setup be needed between the fuge and the pump? ( of course using the prefilter on the pump, but just an extra filter material to keep everything from sticking to the prefilter?
 
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