unconventional refugium question

[Beach Girl]

So my husband has drawn the line on me setting up a fuge near my DT. I currently have a 29 nano as my display. I am planning on getting seahorses and I already have a few corals. Because I can't put a fuge in the house I am considering putting it in the garage and making it completely separate, it will also be 29 gal. I am also considering using live sand from the ocean and putting it in my fuge as my husband is unhappy about the extra expenses for setting up a fuge and a happy marriage makes for happy reefkeeping.
I currently use half ocean water and half homemade water in my main tank. The water quality is excellent. I am thinking about using just ocean water for the fuge tank and wondering what people think. I live very close to the water and my son has a blast "helping" me fill my buckets. I would love comments on this. I feel that a fuge that is also 29 gal will be easier to grow pods, brine shrimp and the like. I plan on still doing major water changes in my big tank and refilling it with some water from my fuge tank (probably less then half) and then topping off the fuge with fresh water. Of course I will be testing constantly and I do already so really Am, trates and trites are not my main concern. Tell me what you think.

thanks
beach girl

 

[DaveK]

A refugium is plumbed into and is part of the main system. While it is possible to plumb one remotely, it's usually a lot of trouble, so it's typically only done for larger systems.

You don't mention where you collect your water but, with a few exceptions, water collected along the coast is of poor quality. It really should be collected far offshore.

If you are going to collect it, I recommend you filter it first, and then store it in sealed containers for 8 weeks before use. This will allow most of the parasites to die.

The same applies to live sand you collect. You don't know what your getting, and you can also introduce diseases.

For the sand, I'd just use aragonite sand from you LFS. In time it will become alive with all sorts of things.

 

[florida reef]

@DaveK: Some good advice.

 

[rgfast]

+1 Dave I did know that was colecting local water for his tank he would add two tesp. of beach and let it sit for two weeks before he used it

 

[Rhodes19]

+1 to what DaveK said. If you want a fuge, you can get a hang on the back (hob) sump/fuge that you can put on your tank. That will provide a little more water volume and a place fore macro algae and pod production.

Oh, and :welcomera to RS.