refugium
- Thread starter kmart93
- Start date
northwest rick
New Member
What is your main purpose for using a refugium?
me-n-my-fish
Member
YGM
I will work on the pics when I get to the house.
I will work on the pics when I get to the house.
northwest rick
New Member
Kmart,
If reducing nitrates is your goal then you should look into a plenum. It's cheap, takes up no space and it will reduce nitrates at least as well if not better than a refugium.
For reef tanks, plenums additional benefits such as adding calcium to the water and providing additional buffering.
If your tank is already up and running then it would be a pain to install one.
Rick
If reducing nitrates is your goal then you should look into a plenum. It's cheap, takes up no space and it will reduce nitrates at least as well if not better than a refugium.
For reef tanks, plenums additional benefits such as adding calcium to the water and providing additional buffering.
If your tank is already up and running then it would be a pain to install one.
Rick
broomer5
Active Member
kmart,
To address your question, yes you can put a refugium under your 55 gallon tank.
Naturally you'll need a container of some sort, be it a glass or acrylic tank, or a Rubbermaid type of plastic box. In most every case, just like our tanks .... the bigger the better.
If the 55 is already set up, fitting some glass tanks under the stand is difficult. Just not a lot of room under there if ya know what I mean.
Some people will use the Rubbermaid containers in this case, because they come in large variety of sizes and shapes, are sort of flexible, and can be bent a little bit to fit them in easier.
You'll need a way to hook the refugium into your display tank's water system. A very common way to do this is to buy an external hang on the back overflow. This thing sits on the back of the 55 and allows your tankwater to fall down to the refugium. The amout of water that falls down to the refugium is determined by the next thing you'll need ... that's a return pump.
The return pump sits in an area of the refugium, that must be isolated from the sand/caulerpa so it doesn't suck up sand and debris.
This pump pushes the water back up to the tank through either a hose, tube or pipe.
What goes up - must come down. If you pump up 100 gph - then the overflow must be able to handle that 100 gph. Too big a return pump, and you'll overflow the tank. You gotta match the pump and overflow so they work right together.
Stuff you'll need:
Refugium container
Overflow
Return pump/powerhead
Method to isolate the pump
Hoses/Fittings/Tubing
Light source
Substrate ( DSB )
Live Rock
Caulerpa
There are other ways as well ... but this is about the most foolproof method in my opinion.
If you want to get into the specifics - just say so. Lot's of people on here have set up refugiums and would be glad to answer any other additional questions.
This is just a very brief reply.
See ya
To address your question, yes you can put a refugium under your 55 gallon tank.
Naturally you'll need a container of some sort, be it a glass or acrylic tank, or a Rubbermaid type of plastic box. In most every case, just like our tanks .... the bigger the better.
If the 55 is already set up, fitting some glass tanks under the stand is difficult. Just not a lot of room under there if ya know what I mean.
Some people will use the Rubbermaid containers in this case, because they come in large variety of sizes and shapes, are sort of flexible, and can be bent a little bit to fit them in easier.
You'll need a way to hook the refugium into your display tank's water system. A very common way to do this is to buy an external hang on the back overflow. This thing sits on the back of the 55 and allows your tankwater to fall down to the refugium. The amout of water that falls down to the refugium is determined by the next thing you'll need ... that's a return pump.
The return pump sits in an area of the refugium, that must be isolated from the sand/caulerpa so it doesn't suck up sand and debris.
This pump pushes the water back up to the tank through either a hose, tube or pipe.
What goes up - must come down. If you pump up 100 gph - then the overflow must be able to handle that 100 gph. Too big a return pump, and you'll overflow the tank. You gotta match the pump and overflow so they work right together.
Stuff you'll need:
Refugium container
Overflow
Return pump/powerhead
Method to isolate the pump
Hoses/Fittings/Tubing
Light source
Substrate ( DSB )
Live Rock
Caulerpa
There are other ways as well ... but this is about the most foolproof method in my opinion.
If you want to get into the specifics - just say so. Lot's of people on here have set up refugiums and would be glad to answer any other additional questions.
This is just a very brief reply.
