power heads in the fuge

[cracker]

Originally Posted by tbittner

Someone will have to explain to me why slow flow through the fuge is the way to go. Think about it. You say so the macro has a chance to absorb the nutrients. But with faster flow, isn't it going to absorb the same amount of nutrients? Instead of taking a large portion out of 50 gallons, it takes a smaller portion out of 100 gallons. But it's still the same amount of nutrients removed from the water.

Isn't it?

And with faster flow, no powerhead is required, less heat added, less electric used, etc...

And this post really is a question and not a statement.

I agree with TB, but Prow brings up a good point. My refugium is bare bottom & have turned up the flow as well. still don't have the circulation I want .I'd like to try a bubble trap like woodstock has so water enters at the bottom. See how that changes "circulation" in the refugium .

[tbittner]

Greg, I think you're onto something there. My chaeto was turning brown with 300 gph flowing through the 100g tub. I cranked it up to 800 and the chaeto is now an awesome dark green and is growing like, well, a weed!

But I'm not sure what that does to my pod population. I've been keeping a close eye on my mandarin and so far, she is still nice and plump. I'm assuming that the increased flow didn't affect the pod reproduction based on that.

It might be worth adding another 20g tub just to raise pods, and that tank would have fairly low flow.

Oh yeah, another thing, since I increased the flow through the fuge, my nitrates haven't been above 5. I am doing a 42g water change every week though so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it too.

Cracker, the water enters my fuge through a set of pvc pipes with holes drilled in the bottom of the pipe. This pipe is about 2 feet under the water so the current through the fuge is deeper in the tub. When it hits the exit end, it bubbles up and dumps into my 100g sump.

[prow]

Originally Posted by framerguy

I believe the amount of turnover and movement you have in your refugium is dictated by the things you keep in it and what you hope to get out of it. For a basic pod farm I would think very slow water movement would be the way to go so the food (fuel for pods) brought in stays in to feed them and have them multiply. For nutrient export refugiums with various algaes the water movement (not necessarily turnover) would need to be considerably higher for the reasons many others have stated here, that bad algae grows and smothers the good algae in stagnant or slow moving water. For refugiums housing corals such as Xenia for nutrient export even higher flows may be necessary. So many people (I feel) just throw cheato or whatever (I have been guilty) in the fuge and expect it to just "work". I started this thread to hopefully get some feedback on what folks are doing or hoping to get out of their refugiums, and how I can make mine more productive. I have hermit crabs and serpent stars in mine...is this good or bad? Are they diminishing the pod production, or helping to stir the substrate, or both, or neither? My fuge goal is two fold, to support pod production for my DT animals, and for nutrient export to minimize nuisance algae in the DT. Can this be done in one fuge? I believe fuges (and multiple fuges in series)are the doorway a larger and more diverse aquarium experience. Does anyone else think so? I want to make mine work better, not just be a "water volume addition".

yeah i think so with out a dout. i think many setup the refugium, knowing or not, so it does both, produce pods and export nutrients, but does neither very efficiently. i think you got the needs of both setups.

on one of my current setups, the refugium was set up for exporting. i dont use PH but i run my chiller(900gph) on a closed loop running back through the refugium and skimmer sections. whatever pods i get is just a bounus. i use cheato for mainly exporting but it can also be used to manily cultivate pods. flow matters there, higher flow for lots growth(exporting) lower for pods(cultivating), mid for a little of both but not a lot of either.

on my new system i am setting up the refugium for mainly pod production but do want some exporting aswell. so i am splitting my overflows one going to a sump with the skimmer and the other going to the refugium(with cheato and some rubble rock) then i will have a refugium with a DSB in the middle where the cheato refugium and skimmer sump connect. from the i run two pumps one to the chiller emptying back into the skimmer sump-which will recir some of the water back through the skimmer and increase flow velocity across the DSB. by this i hope to maximize pod production in the refugium with lower flow rates (whatever cheato growth "exporting" i get is just a bouns here) and at the same time increase my exporting with the extra recirculated flow across the DSB also increasing worms, funna things. this is still a work in progress as i am still working on it but that is the basic ideas.

[Octoman]

Great thread and some really good points! I'm just getting subscribed so I can follow along.

[naperenterprise]

I have a powerhead in the fuge that powers off at night, but the light remains on during the night, so there are 8 hours with no powerhead flow. I feel this is a good solution for me, and for pod reproduction... But its really just one of my experiments in progress...

[prow]

for your pods might want to have the PH come on while lights off. thats when the pods come out. plus your macro soaks up CO2 while no lights on and produces O2 with lights on. so, flow during photoperiods helps spread the O2 while at night slower flow allows it to up take CO2. FYI at night with no photoperiod is when your macros like to grow

[naperenterprise]

cool, so I should just switch things...

Light off PH on

PH off Light on

??

[prow]

light on PH on
light off PH off

i messed up, up there you have it good.

[naperenterprise]

Ah... Thanks

Originally Posted by prow

light on PH on
light off PH off

i messed up on the first sentence up there. always thinking ahead, lol

[prow]

lol

[naperenterprise]

Do you think I have a problem when I'm working on my tank past 1 am?

Is there an RAA group in Pennsylvania??

Originally Posted by prow

lol

[corrado007]

I voted that flow is important because i believe it is but only in moderation in the fuge. I just have a T on my 1" pipe from the overflow, it goes both to the skimmer section of my sump and to my fuge. I have a valve to control the flow to the fuge so I can keep it slow moving but not soup.

[cracker]

Great thread! My chaeto grows like crazy & I see lots of pods in the refugium but I don't think they are making it to the drain. I run my light 24/7. Perhaps a lights out period will bring them out of hiding.

[tbittner]

Great idea, Jason.

[kathywithbirds]

Interesting thread. I have my fuge light on 24/7, no PH. Growth is OK. There's some HA on the top. I occasionally trim all of it and give it to the tang. Maybe I'll try lights off during the day and a teeny PH.