how many gallon refugium?

[fishman77]

if i were to make a refugium out of plexiglass or something like that how many gallons should i make it to have a good affect on my 55?the guy at the LFS told me i would need like a 55 gallon for it to have an affect but i dont believe it.would a 10 gallon be good?

 

[bang guy]

What effect are you looking for?
A 10 gallon refugium will grow a significant amount of pods.

 

[sleeri]

I use a 20 gallon recycling bin. It's filled with 15 gallons of water. Keep in mind that a 10 gal fuge should only have about 6-7 gallons (or something close to that) of water in it. You need to leave some excess capacity in case your plumbing malfunctions. This setup has worked great for me so far (7 months now). It has provided plenty of room for Macro algae growth and live rock rubble.
I really don't think your fuge needs to be the same size as your tank. That being said, a fuge that large would certainly be very effective, but probably not very economical space wise. It'd be tough to fit under a 55 gal. I guess you could plumb it in from a different location.
Make sure to keep researching this topic (as many sources as you can find). I'm guessing you'll be able to get a pretty good feel for what you need if do.

 

[sleeri]

Bang Guy is 100% correct about the pods. I've got tons of them in the 20 gal. The same would be true of the 10 I'm sure.

 

[fishman77]

well i would like it to keep water levels stable and for pods.should i get a 20 gallon?

 

[sleeri]

I think it's a good size for your 55, but the 10 would work as well. Are putting together a sump?

 

[fishman77]

no actually i have a wet/dry slash sump and i would like to incorporate the fuge to tank.if i made the 20 gallon out of plexiglass i would be able to make a hole on the side of it,put tubing running up to an overflow so the water can get in the fuge and i would have a pump in the fuge running into the sump or tank

 

[sleeri]

Sounds like a good plan. Just one thing. I would try to use only one return pump for both your sump and fuge. Mulitple pumps just means you have one more pump that could fail and create serious spill-over problems. Simply put, link the fuge & sump together if at all possible.
In my setup, I run a pvc pipe from the fuge to the sump (no pump involved) and a pump located in my sump returns the water to my tank.
There's no golden rule though. This is just a suggestion.

 

[bang guy]

A very good suggestion though.

 

[fishman77]

i would love to do that but i cant drill anything because my tank is filled with water.i was thinking about this.if i let my water level get low,then make a hole in the sump area because there would be no water there while water level low(how would i make the hole in the side of the sump?)then i would run pvc pipe to the fuge and keep my pump in my sump.....good?