Fuge Question?????

[reefman22]

Ok Im new to this and I'm kinda lost. A "fuge" is a refugium right? And if not what is it and also, what is a refugium? Im pretty sure they are the things that you put next to your tank to put plants and stuff in. Do you like go to the ocean and get stuff and just put it in and watch it grow? Im very confused. Any help is appreciated!!!

 

[reefman22]

bump..... anyone?

 

[speg]

Yeah fuge is short for refugium. A refugium is a safe haven for plants/fish/inverts to grow. What a basic refugium does is lets plants florish without having to worry about pesky tangs eating all the plants. What the plants do is helps remove phosphates/nitrates from your aquarium water. This is why people have refugiums connected to their fish tanks... its like a extra filter.. a biological one.. and a very effective one.
Also if you have a little shrimp or something thats getting picked on by something else you can remove it from your tank and place it in the refugium as a safe place for it to thrive.

 

[f1shman]

You use macro algae and its a place to grow pods whcih are good for you tank. Because if pods are in your display tank they'll most likely be eaten quickly. The macro algae helps decrease the nitrates and phosphates and is an extra filtration system. And depending on what type of algae you have by you, I dunno. There no ocean by me so I'd get it online or at the LFS.

 

[reefman22]

ooo ok makes sense. I want to get into marine bio and I live right by the ocean and im getting a 10 gallon and powerfilter and i am just goin to go to the ocean and get some seawater, sand, seaweed and other plants and put it in to see what grows lol I thought maybe that is what they are for but I guess not. also, me living right by the ocean, I see sea pens (mangrove seeds) all around. are they good for a reef tank? if so i can have alot haha. what size are refugiums and would i need one for my 55? also, two more, are they called refugiums, or are they just little aquariums? and how much do they run??? thanks for all the help!!!

 

[speg]

I'll try to answer those questions... the refugium is .. a refugium.. but all it REALLY is is another aquarium besides your main one...
You can have as big of a refugium as you personally would like.. Some people have them half the size of their main aquarium and im sure someone out there has one bigger than their main tank
The sea pens or mangrove tubes are excellent for your refugium. They'll grow tall however and if you have a top on your refugium they may grow too big for it. I am sure you can trim them back though.
As far as how much do they run.. were you talking about how much money are they or how long should you keep the lights on ... or what? If you're asking how much money they are.. that again is up to you.. depending on how big you want it and what kinda plants you want in it and if you wanna place a couple pieces of rock etc... As far as the lighting question i've heard people keep theirs on 24/7 to keep the plants from growing as much. Apparently plants do most of their growing at night.

 

[reefman22]

Ok this is what Im thinking. Getting a 10 gallon AGA. Gettin sand from the beach and water from the ocean. And getting seaweed and stuff and seeing what hitch hikers I can find and keep and grow them. Also use it as a quarantine tank. So pretty much I just want to have another aquarium and put sand and water from the beach and watch little critters grow and stuff. Im pretty sure thats not a refugium but thats what Im gonna do. As a refugium I found a good idea an another thread and you just take a filter and take out the cartriges and stuff and jsut run that and flow water.... its a pretty good idea. So that whats I am going to do. Any thoughts?

 

[shoimen]

Not to crash the party...
but everything that I have read says taking anything directly from the ocean/beach is bad news, as there can be a lot of toxins and pollutants.
Unless you are in an extremely clean area, I would not suggest doing this.