refugium or no refugium?

[ThomastheTexan]

I have successfully ran my tank for quite sometime without a refugium and have never had a problem but i continuously hear people say that they maintain their tanks thanks to a refugium what do yall think

 

[BigAl07]

I'd be 2 faced if I said anything but I LOVE my fuge! I ran my Frag Tank fuge-less for a few months until I "Saw the light" and added a fuge.

They aren't required but they do add water volume and a whole new COOL dimension to your system.

 

[ThomastheTexan]

i keep my nitrates less than .5 and i do a water change twice a month

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

They're useful for very demanding corals because they can help keep the nitrates firmly at 0. Of course, if you only have softies or have no trouble keeping your nitrates down, I suppose you don't really need one per say.

 

[ThomastheTexan]

my tank consist of acros acros acros monti and oh yea acros i have a large green acro, purple tip, blue tip, 2 orange caps etc.

 

[reefracer]

I'm with Al on the cool, mine contains some mud, sand, snails, rubble,pods,cheato, and a pistol shrimp.

 

[LittleJester]

More water more stability. Easier to make water changes as well, you can take the water from the fuge as well as putting your new water into it. You can also move your heater into the fuge. Just a few more thoughts on why I use one.

 

[rmlevasseur]

I'm really on the fence on this one. For almost a year I had a fuge with decent sand bed, snails, rubble, and cheato.

When I added my new sump a few months ago, I took out the whole sandbed, and just left it bare bottom with a few LR pieces and a floating ball of chaeto.

So far, I have not been able too see any lack of benefit. The full-blow fuge was a detritus trap, and due to the low flow I never wanted to disturb the sand bed. I'm not really sure however whether pod production has been affected or not. Both my mandarins still seem fat and happy.

At the present time I have no intention off adding the sand back or adding a cuc back to it. I feel my system may be cleaner w/o another place for trapped detritus. The cheato seems to be enough, at least for my system.

 

[ThomastheTexan]

i am gonna start a refugium like a 20 gallon

 

[Tim Patterson]

Hi Robert,
What is a cheato?
Tim

 

[BigAl07]

Chaeto - MacroAlgae used in some Fuges for "Nutrient Uptake".