Refugiums

[Thunderkat]

Ok, I am in the process of fixing all the things wrong with my aquarium.

I have temperature up to 77 and I have permission to install a reverse osmosis unit in my apartment. I found a good spot to order refractometers and they even had digital read out pH monitors.

My pH dropped really fast when I started taking out mass amounts of algae and keeping the lights off so I might have to re-evaluate the algaes removal. Thats when I started looking at refugiums.

My question though is about refugiums. Are refugiums necessary or do they offer marked improvements in water quality?

I am running out of room on the back of my aquarium and don't know if I can even place a refugium on my aquarium. I have two large filters and a UV steralizer on the back of my 50 gallon aquarium.

I would love to upgrade the size of my aquarium but when I get transferred to my next duty station my 50 gallon is going to be problem enough as it is so upgrading might be a very bad idea.

[cpreefguy]

A refugium is basically a sump, so you could put it under your main tank saving you space. then throw some sand, LR rubble, and macro algae in it. Refugiums are beneficial because:
Decreased Nitrates
Decreased Phosphates (bad algae food)
If you run your refugium lights on a reverse timer it helps to stabalize your pH
Provides a "Refuge" for many amphipods and copepods

Many beneficial factors are associated with a fuge, definatly a good idea.

[Ram_Puppy]

Thunderkat,

what type of filters are you running? Is the aquarium glass or acrylic? Dan can make you one of his awesome overflows and you could put the refugium underneath your tank.

If you are running powerfilters like emperor 400's, you will want to look into upgrading to a skimmer and eventually use them only for carbon (or toss them all together.) Skimmers are more expensive than most filters up front, but you don't ever have to buy filter media for them! so they are cheaper in the long ron, not to mention, far better.

[Tim Marvin]

Although none of the equipment we use is neccessary except lights and pumps, Refugiums can do alot to stabalize a tank. If you drip kalk you won't have the PH drop and run the refugium at night. They are easy to set up and don't cost much to run.