power heads in the fuge

[framerguy]

I was just wondering how many of you have powerheads in your fuge. I like a good dwell time in the fuge but think flow is also important. I have two powerheads in mine. What do you do?

[DaveK]

In a typical refugium you want to have somewhat slow water flow, to give the bacteria, macro algae, and such time to process the water.

So adding a powerhead can be counter productive. If you are going to do it, make sure you have a good reason to do so, and test your water to make sure it's working. An ORP meter works well for this.

[tbittner]

Excellent question, Greg. I can control the flow through my fuge tub and the skimmer tub is built to handle ALL the flow if that is what I want. Well, there IS such a thing as too little flow, as I found out. My chaeto started to turn brown. I cranked the flow up and the chaeto is growing nicely and is a very nice dark green now.

[framerguy]

I found there was so little movement in my fuge that the Caulerpa prolifera was growing algae on it's fronds. With two small powerheads at either end the fronds sway to and fro and don't grow as much gunk on them. I've still only got about 250gph through the 55g fuge but with movement now it's doing much better. Just wondering what everyone else did.

[prow]

Originally Posted by DaveK

In a typical refugium you want to have somewhat slow water flow, to give the bacteria, macro algae, and such time to process the water.

not slower flow, per say. you want to reduce the volume of water flowing through the refugium, ture. a smaller return pump(decreasing the turnover rate) will give you that. but using a PH only adds velocity and turbulence, which some macros like cheato, like the reduced turnover rate is to increase contact time of the nutrients in teh water column with your macros and skimmer. adding a PH to the fuge does not take away from this time. it actually keeps the nutrients in the water column within the refugium increasing contact. it also allows macros to tumble and move around increasing light exposure futher aiding in growth. not to mention increasing gas exchange.

So adding a powerhead can be counter productive. If you are going to do it, make sure you have a good reason to do so, and test your water to make sure it's working. An ORP meter works well for this.

i have to disagree. the only down sides are extra heat production, what power gets used, a outlet gets used and if you are cultivating pods, they might get blow around if the velocity is too much and reduce pod production.

[BigAl07]

Interesting thread! I'm tagging along

[zy112]

All the flow I have is the water being pumped in then back into the tank. works for me

[klm2500hd]

small powerhead, mj400, to break up the surface, and to add a little flow. my algae grows hair algae on it without the powerhead.

[CMG]

I think its neat to see a poll thats split evenly between each of the votes. Right now its prettmy much 1/3 for each. Havent seen that yet since I have been on here!

[bluespotjawfish]

I get cyano in the fuge if I don't use a PH.

[Snelly40]

i have a maxijet 400 or 900, cant tell anymore with all the coraline on it, in my fuge to keep the water turning over. I think it is important. even with flow through the sump/fuge you want good surface movement and water movement. Cheato likes to be blown around

[DrHank]

Here's a compromise that works. A spray bar! Run your powerhead in the sump through some tubing to a spraybar in the fuge. You'll get the circulation you want without an impeller in the fuge.

[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.

[prow]

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.

no, mainly because of surface skimming from your overflow. the high current in the main tank keeps nasties in the water colum and organics accumulate at the water surface, these get sucked down to the sump, via overflow surface skimming. keeping this water in the refugium longer allows the algae more contact time with this concentrated nutrient rich water. more food in the sump for algae to eat up, faster rates lead to more mixed waters and dilutes whats in the sump so not as much is being removed out of the system in a given time.

[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".