frontosa_man said:
yea, i heard that too, my ph went down a little when i first set mine up, but nothing to severe, it has since stabilzed
Refugium Setup
- Thread starter spryandspringy
- Start date
yea, i heard that too, my ph went down a little when i first set mine up, but nothing to severe, it has since stabilzed
frontosa_man said:
Wow!
That would rock if that were the case. Can anyone second that?
Today I got a cute little clip on light, especially for aquarium plants. It has a bendable neck, so I should be able to point it so most of the light goes into the refugium, and not into the main tank when the moonlight is on at night.
mkpeters6, since you have first-hand experience, can you give me some tips on setup? Maybe help me avoid some mistakes?
what kind of setup are you using for the refugium, are you making it yourself or buying a pre-made one?
i ended up buying a pre-made one b/c i got a great deal on it an it fit nicely under my stand (it has three compartments the first is where the water comes in from the overflow then it spills into the second chamber which is my refuge area and then that spills into the final compartment where the return pump is) - plus i dont have to worry about leaks or anything like that
all i did was add a deep sand bed of agrinite reef sand (or live sand works good) then i bought some macroalgae from a lfs (guy that works there had a big bag that he brought from his home tank that was filled with 4-5 types of algae) thats really it i just let the system run and take care of its self -- i was gonna add the miracle mud but i never got around to it but i was told its great for establishing a refuge
i really like the pre-made sump/fuge that i bought it works really great and is nice and compact, i have friends that have built there own and they work fine but i really didnt have the room for multiple sumps, etc.
i ended up buying a pre-made one b/c i got a great deal on it an it fit nicely under my stand (it has three compartments the first is where the water comes in from the overflow then it spills into the second chamber which is my refuge area and then that spills into the final compartment where the return pump is) - plus i dont have to worry about leaks or anything like that
all i did was add a deep sand bed of agrinite reef sand (or live sand works good) then i bought some macroalgae from a lfs (guy that works there had a big bag that he brought from his home tank that was filled with 4-5 types of algae) thats really it i just let the system run and take care of its self -- i was gonna add the miracle mud but i never got around to it but i was told its great for establishing a refuge
i really like the pre-made sump/fuge that i bought it works really great and is nice and compact, i have friends that have built there own and they work fine but i really didnt have the room for multiple sumps, etc.
The one I'm setting up is the hang-on type that hooks up to a small pump of powerhead in the tank. I've got the mud coming and the macroalgae and mangrove I ordered are already here (I've got them in good temporary spots in the aquarium (algae in a small, plexiglass breeder box and the mangrove propped up so they're popping up out of the top of the tank.) The device itself should be here early next week. I can't wait! 
ive never seen one of those in action but they have always looked pretty interesting - it sounds like a pretty good setup and should work good for the small setup that you have, it'll look really cool when the mangroves start to grow out of the top like a mini-forest on the back of your tank
ill be interested in knowing how the hang-on works i might get one down the road if i set up a mini-reef again
ill be interested in knowing how the hang-on works i might get one down the road if i set up a mini-reef again
I got the refugium almost totally set up last night. It came completely unassembled, much to my dismay, so I've spent the last couple of days cementing together plexiglass, checking for leaks, and cementing again.
I don't know what size it is, but is measures about 18"x3"x3", and my tank's only a 40g breeder.
I got everything hooked up to the pump last night. I'm still awaiting the arrival of the mud, but I've got two types of macroalgae and a mangrove in there. I HAD a bunch of feeder shrimp in there, too, but thanks to the way it drains back into the tank most of them have made a great escape.
I'm excited to watch my water parameters and see what the effect is.
I don't know what size it is, but is measures about 18"x3"x3", and my tank's only a 40g breeder.
I got everything hooked up to the pump last night. I'm still awaiting the arrival of the mud, but I've got two types of macroalgae and a mangrove in there. I HAD a bunch of feeder shrimp in there, too, but thanks to the way it drains back into the tank most of them have made a great escape.
I'm excited to watch my water parameters and see what the effect is.
frontosa_man said:
if you used like a standard 20 long or even a 30 gal (36in) that would work great, you could easily use a 10 gal tank for a refuge especially if you are using it as supplemental filtration (some reef systems rely completely on the ecosystem method of filtration w/ no mechanical filtration or skimmers)
im not sure on exact ratio of refugium size to tank size, but obviously the larger the regufium the more macroalgae, mud, etc to help with filtration
spryandspringy - glad you got your system up and running, they really are fun to watch the stuff grow in it -- i started with a handful of diff types of macroalgae and it litterally tripled in size and mass in the first few weeks -- i have to cut it back occassionally so it wont grow out of the tank -- makes a great supplemental food for my fish and corals though!
