Hang on the back refugium

[Overlook reef]

Hi

Does anyone have any advice or opinion about hang on the back refugiums?

Are they good?

What Brand is the best?

My niece's boyfriend has an old 30 gal tank he is starting a reef in. He asked me to come look at it and give him some advice.

His tank has a good amount of live rock and sand, but he has an Aqua clear hang on the back filter. He also has a single florescent light over it.

The tank has 2 shrimp a clown and a very small goby.

I told him he should first upgrade the filter (also get a skimmer), light, and he needs some power heads to get more flow before considering any coral or other livestock.

After talking with him about the different types of setups, he was interested in setting up a refugium. He does not want to drill the tank and as with most of us, his funds for this project are limited.

He asked me about hang on the back types, but I do not have any experience with them.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[nemodan]

In my new setup I had to use a Hang-on Refugium. I decided to buy the CPR refugium. I have it with some live rocks and macroalgies. Added to it an LED light fixture designed for nano fish tanks. So far, and after a month of use all is going OK and I will recomend it.

You have models w/out skimmer. I got the medium size without skimmer. I added my skimmer to the refugium. It was cheaper in that way for the type of setup I have.

Hope this helps

 

[jarrodsanborn]

any fuge will work, but it has to be sized to the tank. a 1g fuge wont help a 100g tank much.
for 30g tanks and under, i guess they could work alright, but i would look for a reef octopus hob skimmer before trying a fuge personally.

Most of the skimmers that come built in to the hob fuges are lame. you have to modify them to get them to skim anything. Yes, they dont work stock! If you do have one, get an airpump and a wood airstone to add to it.

 

[diverbh4]

I like the CPR HOB refugium. I had a HOB skimmer as well at one point when I didn't want to drill and it worked great.

 

[fishmommy]

I am interested in this thread because I am considering adding a hang-on fuge to my 120 setup as a secondary fuge (sump has one also)



Sent from my gadget using Trippytalk HD

 

[Overlook reef]

Thanks everyone.

 

[seanothan]

I have a 25g cube and I use a aqua clear filter as a refuge. I removed the filter and basket and then set it up like a refuge with sand on the bottom, rubble with plenty of open space and different pieces of macro algae. I ran a strip of leds along the bottom of the lid. I have it on the lowest flow setting. With the tinted sides it keeps unwanted light out but is easy enough to see through with a flashlight. It works great and provides tons of Mysis and pods.

 

[Privateer]

I have both the CPR hang-on refugium (med) and the Coralife s65 hang-on protein skimmer. They both work well, although the skimmer took some time to dial in (normal in most cases). Right now I don't have much going on in the fuge, just a ball of Cheato, I keep meaning to add sand (there is room for about a 3" sandbed). For lighting I had a 50/50 CFL in simple clip-on fixture that I ran at the same time as my main lights so spillover wasn't an issue. That bulb blew and instead of buying a new one, I made a new led setup with some leds I had laying around from my DT light project. I have warm whites and some blues, and it has only been a few weeks so I can't tell if the spectrum or the change to LED is having any effect but I might add some red when I have some time.