Variable Refugium Flow Rates

[Anonymous]

To increase the food source available at night I was thinking about adding an additional pump on a timer. This way after the lights go out the 2nd pump kicks on and increases the flow rate (food) to the main tank. I would think that this would also provide additional stability to the pH.

After the lights in the main tank come back on have the 2nd pump turn off, reduce the flow, and give the pods a break.

Does anyone do this or does this seem like a good idea?

Any thoughts?

-Greg

 

[HARRISON]

Kinda curious about flow rates that others use.

I would kinda think that the pods and stuff would like the water to be mellow during the evening when they are out and about. If your lights are that way anyhow. I have been running mine 24/7 so I guess it wouldn't really matter.

 

[fusion]

I don't have to much experience with refugiums but the one I did set up did great with an extremely slow rate of turnover. I could almost piss into the tank faster but everything multiplied and grew....

 

[dmentnich]

The general rule is a 4-5X turnover rate. if your refugium is 30 gal you would want 120-150 GPH. Mine is a bit faster and I have heard of people going up to 15X- but the common rate is 4-5. To be honest I have never given any thought to going with a higher flow in the night.

 

[Anonymous]

danny150,

Where do you got the 4-5 turnover rate? All of my reading says 1 or at most 2 turnovers per hour for a refugium. I run mine at 1X.

 

[wasabi]

I hAVE 2 refugiums one with 1x flow above my main tank. One with 20x flow below my main tank. Both have 5-6 inch sandbeds and thick with different variety's of calerpa there is a noticeable difference in the pod population in the tank with high flow there are much more large pods and they are more abundant. ive heard the slow flow reccomendations but from my personal assesment high flow produces a better refugium and better calerpa growth rates.

 

[Anonymous]

The idea is to put a 55gal refugium on a 55gal reef. This was to; 1)provide a very large food source, and 2)provide high water quality. In doing this I can have a large water turnover during the evening hours and not worry about depleting pod/plankton populations. The other bonus is that I can experiment with macro algae landscaping, a turtle grass bed, and all sorts of inverts that spawn (perpemint shrimp, etc...).

It sounded like a cool idea being I have an extra 55 and a strip light.

Does anyone else have ideas for this refugium?

-Greg

 

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with wasabi. I've got about 12-15x turnover and everything looks so much better since I sped it up. More pods, more tanaids, more itty-bitty shrimp, more snails, more sponges, more fanworms, less aptaisa, well you get the picture.

 

[2poor2reef]

Wasabi speaks the truth. Low turnover is currently gospel and I ran mine that way initially but when I upsized I changed to 20 turns per hour and what a difference. More critters and more water/oxygen across dsb. Now I know better.