what goes into a fuge?

[BIGgourami]

i know what refugiums are supposed to DO, but why do they do it?
i asking cause i'm looking for a alternative filtration on a new 25gal. if i can figure this out it'll be SW, if not it's a feeder breeder. (i really want another SW!)
where can i fing the mud and should there be plants in it? if so what?

 

[KenyanSandBoa]

Basically a refugium is established to preserve smaller organisms from predation. If there were copepods and amphipods in your main display tank, they wouldn't last very long so a refuge is best to raise them.

A refuge allows these smaller organisms to thirve, so you could put in a nice cultured sand bed and pack it with beneficial worms and other filter feeders/sifters.

I would use about 2" of live aragonite sand, some live rock, and some types of macro algae as the base system and add shrimp, worms, copepods & amphipods to your liking. Just make sure you give the refuge the propper lighting too. I would use a ten gallon tank and use a couple of power compacts and you should be fine.

 

[TitansFan]

As said above a refugium gives a place for pods to live and breed without being hunted by fish. Also a fuge can be used to grow macro algae.

In my fuge I keep cheato algae and rock rubble. This gives places for pods to live and do their thing.. making baby pods. Also the algae does 2 things for me. It absorbs nutrients that would be used for algae to grow in my display tank. It can out compete other algaes for food stopping their growth. Another function it does is stabalize PH. When my lights go off in the display photsynthesis stops. This causes PH to drop. I run my lights over my fuge at night to balance this out. As far as the mud. I don't bother with it. It's expensive and frankly I have read reports on the internet that have determined its make-up. It's nothing special... A deep sandbed in the fuge would do the samething imo. For a sandbed to function as a filtering item in a fuge it needs to be atleast 5 inches deep.

 

[sprayin70]

: The macro algae you put into a fuge uses up excess phosphates in the water. This helps to stop unwanted algae growth. It also uses the DSB to break down excess nutrients in the water keeping the nitrates down. The pods are just a bonus but not the reason you want a fuge. Also It gives ditrius a place to settle so you can vacuum it up. A fuge kinda acts like a skimmer but it just takes longer to use up the proteins and nutrients. A Skimmer pulls them out. You still need to clean your fuge and do maintenance on it. Hope this helps. There is a style of reek keeping where people use a complex fuge for nutrient export insted of a skimmer. They use a Deep Miracle mud substrate an fill it eith live rock and macro algae. It takes like 6 months to a year to mature but when it does it works great. PM me if you want the article I will try to find it for you.

Good luck.

 

[mosthated]

would love to get a copy of that article!

 

[Apistogramma Master]

I love refuges Ive had great sucess with the Walt Smith Mud.Just make sure you build it right , so the mud dosnt get back to the fish tank.

 

[pseudodoras]

this is my fuge . i put 2 gallons of mud on bottom then 40 pounds of live sand on top . chaeto algae to suck up the nitrate