refugium (set up) question

[tech1]

Howdy all. Could someone please tell me..what really is the best sump setup? I am all for adding a refugium in my sump, but is it really worth it? Or is there a better setup to use? Any info. would be super.

thanks

[Sker]

Tech, yes I think you would be very happy if you added a refugium to your sump. I don't think that there is technically a "best sump setup", it all depends on what you are trying to do. I added a refugium to my 20 gallon sump and was very happy with the results. It lowered my nitrates to almost undetectable levels, and it is providing alot of diversity to my tank in the form of plankton , amphipods etc. for my tank. In my refugium I have about a 4 inch fine dsb with 6 types of macro algae, 20 lbs of live rock, mysis/gammarus, amphipods, and micro-stars. I light the refugium with a 65 watt LOA lamp. I hope this helps you a little, I have also attached a link about refugiums...



http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/V.../refugium.html

[wastedincome420]

I also tried to do a bunch of research before considering how to set up my sump and refugium on my new 105g. I still haven't made it yet but I'll show you what my plan is.
I have seen a lot of sumps with a refugium set up in the middle of the sump and heard that they work well. But I remember hearing that its best to try and have the flow in the ref. at a slow rate,like 75-150gph, so my plan is to have the ref in a seprate container. This way I can have a much higher flow going in/out of the sump and a slow rate in the ref. with overflowing into the last sump compartment.
Not sure if any of this will help, bbut just takr your time and decide what will work best for YOU;)
Mark(wastedincome)

[tech1]

Thank you so much for the replys...Are you all using sand or some other substrate for the refugium?

thanks again

[wastedincome420]

Yes I Tech.
I plan on having 6-8" of southdown along with some Lr rubble.
Glad your gettin the info you need;)

[Sker]

Yep, I am also using southdown for my dsb...