Live rock in refugium

[ejwan]

If I keep some live rock in the refugium does it need lighting? I'm just setting up my first tank. I have some extra rock and I read that putting live rock there will help with water quality.

 

[ColaAddict]

They dont need light. Only water plants need light

 

[KeishaKornbread]

What are you planning to keep in your fefugium?

 

[ejwan]

Well when I learn how to spell better, I will put some leftover rock in the refugium.

 

[1mg]

make sure to have flow keeping the rock from being a detreous trap

 

[Hyperlitexr50]

I have 75lbs in my sump with no lights and great results

 

[Herbie]

You might find that you will help solve algae problems if you do light your fuge and grow some macro in there. The ide is that if the algae is eating all of the nutrients there, it won't be able to in your main tank. Lots of paople have great luck with cheap Home Depot twisty CFL bulbs in a cheap reflector socket (depending on if you have room). Chaeto algae is a great choice and I can set you up with a ton to start with if you are ever near northbrook or hawthorn woods and decide to light your fuge. If you want fancy and incredible growth, I highly recommend CoralComupulsion.com's Fuge LED. I'm literally doubling my chaeto every 10 days.

 

[KeishaKornbread]

I didn't like the amount of detritus in my fuge so I only keep chaeto in mine. Low nutrient levels are important to my SPS dominate tank.

 

[Herbie]

I wanted rock in my fuge, but it did get nasty so I built a basket out of egg crate to hold it off the bottom (hanging from the sides). I just give the basket a little shake when I clean my fuge and any trapped det comes right out.

 

[Hyperlitexr50]

Macro is definitely key too that's why I have it in my fuge. I just didn't like having algae growth on the rocks so I separated them.

 

[ejwan]

Basket

I like that idea. I will try to rigup something along that line.

 

[ejwan]

This is my first tank. It will be primarily a reef tank. I will be using purigen and carbon. I just added the sand and live rock (35 lbs) yesterday. I put big chunks of leftover rock in the refugium (center chamber) and I left room for the purigen bag and a bag of carbon.

Should I add the purigen and carbon now or wait until the tank cycles?

 

[Herbie]

wait. they will delay your cycle and waste your media.

 

[vtam1020]

I have a quick question my fuge has rock and macro in it with some ikea strip LEDs on top have good flow proflex 4 gate all the way down my macro don't seem to grow. Lights maybe?

 

[Herbie]

I have a quick question my fuge has rock and macro in it with some ikea strip LEDs on top have good flow proflex 4 gate all the way down my macro don't seem to grow. Lights maybe?

ya. get a CFL twisty at Home Depot (6500k I think). those cheap ikea lights are probably doing nothing.

 

[vtam1020]

Ok thanks they are cool but ineffective

 

[Herbie]

Ok thanks they are cool but ineffective

do they have the little color wheel on them? I saw all those LED set-up there and was really tempted, but I read the stats and they seemed a little under powered for any sort of useful PAR. Too bad because they ARE cool.

FWIW, this is the BOMB fuge light if you want completely pro: http://coralcompulsion.com/led/led-21w-REF-GRO grows chaeto likes it's the national debt. . .

 

[Reeflogic]

A good way to have the live rock in the sump is to have it in the intake area with very high flow, should eliminate the detritus, you may want to convert it to smaller pieces to allow better flow. If it sits in a lower flow area, it will end up being a trap. Although, I did not implement a live rock area in my sump this go round, I did add some rubble for hiding places for microfauna.

Those lights look awesome Herbie, I may eventually grab one. I'm using a 5k version from Menard's (was roughly $30 bucks) and the samples of various macros I have are multiplying super fast. I read so many different theories on fuge lighting, so I just went and spent 35 bucks on the bulb and fixture to see how it works, so far so good!