Planning a tank and have a few questions

[Anonymous]

I'm with Chris in ditching refugiums on most tanks. If you are trying to keep seahorses/pipefish/anthias/mandarins and are doing it for extra food production, awesome.

My feeling is that there are plenty of "refugiums" in a tank of live rock anyhow, if we define a "refugium" as a place where micro-crustaceans are free from predation of fish. Inside small caves in live rock, in between sand grains in sandbeds, patches of microalgae, in the crevices created by coral colonies, etc.

Practically speaking, I like to have all my support equipment and sump fit within the boundaries of the tank. This makes a refugium a waste of very valuable real estate that could be used for better water motion, more efficient skimming, a calcium reactor, etc., IMhO. I know, I know, Fenner and Calfo disagree with me. I just wonder how many tanks they've set up in a living room versus in a warehouse/greenhouse. If space is not a premium, go for it.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm with Chris in ditching refugiums on most tanks. If you are trying to keep seahorses/pipefish/anthias/mandarins and are doing it for extra food production, awesome.

My feeling is that there are plenty of "refugiums" in a tank of live rock anyhow, if we define a "refugium" as a place where micro-crustaceans are free from predation of fish. Inside small caves in live rock, in between sand grains in sandbeds, patches of microalgae, in the crevices created by coral colonies, etc.

Practically speaking, I like to have all my support equipment and sump fit within the boundaries of the tank. This makes a refugium a waste of very valuable real estate, IMhO. I know, I know, Fenner and Calfo disagree with me. I just wonder how many tanks they've set up in a living room versus in a warehouse/greenhouse.

+1

It seems in reality, most people use 'fuges for growing macro's not for pod production. If macro's are something you really want to grow, you can easily build a chamber in the sump.

 

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't putting macros in a sump chamber effectively make it a refugium? I have always thought the real definition of a refugium is that it acts as a sort of "refuge" for those small creatures many folks want for the fishes mentioned.

My own experience tells me that the easiest systems to maintain are pretty much completely bare.

 

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't putting macros in a sump chamber effectively make it a refugium? I have always thought the real definition of a refugium is that it acts as a sort of "refuge" for those small creatures many folks want for the fishes mentioned.

Not necessarily. The presence of macros doesn't make it a fuge - its more about low enough flow so the critters stay mostly in the 'fuge. In my system the macro chamber has almost no critters in it at all.

 

[stubbsz]

Wouldn't putting macros in a sump chamber effectively make it a refugium? I have always thought the real definition of a refugium is that it acts as a sort of "refuge" for those small creatures many folks want for the fishes mentioned.

Not necessarily. The presence of macros doesn't make it a fuge - its more about low enough flow so the critters stay mostly in the 'fuge. In my system the macro chamber has almost no critters in it at all.

I guess I must have lower flow in my sump because I have tons of critters. I don't think it ever made a bit of difference to my tank. Also, I've had weird algae start growing in the Chaeto that I NEVER saw in the main tank... and now those algaes do crop up in the main tank. Specifically that cotton-candy stuff that is hard to fight. Makes me wonder why I bothered investing in a light and a clump of Chaeto now.

 

[stubbsz]

Where does that come from? PanWorlds are excellent in my experience and I didn't want to spend way more and not have a power lead on my pump just to have the iwaki name.

8 years of experience maintaining and continously running hundreds of pumps of multiple makes. March, Blueline, Dolphin, Hayward, Iwaki, I-Walchem etc. I never once had to repair an Iwaki or had one die, so that's really the only reason. Has nothing to do with brand name. I don't even know what they cost these days.

I see. Did you service Pan-Worlds as well? Or were, saying that nothing could be better than an Iwaki, which is fair enough I guess given the record you've had with those. I kind of inferred you were slamming Pan-Worlds even if you didn't mean to imply that.

 

[Anonymous]

I wasn't slamming anything. I admitted I had never used a Pan World, but also offered the name of the make of pump that I liked.