refugium

[striper]

Hi all I'm setting up my reef tank and i want to plum my filters to my basement.I notice everyone that has this type of setup has these huge refugium.I though I could just put my wet/dry filter in my basement with a gravity feed line and a high powered return pump. what is a refugium and what does it do/do i need one for the type of setup I want

 

[daniel411]

Originally posted by striper
Hi all I'm setting up my reef tank and i want to plum my filters to my basement.I notice everyone that has this type of setup has these huge refugium.I though I could just put my wet/dry filter in my basement with a gravity feed line and a high powered return pump. what is a refugium and what does it do/do i need one for the type of setup I want
There really would be little benefit of piping your wet/dry to your basement unless you had incredible space restrictions. Most people who pipe sumps or refugiums into their basements actually do that to have additional tanks commonly much larger than their display. From which they can work out of, raish fish, have refugiums, etc.
A refugium is a separate tank/container, or area of a tank, where there is:
-a slower water turnover (around 7-10x is currently the suggested rate)
-a sand or mud substrate promoting abundant macro-algae growth. Which is pruned on a regular basis giving nutrient export for the tank.
-Generally it will flourish with life and help give a natural food source for the display tank.
Try picking up the book "Natural Reef Aquariums" in the dry goods section of this site. It goes into pretty good detail on refugiums. You may not benefit greatly from one. Why don't you tell more about your tank?
Oh, welcome to swf.com

 

[striper]

Thanks Dan for the come back.Good stuff,my tank is a 54gal conner tank I have about 70lbs of liverock some coral a red tree sponge,some green ,blue mushrooms bubble coral some fish 2 clowns a blue damsel,had a hawian green shimp but it died. I use a pc smartlight and a 18" antic light it works but I don't see any growth of my corals.I thinkIt'sjust enought to keep them alive.the only thing that seems to grow is red slime.

 

[daniel411]

Originally posted by striper
Thanks Dan for the come back.Good stuff,my tank is a 54gal conner tank I have about 70lbs of liverock some coral a red tree sponge,some green ,blue mushrooms bubble coral some fish 2 clowns a blue damsel,had a hawian green shimp but it died. I use a pc smartlight and a 18" antic light it works but I don't see any growth of my corals.I thinkIt'sjust enought to keep them alive.the only thing that seems to grow is red slime.
What is the length, wattage, and how many bulbs of your pc smartlight? Its quite likely you only have enough light to maintain your corals.
For an example of a spectacular 54g softie/lps reef search for Brooklyn Johnny's 54g.
To control your red slime outbreak you might want to look at increasing your water turn over, place powerheads to get rid of dead spots, etc. You can find more info on that by searching for a thread by JustinX on it. Hope That Helps

 

[striper]

my smart light is 30" overall but the light is 18" 50/50 I can't find how many watts it is.I did read justins thread about red slime,so now I just got a new power head with and osculating discharge and bought a new 18"15watt atinic light that I was going to set it up so it will go on after my smartlight goes off so it looks like a moonbeam.while im on the subject I was told that i may need a new ballast since the one in my striplight is just a generic one i won't getthe full spectrum?