Fuge Tank?

[intosw]

Hi Everyone, Can Someone Explain To Me What Is A Fuge Tank? And Why Do I Need One. I Here Alot Of Talk About It But What Does It Do? Also I See In Some Pics That People Have Sand And Rocks In There Sump? W/ Lights, I Thought I Had A Pretty Good Setup But Man There Are Some Tricky Stuff Out There!

 

[turningtim]

A refugium is an added step in the denitrification process by means of export through the use of macro algea. It can be in the same tank as a sump (that you seen) or run separately and hooked into the system. Some use a DSB (Deep sand bed) which creates anaerobic zone (oxygen starved) for part of the denitrification. Added macro algea such as cheato/calarpa (sp?) will also reduce nitrates. The rock in a fuge is there for the promotion of pod reproduction (fish food).
Basically, fish create nitrate (indirectly) and the marco uses that for food, pods go unharrassed in a separate tank.
HTH
Tim

 

[intosw]

ok, so it is pretty much putting on the last coat of wax, a deffinant upgrade from the basic sump filter system? when do you reccomend a fuge I hace cycled for about 2 weeks, maybe something to think about in the future.
Thanks KJ