Hob Refugium

I been wanting to add a refugium or sum to my setup for awhile.I am hoping drive down my nitrates a little more.They are up and down due to my over populated tank and feeding of the livestock(especially my sun coral every 2-3 days).My under the tank space is limited and if used there would no were to store my dy goods(wife owns all available closet space left)So that being said I have decided to go with a Hang on the back small CPR AquaFuge(13-1/4"L x 4-1/2"W x 12"H),and remove my hob aquaclear filter.I might put a carbon pad in the output tube when carbon is needed.This will provide a reduction of microbubles also.I am going with a 3-4 inch sand/mud bed.Some new kent marine Biosediment along with some sand from my main tank.I was thinking of adding adding a few onces of Marc Weiss Fundy Old Reef Mud or some other brand, but sure about the mix yet.I am think about taking a small rock from my tank and turning it into rubble to add to the top of the sand bed.
I purchased a coralife pc fixture at 18 watts day-light only bulbs to fit on the top. I will probley use some chaeto for the macro.Stuff like caulerpa seems to be illegal here in Cali. Does anyone have any experiance with these types of refugiums or any comments about them?

 

Sounds Good Keep Us P0sted On Your Progress.

 

Ive read alittle about the mud in usa marine and reef mag good artical u should pick up and its suppose to bend phsphates more effectivly than most things we have on the market (filters)but it also can become exuasted and have to be replace (sure u allready knew). :twocents: I would be entrested in what happens so keep us posted if you decided to take that route

 

Be careful with the cpr. Ive heard alot of peoples break or leak after about a year or so.

Im also looking into this. Ive decided agaist drilling my 55, and dont want an overflow unit. I checked some on ebay, but they seem thin?? How thick should the acrylic be? is 1/4 enough??

 

Ordered from Marine Depot now waiting for my new project parts to arrive.I think(hope) 1/4 inch is going to be ok.This a newer design to.Anything at this point will be better than the Hob filter.And if I dont get the result I am looking for.I will be forced to go with 10 gallon under the tank with overflow(a water fall in the living room)I have heard some people feed the macro to there fish when pruning but I read as well that people say do not do this because it just releases all the nutrients back into the tank.Any opinions on this?

 

it would be getting into the tank anyways. Why not give your fishes a treat lol.

 

I have a HOB refuge .I have the CPR unit on the back of my frag tank .A friend gave the unit to me .I was not going to use LR in the frag tank because of space .So I hung this unit on the back with about 4 inch of sand placed my plants in and I really like .It works great really low nitrates .No algae problems at all .ITS GREAT

 

Lets think about what we are doing with the harvesting of algae. removing it so it does not crash or spore in the system, and to remove the nitrates from the water collum. I do not believe feeding it back to the fish is a great idea, however, recycle or new whats the diff. I would make sure the fish eat it through and not let it float around. now if you do not want that type of algae in the main, maybe better not to feed back. just a thought. you decide. (personally I would not feed it back)

 

I am thinking the same thing like you Jasen. I also have limited space underneath my tank. I was thinking about building a refugium (DIY type) with a 10 gal tank. Does anyone have some good instruction with pictures on how to build one yourself?

THanks,
Jack

 

I recieved the fuge two days ago(Got to love marine depot)I started my setup.
Added the mud and Kent Biosediment. I took about 2 cup of live sand from my tank to seed the dry stuff.Ended up about 5 inches or so in total substrated.Mounted the unit on the back of my tank.I droped in 3 ILLNASSARIUS OBSOLETA snails to keep the sand stired and eat detris(hopefully they dont escape).Next I added some mix water( it was time for a water change anyway)to the fuge.Waited about an hour for the sand cloud to settle.Poped the light on top(a Coralife Mini-Freshwater Aqualight With 2-9W 6700K Lamps) and plugged it to the timer.Swith it all on looks pretty good.I will be able to dose
iodine and phyto close to the output if tube if desired.I was triing to get some cheato no one had any so a buddy gave me some of his illegal in California Caulerpa taxifolia.Maybe cheato might be a better export but till get some I will try the Caulerpa taxifolia.I will post some pictures soon.

 

HellO Jasen,
Another question... currently I have a Aquaclear 110, do you think I still need it after I do buy a fuge like your?

Jack

 

i would keep the filter until the refugium gets going good. Give it maybe a month to get some life in there from your tank, then take it off.

 

Thank for the info ReefWannabe. Again, what kind of plant should I put in my refugium? Currently, I have a 30 gals tank and want the refugium system to take down some of the nitrate &produce food later on for my reefs and corals. Thanks for the info...

 

look for cheato, or cheatomorpha, same stuff. The caulerpa can go sexual.... You dont want that lol. So get some cheato in there with a dsb and maybe a small peice of rock. Let the system get some stuff going in there with pods and all. then go ahead and pull off the ho filter. Or elave it on, really up to you at this point.

 

I had yake mine out there was no space left.I was using it for added flow, carbon and the occaisional bag of Purigen.I have two power heads for flow also.
Jack, If your are using the Aquaclear 110 like I was and you have good flow than I think you would be ok pulling it out that if you need the space.I have heard of people turning them into fuges also.I would think that there size would not alow much of a deep sandbed and macro algae.I would add the hob refugium
mine is 13.5" x 4.5" x 12".

 

lol yeah mine stops right at my sand bed, so I dug around it a bit... Now I just took the guard off lol. I have nothing to be sucked in yet so no worries there. But on mine you can take a section of tube out. ill be ding that soon so the tube only goes about half down instead of all the way down.

 

Thanks Jasen for the information. I heard about people converted their AquaClear to a fuge as well. I am debating if I should do that. Again, I have an 30 gals acrylic tank. As you know space is limited on top of the tank. If I do convert my 110 to a fuge, do you think it would be enough for my 30 gals for now? I know of course to buy a full new fuge would be more beneficial than converting it. Hmm... I don't want to waste my 110 as well. I also found a seller off ebay sells cheatomorpha locally in my area. So, I might go that route. What do you guys think? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!!!

 

I thinking the CPR might be better over all.I started looking at the size 13 1/2"L X 6 3/4"W X 9"H of it.The size is simular to the CPR just a littlle shorter in the hieght.I would give it a shot.I would paint the front black to block out the light from what you are going to use on the refugium.I used this light Coralife Mini-Freshwater Aqualight With 2-9W 6700K Lamps.Itmay fit on prefectlly on the top of the aquaclear.
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=ES53122
You will need a sand of mud bed.I used both also seeded it with a couple of cup of sand from my tanks sandbed.Get some macro.looks like ReefWannabe has converted one so he might be able to give some help.Also do a google search on some instruction.

 

Cool Jasen, thanks for the info. I will definitely look into it. I will probably stop by HomeDepot later on tonight to pick up some acrylic type plastic to do the modification on the AquaClear 110. Will see how it goes. I will keep you guys updated. Suggestion(s) are welcome. Please fill free to common. Good or bad Thanks guys...

p.s. Jasen, would just a Live Sand, small piece(s) of live rock and cheatomorpha will do for now on the 110?

 

yeah its the same basic idea of a hob or an under tank version, only smaller. just be sure to have it setup where the chaeto cant flow back into your display at all.