freshwater refugium

[myjohnson]

IMO, FW tanks just don't need a fuge.

SPS corals in SW tanks need super low nutrients, so you want to remove as much as you can.

But no fish in a FW tank is ever going to need it that low.

I have done it on my 125g. Plants grew but nitrates didn't really go down much.

Nothing beats the water change.

[soymilk]

Pfft I know thai will be right behind me for an Ada sump...

[koi]

75 gallon tank,19 gallon diy sump(tall).The display tank is a planted tank.MOst of the plants i have draw nutients from the substrate. The plants on top have 130 watts of compact fluorescent light and sunlight from a southern window. The sump gets light for about 2 hours a day and it also has a light over it.

[myjohnson]

Pfft I know thai will be right behind me for an Ada sump...

Damn right!

I bet it would be super clean too.

[soymilk]

Technically almost all aquatic plants draw nutrients from leaves and roots. This is why most fertilizers are dosed into the water column.

If you already have plants in the display... why add more? Do you currently have a problem with excess nutrients? Algae Problem? Generally the limiting factor in plant growth is carbon. Are you dosing carbon? Are you trying to use the fuge as a tank filter? But adding a fast growing plant in the fuge, you could possibly limit the nutrients available to your display plants. Back when I did planted tanks, I was always trying to add more nutrients to the tank, not take it away. lol

I dosed Phosphous, potassium, macros, and nitrogen.

Not trying to dissuade you, just trying to find the method to the madness here.

[myjohnson]

+1, if the display part is a planted tank then why get a fuge?

The planted tank is light a giant fuge.

I say, up the carbon!

The overflow to the sump will only take more carbon out the water.

[koi]

Im not going to add a co2 setup but im going to start dosing excel.The purpose of the fuge was so i can keep shrimp. I was wondering what plants would be good as for absorbing excess nutrients. I already have a diy sump made and theres just alot of extra space in it so i wanted to have a refugium. I have algae on the glass and wanted to get rid of it and not comeback. If the plants do begin to take over than i can just throw them into my pond. Im not done stocking my tank i plan to add in maybe 20 or more fish so the bioload is going to go up

[soymilk]

Algae is gonna grow on the glass... you can't get away from that. You can slow it down so you only have to do it every few weeks. If your goal is to control algae, then you need a dominate plant to overpower and absorb nutrients before the algae gets to it. Right now you have an algae problem. Adding more plants is not going to solve that. Plants need Light, carbon ( co2 or otherwise), and nutrients. As of right now, your plants can only grow so much before it bottlenecks because of a shortage of a requirement it needs. Algae then grows because its a more basic form of plant life. It doesn't need as much requirements to grow. Adding a fuge is not going to magically rid you of algae, because if your plants in the display is not able to do it, then plants in a fuge is more than likely not going to be able to do it.

Are you going for a planted tank? or are you going for a tank with plants to help control algae? because imo 130w is not enough for a 75g planted tank.

I'm not against your fuge idea, but by putting it in there you severally limit yourself as well as add more things to maintain. Not to mention risk flooding your floor if something clogs your overflow, or forgetting to fill up the water return and having the pump burn up. If algae control is your number one concern... i would spend my time and money to upgrade lights, and add a DIY yeast co2 or add more algae eating fish. This will do more than just adding a fuge. If you do go with a freshwater fuge, at least put aquasoil or an equivalent down instead of gravel.

Not trying to put you down, or prove how uber i am. I just want you to reconsider your options and expectations. Theres a reason why ADA doesn't sell a freshwater sump.

[koi]

I have sunlight from a southern window also. My substrate is diana walstad method. i already have the sump set up and balnced. The refugium was something extra to add since there is an extra section for it. as i stated before its for housing shrimp as well. Lets forget adding plants. To have maximum bio filtration should i use gravel or sand?

[soymilk]

depends on sand and how coarse/porous it is.... if you can get a hold of some media from an old canister filter, that would work better.

Make sure you partition the output of the "shrimp housing area" because they get everywhere and you don't want the shrimp pulverized by the return pump.

[myjohnson]

I have sunlight from a southern window also. My substrate is diana walstad method. i already have the sump set up and balnced. The refugium was something extra to add since there is an extra section for it. as i stated before its for housing shrimp as well. Lets forget adding plants. To have maximum bio filtration should i use gravel or sand?

I'm lost. So you are moving ahead with your plans b/c you already have a sump and want to make a part of it a shrimp tank, right?

If what you want is to just grow plants or whatever, then that's fine.

But if you want a true "display" planted tank, then you are going in the wrong direction.

[koi]

Oh ok I guess i wont be having plants in my refuge. Just shrimp. Now i need to decide between gravel and sand and how deep.

[myjohnson]

huh?

Ok, lets try this again....

1) Do you want a display planted tank? Like what you see ADA style tanks look like.

Take this for an example it was recently posted by a member on here.

Check out this video, it's made by ADG (a company here is Houston).

If you are looking for these type of display tank, you are going in the wrong direction.

If you are looking for a simple noob tank then that's cool too. Just do the sump.

[koi]

Yeh im not putting plants in the refuge anymore

[myjohnson]

No, don't go sump at all if you want a tank like those.

Those tank have mad lighting, mad CO2, and a good balance between plant growth and ferts dosing.

The reason these people don't use sumps is b/c of the overflow.

The water turbulence created by the overflow and sump removes CO2 from the water.