how important is a refugium

[PufferGuy]

i will be setting up my sump in the next week or so and i was wondering if its really that important to have a refugium. Its only gonna be a 10gal so i wont really have room for too much, so the refugium (if i added one) would be pretty damn small. Is it worth messing with it... is it really good to have one??

 

[ndepratt]

in all honesty you'll be fine with good protein skimming... but it is nice to have some other form of nutrient export. I really wouldn't worry about it.

 

[ZOOT098]

i swear by mine
i think if you have the room add one
i do think that if you add a small one i would skip the dsb and stuff it with cheato

 

[daugherty]

if that is as big as you can go that it will not give you very much if any added benifits

 

[dcantucson]

+1 to all above.
I only have a good skimmer myself.

 

[ZOOT098]

if your whole sump is only 10 gal, i would skip the fuge
i have read that a fuge isnt really beneficial until it reaches 20% the size of your DT

 

[PufferGuy]

why can i not add cheato in one of the compartments of the sump?

 

[winyfrog]

I love my refug, every little bit will help.

You can put chaeto in one of the compartments, what does it look like? do you have a pic.

 

[PufferGuy]

not yet designed yet... waiting for my overflow/pump to get here before i start figuring it out... any ideas?/

pictures would help

 

[PufferGuy]

also, what do you guys for the "heads" for the return to the tank?? and how do you secure them so they dont move??

 

[winyfrog]

I use locline that comes up over the sides of my tank with pvc. I will take some pics for you and post them tomorrow if you would like. I don't notice them moving???

 

[SigEpLucas]

I have a similar set up for my 20 gal tank with a 10 gal sump/fuge and here's how I did it.

For the return I'm using a Maxi-jet 1200 as the pump which actually works great and a U-tube return like this which was only $5.99 U-Tube with Directional Return

For the drain I'm using an E-shopps overflow box.

For the fuge light I have a 75 watt clamp on grow bulb from home depot.

In the sump I have the return draining in on one end with the pump at the opposite, near the drain I have my protein skimmer and heater, and then I just inserted a tank divider, then on the other side of the tank divider by the pump I filled it with about 2 inches of mineral mud, a piece of live rock, and some chaeto. And all of it is done with vinyl tubing no pvc. Seems to work ok, not sure if I've gotten a ton of benefit from the fuge part or not but I haven't had any problems with it either.

Here are a few pics...
whole sump

fuge section

 

[PufferGuy]

yeah please some pics would help

 

[Bifferwine]

I also use Locline.

Loc-Line Plumbing Parts

 

[Melosu58]

I love my refuge also. Added water volume and nutrient export are good benefits. I use grape calerpa in mine but if you do you`ll need 24/7 lighting and constant pruning. BTW I have a 40 gallon fuge.

 

[winyfrog]

here's a couple of my refug..

 

[Smitty]

Whatever the size it is it will benefit the tank...I have one of those small fish holders that fish stores use to hold and bag fish as my fuge...I drilled several holes around it, filled it with cheato and grape calerpa, and hung it inside my tank...it is growing several pods like crazy, mini stars, worms, baby snails, etc. it may be small, but it is doing it's job. Plus, my nitrates stay very,very low. So a 10gal will benefit you well if done right.

 

[PufferGuy]

well i drew up a sketch of what i think might work for the sump, let me know what you think. Should i switch the tripple baffle to in between the fuge and return?? or leave it where it is. Also, i was thinking about putting one of those one way valves after the ball valve, just in case of a power outage. Is that a good idea?

 

[project5k]

you certainly can put a one way valve, but if your stuff is set up correctly, you shouldnt need it. I dont have one, my DT is 75 gallons, and my sump/fuge is all in a 10gal tank, and my stuff dosent overflow when the power goes out.

Dont let a piece of hardware take the place of a properly set up system. That way when your hardware fails, your still ok.

personally, i think i would keep the tripple baffels where they are, before the fuge.. but thats just me, and my thought process.. others may have differing opinioins. the one thing that i'm wondering about is the water flow in the fuge area itself, with that particular layout, it would seem to me that most of the water would just go over the baffels and out to the pump, only a very small amount of the water will actually go down into the fuge area, i would suggest some kind of a stir bafel or something of the like. Even if its just a 1 inch tall baffel thats 3/4" in the water over the middle of the fuge area, that would cause the water to get stired up in the fuge a little bit...

again, just my thinking on it...

oh and one other thing, think about the volume, and width of the return pump chamber, the narrower that is, the more often you will have to top off your water.

oh, and i'm of the opinion that any time you increase the volume of the system, your are helping it be more stable, even if your only gonna use a 10gal tank, and thats only 1/2 - 3/4 full.. its still more stability, plus, it gives you a place to hide heaters, and like in my case, i hung my HOB skimmer on the side of my sump, and that gets it off the DT, which just cleans up the look of everything.

 

[Wes888]

I tried a couple of one way valve. They works up to a certain degree, but they do have water passing through, at least on the couple ones that I tried. So if power is out for long, there will still be substantial amount of water passes through.