spectra Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Am thinking of building a little fuge to stick on the side of my sump. My questions is it worth it? I have read a few articles on fuges and some say good and others say dont bother. So am asking what people here have found out to work and not work. What I will end up building is just a small fuge about a foot wide and a foot tall and 6 inchs across to go on the back of my sump system is only probably 40 gallons total so do not need anything huge for this. Will power it with a small pump and just drain back into the sump. Probably just throw in some sand for a DSB and some rubble with a macro of some sort. So any info you can give me would be great. Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mister crabs Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Depends on what you want the fuge for. If you are just looking for a place to breed pods as a food source then yeah its a great idea. If you are looking for all the other benefits of the DSB and the macroalgae as far as water polishing and nutrient export, then you probably would need a much larger fuge to be effective. how big is your tank? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spectra Posted March 15, 2008 Author Share Posted March 15, 2008 Tank is only a 30 gallon cube with about a 10 to 15 gallon sump. Am really just looking for the pods as I do not have alot of room for a big fuge. Plus I run carbon and also a phosban reactor to so that helps. So I guess I really just would like to produce the pods for my fish to snack on and such but reall I guess just to try one and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 If all you want are the pods, then don't bother with the DSB. Pods grow best on the chaeto, and the LRR. Maybe put the LRR up on a stand made of PVC and eggcrate (light diffuser) so you can easily clean the detritus that will build up underneath. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 What do you want out of the refugium? I tend to go more fuge less equipment myself. I have a tank that is all natural and a tank that has a smaller fuge and a skimmer. The all natural one runs much better, but I did order a bigger skimmer for the other one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrgreenthumb Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 great for pods not so much for nutrient export. IME they are good to remove 5-10ppm of nitrates at most even in ideal conditions. also a good place to grow macros to feed tangs and other algae lovers. Mine started out with the idea of removing nitrates but just wasn't enough so now it has truned into another seahorse display and frag tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 I never saw a bonus to the fuge i ran for 18m on my 29gal. It was more of a detrius sink than anything. Cleaning it was harder than the tank. Also its a great way to exchange unwanted pests. Cheato from other peoples tanks can contain all sorts of organisms, both good and bad. Do you really want to QT a ball of cheato for 8 weeks? Just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spectra Posted March 20, 2008 Author Share Posted March 20, 2008 Well after adding a calcium reactor real estate is hard to find in my sump area so am going to ditch the idea and move on. Also do not need to deal with any more detrites as I have to clean the sump as it is. Thanks for the info! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missionsix66 Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 Tank is only a 30 gallon cube with about a 10 to 15 gallon sump. Am really just looking for the pods as I do not have alot of room for a big fuge. Plus I run carbon and also a phosban reactor to so that helps. So I guess I really just would like to produce the pods for my fish to snack on and such but reall I guess just to try one and see what happens. Try using a pod pile. A simple pile of larger rubble/crushed coral in sump or, DT where you can hide small pieces of food for pods to eat. This creates a small safe haven for them to cruise around without predation from fish. Depending on inverts you may have to try something that will work for you. Different placement of pile, smaller or larger rubble etc.. trying to keep snails/hermits from tearing into it. Just an idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted May 29, 2008 Share Posted May 29, 2008 Some people have used baskets, (like strawberries come in), to cover the rubble piles so predators can not get to the pods. Just typing outloud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonH Posted May 29, 2008 Share Posted May 29, 2008 i would agree with what other have posted. The problem with using the fuge for pods is that the return pump (impeller) will kill about 90% of them - at least that's what I've read. That makes the fuge largely useless for that purpose. There are hang-on-back refugiums that are gravity fed on the return that would be quite effective for that - even though they are much smaller. They are also quite expensive, unfortunately - about $100 - for what they are. Otherwise, I think the rubble pile is a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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