New Refugium...Never had one before! Questions

Jenna09

Jenna09

Reefing newb
I dont have it hooked up yet because I have no idea what I am doing and a friend is coming by this weekend to help me out.

I dont know if it is a dyi or bought as is; I bought it for $20. It has a small crack in the back of it that my friend is going to seal up for me with some kind of acrylic cement. It was too big for his tank so I decided to try it out.

What kind of lighting do I need for my refugium? Do I even need lights?
What kind of substrate? Do I even need substrate?

I will post pics of it when I get home.

Thanks
Jenna
 
An easier way to create a refugium is by taking the plastic boxes that the people at the store us to catch the fish(can be bought for like $10) and drill holes in the side and just hang it in off one of the wall in your tank and it shares the water with the tank and also is easy to get to.
 
hey Jenna and welcome, 1st you have "8 year's" of experience in the hobby and you don't know the answer to this ?? that being said, yes you need subsrtate, live sand or mud that you can pic up up at your LFS will be fine. 2nd yes you need a light, now thats where the problem come's in I to and setting up my first sump under my 90 (check it out in the tank show case forum under going from a 55 to a 90) and after 2 day's of searching I'm founding out that any light over fuge is fine. and that mean's it could be a a $60 light on e-bay or a $15 light at home depot. it's up to your budget..
 
If you are going to keep macroalgae, you need lights. I've found that regular CFL bulbs (the squiggly kind) from the hardware store do just fine. Over my fuge I have two 23 watt squigglies.

You will need substrate and live rock rubble as well.
 
meshman10: Not to be totally rude but yes I have been in the hobby for "8 Years" thank you...that came across as I am lying about it! If I had known the answer I wouldnt have asked! :frustrat:

I originally started out with a fish only tank when I was 15 years old and progressed into corals about 5 years ago (I am not sure exactly when I didnt mark it on my calendar).

I have been successfully keeping soft corals without a refugium but decided I want to try it out.

The reason I asked these questions is because my LFS store said I could go with or without lights and with or without substrate. They said some rock was just necessary. But I have seen and read about people using substrate and lights.

Thanks Bifferwine I will check out the squiggly lights.

meshman10: I will probably go with the live sand I dont think my LFS has mud.

Thanks
Jenna

PS I wasnt able to download my pics on my comp at home. I will post a pic of it tmm.
 
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Live rock rubble and macroalgae is what I use in my fuge and it works fine under the light Biff mentioned. You do not need mud or sand as a substrate. That's old school (JMO)
 
dont feel bad I have had salt tanks for almost 12 years total. I have never had a sump. Back in the early 90's I didnt even have a computer and never had a site like this. Now I have hob fuges on both tanks. I use cheeto macro alage and I use clip on lights from home depot with the cf bulbs seems to work real well. Eventually I will try a drilled tank and have room for underneath sumps but right now not a option for me. It will be fun for you to branch out with a fuge I love mine.
 
I am looking forward to starting a fuge.

I have seen some interesting ones with plants growing out of them on some big display tanks in the area and that is what got me interested in them.

I dont think they are necessary for a tank to thrive but they can be definitely beneficial and add to the overall water quality and water stability.

Hopefully my LFS has some chaeto if not I might have to go to Toronto to get some.

Thanks
Jenna

PS. I also do not have a sump and I also cannot wait to get a drilled tank in the future! My tank would look so much better without all of the hangon fixtures all over it lol!
 
I feel your pain jenna I dont much like all the stuff hanging in my tank either. Since I started doing the fuges my tanks have never looked better.
 
sry jenna , I really wasn't trying to be rude. as far as a LFS goes I have three within 10 mile's of me all owned by the same guy and I can get three different answer's to a question..
 
Jenna, technically... no you do not need any substrate at all.
Some people put a couple inches of sand, others do a deep sand bed (at least 6"), others have something like Miracle Mud (I'm trying this one on my current tank build) and others have no substrate at all. The main point is to grow macro algae (which provides a home for pods to grow for your fish to eat) and for this you need light. Most people tend to run their fuge light on the opposite schedule of their main display lights to keep the PH up overnight. All you need is a GE 6500k Energy Efficient bulb from Home Depot screwed into one of those cheap round clip on light reflectors. Hang it above your fuge, put it on a timer and you are good to go! :)
Chaetomorpha is the most popular algae for the fuge. I'm also growing some Mangroves but they don't suck up nearly as many nutrients from the water as the chaeto,
 
My fuge definitely kept my nitrates in my 45g at 0. I only did water changes to "freshen up" the water, but not because or nitrates. I started getting some hair algae after a year, but then again, I haven't done much maintenance on the tank. But the fuge definitely helps.

I think marine tanks are like computers....things changes so often that unless you're constantly talking to other people about it, you could miss a whole new part of it. Doesn't matter how long you've been doing this hobby.
 
meshman10: I know that when talking on forums it is easy to misunderstand or read something out of context and that is obviously what I did. But thank you for the apology! As for different answers from your LFS I can get 5 different answers about everything I ask when I go into my one store; that is the problem I am having with my the fuge as well.

wontonflip: I could not believe all of the changes, not just in electrical equipment, there have been at my store in the last couple of years. The food has changed, no more suction cups now everything is magnets (thank goodness), and the cleaning tools are 100% better then when I first started...I can actually reach the bottom of my tank lol!

I will be going testing my fuge out for leakage tonight, I cant believe how big it is...I was told it was 3 gallons and I guess I was envisioning that as being small...but its mammoth in my opinion!

Posting pics today.

Jenna
 
Jenna09 said:
I am looking forward to starting a fuge.

I have seen some interesting ones with plants growing out of them on some big display tanks in the area and that is what got me interested in them.

I dont think they are necessary for a tank to thrive but they can be definitely beneficial and add to the overall water quality and water stability.

Hopefully my LFS has some chaeto if not I might have to go to Toronto to get some.

Thanks
Jenna

PS. I also do not have a sump and I also cannot wait to get a drilled tank in the future! My tank would look so much better without all of the hangon fixtures all over it lol!
Click to expand...

Consider using two fuge lights --one as a backup. I had a light burn-out while I was away and the chaeto starting dying.
 
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Here's a pic of my 10g fuge I built myself one night w/ a few beers. Not the best looking, but it works very well. My chaeto is starting to grow nicely. I have pods and mysis shrimp growing in there. I didn't get the pic of my light in there, but its one of the clamp on ones and an energy saver CFL bulb, $9 total at Home Depot.

Picture003.jpg

Picture002-1.jpg
 

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