See ya
kmart93
Member
Hey, Thanx. I'm getting ready to move so i thought this would be a good time to do some changes. What is the plenum that another person posted about? I heard some about them but i don't know much.
also, i guess i would use plexi to seperate the macros and the return pump. Some ppl have a third section for the water to go and then overflow into the macro section. Which is better and easier?
also, i guess i would use plexi to seperate the macros and the return pump. Some ppl have a third section for the water to go and then overflow into the macro section. Which is better and easier?
northwest rick
New Member
A plenum system is a deep sand bed (DSB) (3-4 inches deep) on top of an undergravel filter (plenum) that has been capped off, not allowing water to enter through the lift tubes.
This creates a dead water space underneath the sand. It is much safer than a DSB without a plenum because there is less chance of anaerobic bacteria growth, which will crash your tank.
In both a DSB and a DSB with a plenum, oxygen diffuses down through the aragonite sand providing oxygen to the low oxygen bacteria which process solid waste and remove nitrates. Since a plenum DSB system has a mass of low oxygenated water below the plenum, oxygen diffusion is greater than a DSB system without a plenum and therefore safer.
If you have too much of your LR covering the top of your sand bed then you reduce oxygen diffusion and raise the chance of anaerobic bacteria, sulfur and death. This is why some people have moved away from DSBs. This is far less likely when using a plenum with your LSB.
If your PH drops too low the aragonite sand dissolves providing an excellent buffer, also adding calcium to the water.
It is important to start out with relatively clean water under your plenum. If you have been using an under gravel filter for several months or years, then you probably have accumulated a lot of solid waste in the water under your under gravel filter. Shutting it down and capping it would probably cause your tank to crash.
Plenums have been around for about 8 years but have been underutilized by aquarists largely due to equipment vendors and pet stores not pushing them because they are very inexpensive and when using a DSB with a plenum, you don't need wet/dry filters, sumps, refugiums, UV sterilizers and other expensive equipment that make more money for vendors and pet stores.
Its best to use a plenum DSB system with live rock, a protein skimmer or both.
Having said all this, it is true that there are many roads that lead to successful filtration.
This is my road, mainly because I believe this hobby will grow rapidly if systems are simple and less expensive.
Proof that plenums work well is evident by the fact that you won't find many people (including many on this forum) that have used them saying that they don’t work.
For more on plenums see: <a href="http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/livesandsetup/" target="_blank">http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/livesandsetup/</a>
I know of one vendor that sells inexpensive plenums. Contact me for more info…
Hope this helps,
Rick
mcsac@msn.com
This creates a dead water space underneath the sand. It is much safer than a DSB without a plenum because there is less chance of anaerobic bacteria growth, which will crash your tank.
In both a DSB and a DSB with a plenum, oxygen diffuses down through the aragonite sand providing oxygen to the low oxygen bacteria which process solid waste and remove nitrates. Since a plenum DSB system has a mass of low oxygenated water below the plenum, oxygen diffusion is greater than a DSB system without a plenum and therefore safer.
If you have too much of your LR covering the top of your sand bed then you reduce oxygen diffusion and raise the chance of anaerobic bacteria, sulfur and death. This is why some people have moved away from DSBs. This is far less likely when using a plenum with your LSB.
If your PH drops too low the aragonite sand dissolves providing an excellent buffer, also adding calcium to the water.
It is important to start out with relatively clean water under your plenum. If you have been using an under gravel filter for several months or years, then you probably have accumulated a lot of solid waste in the water under your under gravel filter. Shutting it down and capping it would probably cause your tank to crash.
Plenums have been around for about 8 years but have been underutilized by aquarists largely due to equipment vendors and pet stores not pushing them because they are very inexpensive and when using a DSB with a plenum, you don't need wet/dry filters, sumps, refugiums, UV sterilizers and other expensive equipment that make more money for vendors and pet stores.
Its best to use a plenum DSB system with live rock, a protein skimmer or both.
Having said all this, it is true that there are many roads that lead to successful filtration.
This is my road, mainly because I believe this hobby will grow rapidly if systems are simple and less expensive.
Proof that plenums work well is evident by the fact that you won't find many people (including many on this forum) that have used them saying that they don’t work.
For more on plenums see: <a href="http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/livesandsetup/" target="_blank">http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/livesandsetup/</a>
I know of one vendor that sells inexpensive plenums. Contact me for more info…
Hope this helps,
Rick
mcsac@msn.com