algae filter

[Sergio Henrique]

hi everbody,

it'is me again new in the forum and making a lot of questions heheheheheeheh.

I'm think about to built a refugium in my tank with macro algae, to control the algae and nitrate and phosphate in my tank.

do You think is a good idea ?

How can I do this refugium and waht size for my 75 gal ?

Can I use with bioballs ? because I use bioballs as filtration.

thanks


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My tank :

http://inforeef.plugin.com.br/album_picm.php?pic_id=784

[Reefland]

You can add a 10 gallon or larger refugium to your tank to hold various macro algaes for nutrient export, it's an excellent idea! The key is to make sure you are constantly prunning the macro algae to ensure you are actually exporting nutrients.

Can you use this with bio-balls? Sure you can but it is surely counter productive. You best bet would be to set up the refugium with the algae and after a good 3-4 week start on it, slowly start removing the bio-balls from your wet/dry.

[Samper]

Don't use Bio Balls. They are outdated IMO. All they do is build up and release gunk into your tank that you don't want. As for the fuge.........it's always a good idea. The best way is to have it sat above your main and to have a gravity feed out the side down into the display. This way benefecial creatures can easily flow down without getting hurt. My 75g that I'm planning has a 20 gallon fuge but really the more water you can get in a system the better. It's all about your budget and the room you have to work with. Research your algaes to put in them. Some don't require much maintenance and some do. Some grow faster but the more biodiversity you can have the better. Also look into mangroves if you want.

[Sergio Henrique]

thanks


but if I take off my bioballs, where I'm gonna keep the beneficial bacterias, because I don't have live rocks, just the bioballs is my biological filter.

thanks

[Samper]

You can do a dsb in your fuge.

[Sergio Henrique]

hi Samper,


sorry but what is dsb ?

thanks

[Reefland]

DSB = Deep Sand Bed.

That's right, I forgot that you had no liverock. In this case, you are best off leaving the bio-media and adding a refugium with macro algaes for nutrient export. Your not going to reduce your nitrate levels totally but it will be beneficial.

[Sueet]

Just a question here..... Yes I agree technically he has no live rock, but ... having been in the system for some time, and with bioballs too, wouldn't the rock/coral skeletons he has in the tank have built up some sort of bacterial life base by now? Maybe it's not 'live' in the sense of creatures, etc. but for filtration wouldn't it be *some* help at least?