Show me your refugiums

This is my experimental 5.5 gallon Refugium. I want to see for myself if I could lower my nitrate by using macro algae ( chaetomorpha ) as a nutrient export.
So far the chaeto algae has double in size and nitrate are still between 20-100 ppm. It's only been two weeks up and running. Still not sure it's doing any good.

Size starting: around the size of a baseball.
Size now: a small basketball.

Any body else ?

 

Ah that's looking cool! I'm thinking of building one but I don't know mucha bout them at the moment - got a lot of reading to do! I have a little 15 gallon tank I can use. I want to put the heater and cheato and cualpera in the fuge because they look a bit messy and keep growing on the rock! I also want to put that Miracle Mud in and obviously some more rock to help filtration.

Do you know if I would have to keep my fluval 404 filter running if I had a fuge? And what kind of lighting do I need to keep on it?
Ooh and another thing: Could I put my aquac remora in the fuge or should that stay in the tank?
Thanks!
ursula

 

ursula,
Thanks for the reply ! I think the 15 gal. would be perfect for your tank. From what I've read, cheato is the easiest to grow and keep. I wouldn't mix them.

I pertty sure you can ditch the fluval at any time. I would replace it with something like a PhosBan Reactor to run carbon. That's my next project.
Just remember to have enough live rock. Also skimmer should alway be in a sump (or tank), not in the refugium. This defeats the benefits from the nutrient export. Build a three compartment sump/refugium/return with the 15 gal. you have.

Hope this helps.

 

Looks nice, it's under the tank I"m assuming. Overall looks good, what size tank is it under? I'm working on a HOB one with an aquaclear, will take pics later if your interested.

Is that a hob filter on your fuge? It looks like you have some sort of filter media bag on it, I've read that keeping those in for more than three to four days, maybe that's your problem.

 

Thanks -
Yes it's under my 60 gal. tank.
I think the HOB refugiums are great for raising pods. I wanted it under the tank for easy access.
Post your pictures when you get a chance of your aquaclear/refugium. That's why I started this thread. ;D

And yes that's a whisper 20 you see in the picture. I was running it without a sump sock, and all the debris was ending up the refugium !
Now I just clean out the filter cartridge every couple of day.

I was looking at my tank calender and noticed it actually been up and running for almost a month. Nitrates still not zero ... Also cut back on the feedings.
Increased the water changes to 20% ... Still 20-100ppm ... >

Any clues .. anybody ?

 

I see if I can take some tonight. It's nothing much right now since I'm having a hard time finding small enough LR to put in it and no stores have any cheato or other marine plants.

Try replacing your filter floss in your whisper filter, supposedly nitrates get trapped in. Unless you are doing that, but I got the impression you are only rinsing it.

 

I had the same problem with the LFS in my area too. Thankfully there's E-Bay .. !

Also, I changed my whisper filter last night. The problem I'm pretty sure is with the Eheim wet/Dry filter I have ... Will remove the Eheim as soon as I
have a new sump/refugium built. Getting quote today !

 

Well since I'm still in high school I can't use ebay since my parents don't like giving personal info out on the internet and they have to order it for me. One store bit father away has small pieces but I can't get there that often so until then I only have two small pieces.

Ya I've read that wet/dry filters aren't very good for marine tanks.

1. on tank
2. with filter floss (use only temporarily)
3. without filter floss
4. LR
5. with l.e.d. light (going to get a white one later)

 

That's a great DIY HOB. Personally I think it will work very well. The flow has to be low in a refugium to get any benefit.
Is this on your 5.5 gallon ? Also, how many week has it been setup ?

 

a fuge is next on my list of projects... I like the idea of raising live foods that won't pollute the water like some fish foods.

agansoo - have you tested your tap water for nitrates?

 

Yes I have ... They are very high ... I have to use bottle water or RO/DI water a nearby LFS sells. I did replace half the filter media in the Eheim 2227 filter last night. Hoping that and the growing chaeto helps soon. Chaeto is like a weed, keeps growing and I don't think you can kill it. LOL

 

That's a great DIY HOB. Personally I think it will work very well. The flow has to be low in a refugium to get any benefit.
Is this on your 5.5 gallon ? Also, how many week has it been setup ?

Ya it's on the 5.5gallon and has been setup for 10days now, I think the l.e.d. light should be enough, the tanks in my room so I can't really use anything else though I'm eyeing a 5w clip on light, just need to figure out a way to build a cover for it so it doesn't keep me up. I have a journal for my tank.

Yes I have ... They are very high ... I have to use bottle water or RO/DI water a nearby LFS sells. I did replace half the filter media in the Eheim 2227 filter last night. Hoping that and the growing chaeto helps soon. Chaeto is like a weed, keeps growing and I don't think you can kill it. LOL

Isn't it best to use RO/distilled water anyways to keep algae down since it's pure water? I buy distilled water in boxes at Giant Eagle, it's the cheapest anywehre, beats wal-mart

Just wondering Mike how many and what type of tanks do you have?

