got ethical husbandry?

Refugium (adequate size)

L

L/B Block

Supporting Member
BARcard
So my question of the day is -what size refugium or size of a reactor do you really need to be effective. I saw some posting the other day it should be 20% of DT. Most sumps that come up with tanks are ~20% I have seen-and you certainly not going to be to utilize all of that space given areas for return pump chamber, intake, etc etc.

Right I have a small jar with some sea lettuce more to house copepods than anything else.


Just curious to those that have refugiums or reactors -what percentage water is dedicated to micro algae relative to DT.

Thanks
 
As much as you can would be my wise ass but honest answer. Really depends your goals. Nitrate reduction? More light and more algae is more reduction. How much do you need to reduce nitrate? How high is it in your tank, and how much are you regularly adding? Mostly depends on amount of fish and food
 
Coral reefer said:
As much as you can would be my wise ass but honest answer. Really depends your goals. Nitrate reduction? More light and more algae is more reduction. How much do you need to reduce nitrate? How high is it in your tank, and how much are you regularly adding? Mostly depends on amount of fish and food
Click to expand...
It’s not a wise ass answer at all. Some of the sump was removed for the roller mat-i think I can still use the partition wall but it still leaves a lot of unused space by the protein skimmer.
Also I may decide to drill holes to allow water to pass through so that the sea lettuce doesn’t block the weir and cause massive issues like the last time.

Nitrates are ok. Last checked over weekend -at 10 but back to nopox to bring back down to 5 or so and hopefully bring po4 down a bit more-last at 1.2- That’s my bigger problem and hence the question of how big you need that refugium.
 
L/B Block said:
It’s not a wise ass answer at all. Some of the sump was removed for the roller mat-i think I can still use the partition wall but it still leaves a lot of unused space by the protein skimmer.
Also I may decide to drill holes to allow water to pass through so that the sea lettuce doesn’t block the weir and cause massive issues like the last time.

Nitrates are ok. Last checked over weekend -at 10 but back to nopox to bring back down to 5 or so and hopefully bring po4 down a bit more-last at 1.2- That’s my bigger problem and hence the question of how big you need that refugium.
Click to expand...
10 is fine. Don’t go lower. Especially if you have high phosphate. I’d use gfo or something like that to lower the phosphates. Ime macro algae uses more nitrate than phosphate.
 
Coral reefer said:
10 is fine. Don’t go lower. Especially if you have high phosphate. I’d use gfo or something like that to lower the phosphates. Ime macro algae uses more nitrate than phosphate.
Click to expand...
Agreed, I never had a problem with nitrates but was constantly battling high po4 (0.3+).

One tip, if you’re able, is to have the refugium before your skimmer section. I did this to maximize as much volume as I could for the fuge. If you have the skimmer first then your fuge is limited by the water level your skimmer sits at.
 
Coral reefer said:
10 is fine. Don’t go lower. Especially if you have high phosphate. I’d use gfo or something like that to lower the phosphates. Ime macro algae uses more nitrate than phosphate.
Click to expand...
good to know about nitrate vs phosphate absorption of microalgae.

But curious-so Red Sea recommends nitrates at ~2 (using nopox) but you are recommending to keep around 10. What do you see the difference being-and yes I’ll take your advice over theirs..


GFO it might just be. Chemistry (solutions) vs biology (chaeto) always seem to work better for me..
 
Flagg37 said:
Agreed, I never had a problem with nitrates but was constantly battling high po4 (0.3+).

One tip, if you’re able, is to have the refugium before your skimmer section. I did this to maximize as much volume as I could for the fuge. If you have the skimmer first then your fuge is limited by the water level your skimmer sits at.
Click to expand...
Duly noted! Thanks for the tip
 
It kinda depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
But the long and short...as big as you can
And the larger the better
And ideally it flows directly into the DT rather than the sump
 
L/B Block said:
good to know about nitrate vs phosphate absorption of microalgae.

But curious-so Red Sea recommends nitrates at ~2 (using nopox) but you are recommending to keep around 10. What do you see the difference being-and yes I’ll take your advice over theirs..


GFO it might just be. Chemistry (solutions) vs biology (chaeto) always seem to work better for me..
Click to expand...
2 is too close to zero for comfort for me. I also see no benefit to keeping it that low. It’s not that 10-20 is “better” but it’s just fine. Certainly not too high. It’s isn’t broken, don’t try to “fix” it.
What type corals are you trying to keep mostly?
 
Coral reefer said:
2 is too close to zero for comfort for me. I also see no benefit to keeping it that low. It’s not that 10-20 is “better” but it’s just fine. Certainly not too high. It’s isn’t broken, don’t try to “fix” it.
What type corals are you trying to keep mostly?
Click to expand...
Fair enough. Mostly lps but some sps as well. I just switched over the feeding system -so without the device not dumping half the container on occasion nitrates should remain consistently lower.
they got to 30, nopox did it’s job got it to 5 and then I stopped dosing. Will stop and monitor and see if it stays around 10-15. Time to get some gfo and get those phosphates down though
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top