kindaobsessed
Member
i'm nearly ready to change out from a fw to sw fowlr tank. was wondering what a refugium is used for? it isn't a quarantine tank is it? thanks in advance...
what is a refugium used for?
- Thread starter kindaobsessed
- Start date
stacyt
Active Member
A refugium serves a couple of purposes. You can use it to grow macro algae, and copepods. The macro algae will help control nitrates, and algae. Copepods are a food source for many fish. Normally if you have any fish that eat copepods in a smaller tank they will wipe out the copepod population in time.
pbuck
Member
The definition of a refugium is "an area of unaltered climate usually inhabited by plants and animals". Which means you can keep what ever you want to in the refugium. I like to keep macro algae and have a place to put injured or new frags in where I know they will be safe. Like anyone else says it is a place to grow pods and take care of nitrates by harvesting macroalgae.
J
jenmca
Guest
But where is it? Attached to the tank? How do you set one up?
stacyt
Active Member
A refugium can be placed wherever you have the space. Most say that placing the fuge above the tank and letting it gravity feed water back down to the display is the best setup. You use a pump to pump water from the main tank up the the fuge, then it overflows back to the main tank. Another way of setting it up is below the tank. With this setup you use an overflow box that hangs on the back of the tank to drain water from the main tank down to the fuge. Then you have a pump that takes the water from the fuge and pushes it back into the main tank.
A
alti
Guest
some people do use the sump as a refuge, but IMO its not the right place for it. you need to have a slow flow rate to allow the macro algea to absorb the excess nutrients. a sump should have a flow rate anywhere between 8 and 15 times the TANK volume per hour. the refuge should have 3-5 times the REFUGE volume per hour. you do the math.