 

Thanks for the advice with the fuge - I've just realised a fuge and sump are different! So when you say build a fuge/sump/return all in one can you please explain what eaach section does and must it be in a certain order etc?
I won't ditch the fluval just yet because I haven't got enough live rock. I started looking for rubble the last few days but nobody sells it! I wanted to put it in my fluval. Does this mean I have to go buy some live rock and smash it? :-\

 

ATM - currently running these:

55 gallon saltwater tank - slowly transitioning this one to a reef tank
10 gallon qt
55 gallon freshwater
30 gallon freshwater
two 6 gallon freshwater tanks (kids rooms)

running out of space in the house, but still saving up for a 180 gallon reef tank.

 

Miss Mouse,
First I must first state, a sump is not necessary. I have seen some beautiful reef aquariums that didn't have a sump. They just make the tank easier to maintain. Sumps get all you equipment out of the display tank. Which makes it look a little better. People build sumps with refugiums in them now. The old way was to have a sump with bio-balls in them. This was their bio-filtration. Now a days we have live rock for this. So the sump is now used to place your protein skimmer (your aqua c HOB skimmer works good there also) and a refugium section, if you have the room under you cabinet. The section order is determain by the direction of water flow you desire.
Protein skimmer / refugium / return section, or my favorite is protein skimmer / return / refugium section. Fuge should always be after your protein skimmer ! Else you will skI'm out all the good stuff the refugium does. Hope this helped.

As for your fluval filter ... I think you should always run this. If you have the space. This is great for running carbon. It takes the yellow color and smell out
of the water. I wouldn't place live rock rubble in the fluval. Get more live rock for the tank. But leave room for the fish ... LOL

 

Thanks Mike

Miss Mouse you could alwasys buy some small pieces of LR and put it in your fluval.

 

Thanks for the help guys!Sorry I'm so dI'm when it comes to this kind of thing :-[
I want the equipment out of sight because there's so much "stuff" in there and I really would rather have it underneath so I don't have to look at all this black plastic stuff with pipes etc
So I need a sump to house my skimmer - will the UV steriliser go on there as well? And then the fuge will also go in there with the cheato.
And the live rock stays in the tank! I will keep the fluval because it's good for the carbon as well as the rubbish that floats around the tank.
The other question was what kind of lighting will I need on the sump? I have a little 9 watt compact - will that do or will I need more?

Thanks again guys!

 

I think the light should do, just run it on the opposite scedule as your main tank, so it should be on at night. That's all I can help :-\

 

Thanks

 

Here in the States we try to use a 16 watt/75 watt CF flood light with a color rating of 5100K. Though they are hard to find.

 

yeah I've seen some people using flood lights but don't they put out a LOAD of heat? Dont wanna have to get a chiller.

 

Very little heat at all . Just warm to the touch. It's a spiral compact fluorescent bulb in a flood light fixture.
The K rating (kelvin) is the color rating of the bulb. 5250K is the color of sunlight. Where the standard incandescent
color rating in @ 2600K.
The bulbs are 16 watts that's as bright as 75 watts. 8)

 

Ooh this is getting complicated! I really had no idea about that - so my yellow fluorescent bulb is 25 watts but it's 5500 K. Is that good? I'm sure I must have done all this at school but I really don't remember ??? I think I was too busy dreaming of being being a famous explorer and physics just wasn't important enough hehe.

 

Thanks Mike

Miss Mouse you could alwasys buy some small pieces of LR and put it in your fluval.

Ok so yesterday we had a minor issue - my fluval finally packed up! I cleaned it out but I think it has just had enough. Checked the fuse, checked the impellor - nothing!

So I went to the lfs and he said don't bother getting a new filter. He said that the protein skimmer and live rock should be doing the job anyway and the powerhead has a little filter on it so that will be enough. I now have about 20 kilos of rock and a thick layer of live sand as well as the cheato and cualpera.

What do you think?? It seems very alien to me not having a filter!! :-\

 

Yes ... That's enough, though I would put in a extra 5 kilo's of live rock latter on. My LFS has a 40 gallon display tank that has about
45-50 kilo's and a protein skimmer. No live sand (bare bottom) ! And it looks great. It's not hook up to his store system either.
He says just don't over feed the fish, no matter how hungry they look at you.
Also later get a PhosBan Reactor + a very small power head, and run carbon in it. Or get a Aquaclear 70 power filter and just run carbon in it.
I personal took my power filter off my aquarium a few days ago. Soon I'm taking my Wet/Dry (Eheim 2227) off too. I have 32 kilo's in
my 60 gallon.

 

Fantastic - thanks for the advice! I have ordered another powerhead that aslo has a carbon filter on it because I need it on the otherside of the tank for beter flow and ill add more rock in 2 weeks when I get paid. Fish look fine, I'm pretty good on keeping them slightly hungry and the hermits pick up and excess food anyway so should be ok!
Thanks again

 

What's the advantage of running carbon?

 

Running carbon actively results in water clarity. Also if your soft corals are slumping over, carbon may remove some of the chemicals corals exude in chemical warfare. They should perk right back in within a few days. For me, I run it for water clarity and to remove smell. Many say running it 24/7
will promote higher nitrates. Since it stops acting as a chemical filter, and starts acting as a biological filter. From not keeping it changed !

 

hmm. ok maybe I'll try running it for a few days to see if my water clarity improves.