how to set up a refugium

[seado]

I have a 120 gallon tank with 5-6" SD sand bed, 150# live rock, skimmer but no sump. Have been considering adding a refugium but don't know what to use given my setup. Any ideas? Thanks

[skipm]

There are a few options for setting up a refugium. You could add a sump with a refugium section, you could add a hang on refugium, you could add an above the tank model where you pump water up to the refugium and then gravity feed back to the main tank, or the one that I think you might be the most interested in is an in-tank refugium. A refugium is simply a place where pods and macros can grow and multiply without predation, one way that you can accomplish this is by adding an area to your tank where the predators cannot access. You can make a simple box refugium out of eggcrate material held together with cable ties and place it in the rockwork so that it gets some current and light. Pods can grow and multiply in this safe area and macro algaes can grow without the risk of being wiped out by herbivores, the macros can be eaten by fish such as tangs and angels when it grows out of the box but you will always have a parent colony that they can't get to so it will continue to grow. Some of the advantages of this type of refugium are that it is very inexpensive, has no pumps to use electricity or eat up planktonic life, is simple to construct requiring no special building skills, and is almost maintenance free. I hope this is helpful, Skip

[SPasse]

Seado,

My current system uses a DSB in the main tank and a mud bed/refugium sump.

I have pictures and CAD drawings of my setup on my WEB site.

Regards,

Scott Passe