Mandinga Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 Has anyone successfully tried using a refugium inside a nano tank, or sumpless system? I see all kinds of beginning aquarists getting a nano cube, which 9/10 times is sumpless and refugiumless... I have seen the strapon refugiums, but they seem clunky, and need their own illumination. I have tried unsuccessfully to harvest an in tank refugium, but as of yet, nothing seems to work the way i intend it to. My next experiment will involve a mini cube within the cube setup...I'd like to make a tiny, 4" x 4" cube refugium with holes drilled for flow and aeration...this will also, in theory, add a safe haven for little inverts to grow and live....along with the macro algae that is so beneficial to our tanks. Anyone else tried this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeFit Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 i also failed to grow macro in a biocube. it would die back before i could get to it or harvest it right and ended up causing more problems than benefit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyInside Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 In my nano I have a shower soap holder that has suction cups. Then I drilled holes on each end and put it on the wall in front of the return pump in the tank. Then I just have some liverock rubble with cheato in there. Grows like crazy with the mh that is over the tank and plenty of pods all over the wall for my scooter bleeny. This is a pic when I first set up the nano but you can see what I did... dunno if that is what you are looking for. You can see i have the return split so it goes through that and across the rocks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 I have thought about putting a sump in the biocube Isaac but then it seemed the corals were doing fine so didn't think it was worth the trouble. The strapon idea is kinda cute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted December 6, 2010 Author Share Posted December 6, 2010 crazyinside, thats similar to what I was thinking...it's just a bit unsightly. What I had in mind was something that is made like the tank...acrylic, cut and glued to a specific size...also, the outside walls could be black acrylic and it could sit low down in the tank, just the top piece should be clear to promote photosynthetic growth. Kim, i agree with ya, a sump imo is oftentimes not worth the trouble, but inevitably phosphates and nitrates will need to be precipitated out of the little tank too. Of course water changes are essential, but macroalgae's ability to do this(not to mention using excess co2) has proven quite successful...and, is a great place to harvest food, otherwise unharvestable in a nano... think a nano refugium of sorts...unlike a sump, it would be essentially be maintenance free(besides pruning), and plumbing free. if done correctly it could also be completely hidden, or double as a frag rack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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