Refugium

[DaveC]

I have some plants coming this week to start up a refugium..I have a few questions...how deep should the sand be in the refugium..and then for now the return to the main tank will go thru the sump return, or even another pump to the main tank, I was thinking to making the refugium higher so it could gravity flow into the main tank but that is really not an option...could I expect some of the critters to make it thru the pump and migrate into the main display tank??? or will they all just get chewed up by the impellor?? In going to others sites I see most have the refugiums under the stand..this will also help in keeping the light out of the main tank at night time..I might have to put my refugium outside the stand thought..will the light disturb the main tank, will it stress out any fish that I have?? or should I find a way to cover the light at night?? I got about three days to figure this out before the plants arrive so any help would be great......

Thanks
Dave C

[RWD]

Hi Dave,
My refugium has about 4" of fine sand in it so it also acts as a DSB. I suppose you can use 1" or less but you won't get the benifits of a DSB. My refugium flows into the sump where a return pump pumps the water back to the main tank. The refugium is fed by a corner overflow. The overflow is tee'd and controled with a ball valve so that I can control the flow rate into the refugium. I estimate 200-300 gal per hour into the ref. Another way to feed the ref would be to drop a small powerhead into the sump. the ph would have a hose on it and pump water into the ref. The ref would have to be connected to the sump with a bulkhead fitting or be positioned so it overflows into the sump.
As far as worrying about killing off critters going through the pump, dead critters sre still food /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif. Seriously, many will make it through fine and into the main tank. I have TONS of pods in the main tank.
For lighting you will have to figure out how to shade it from the main tank. But....As long as it's not shining directly like a spot light you should be ok. Most people have their tanks in a room with a T.V. or other lights and don't have problems with stressed out fish. Some reefers actually have small moon lights to simulate the moon.
Bob

[Chuck S]

Bob brings up a good point. Now ideally a refugium should be above the main tank to allow gravity flow without any loss of life however this is not always practical. Some live pods will make it and others are still food. Most of us can only do a refugium underneath or lower than the display tank which leaves us with using a pump to flow water back to the main tank.