Refugiums

[AnthonyF]

Hey everyone, so it looks like I am actually going to be able to buy some new stuff tomorrow which will hopefully be a stand, 20L for the sump and I am wondering about a refugium. The main tank is a 40 breeder and with some help that had been offered to me through here, I am going to make my own sump. My question is would a 10g refugium even be worth it or is it pointless to make one that small. I am hoping to put a shelf inside the stand and put the sump under that with the 10g fuge on the top side. So again, to make a long story short, is a 10g worth it or do I need to go bidder to make any kind of difference.

Also, will I need a phosphate reactor and calcium reactor for this size tank? Just trying to see what hardware I am going to need.

FYI, I am hoping to make this a reef with mostly beginner corals, some clowns, possibly a flame angel (still wary of them since they can eat coral), hopefully a nice mandarin (eventually), and a blue sapphire damselfish....

Thanks,

-Anthony.

 

[IPWitan]

Anthony,

You can buy that 40 gal tank now and them immediately regret that you didn't get a bigger tank, or just buy the 75 gal now. LOL

Refugiums can server multiple purposes, so the size kind of depends. If you want it for nutrient export, then any size can work just fine, depending of course on how much you want it to export. I once used a HOB refugium that worked extremely well. It had a really good flow smack thru the middle of the chaeto, so it grew like crazy. I would go that route before making a separate 10 gal refugium. More tank sections = more risk of flood. Of course, the option I recommend is to get a bigger sump (30 gal long) and partition it so part of it is your refugium. My bet is that for those who have one, most do it this way. There are tons of designs out there. For an extreme example of simple, I made a refugium out of a bathroom wastebasket. I put rocks and holes in the bottom and dropped it in the sump. I directed all water into it and it flowed from the top down thru the chaeto and out the wholes in the bottom. I place a small 75 watt cf light over the top. Total cost, about 5 bucks. it actually worked really well and kept everything super contained. Note that I did it this way because I didn't have enough compartments in my 20 gal sump. it was easier to make the bucket the sump rather than gluing in partitions.

 

[Owen386]

If you want the manderin I think I ten gallon refugium would be very beneficial. I know mine is loaded with pods and I have a manderin and two wrasses!

I wouldn't worry about the reactors at this point of the game. More for when your system is loaded with sps coral.

When you gonna get this thing wet!

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

[bill120mph]

Any time you can add a refugium I recommend it, the bigger the better .. the more water the better off you are ... I personally think my calcium my calcium reactor was my best tank investment.

 

[AnthonyF]

Thanks everyone. Well I guess now it will all depend on what I have room for. Owen, the way things are going, this thing might see water by July 4th lol. Luckily everyone in my family is getting me gift certificates for my birthday next month so that will help. Unfortunately I had some unexpected bills this month so I won't be getting anything it seems until March first unless I can get some overtime at work. Oh well, just gives me time to learn and ask questions and plan more I guess.... trying to keep my head up on it no matter what and hopefully get going SOON!! Hopefully there's a Feb meeting? and I can meet some of you all then!