• Pod Party in Jessy's Tank- The Benefits of a Refugium


    The refugium two months ago.
    If you haven't set up a refugium on your reef tank yet, you're missing out. I am a big believer in the effectiveness of having it as a part of any salt water set up.

    There are many benefits of a refugium:
    -Reversing the light cycle of the refugium light and the display light can help keep to keep Ph levels stable throughout the night.
    -Harvesting macro algae is a natural and effective way to remove excess nutrients in the water.
    -Fuges are a great place to grow pods and other little critters that provide a source of live food for your display tank.
    -Temporary holding tank for new introductions.
    -A fuge (outside of a sump) can also help to increase the total water volume of the system helping to further stabilize water parameters.

    Most of all I love watching my fuge almost as much as my display tank. Evidence of this is the movie I made on my iphone while spending some time below tank. This fuge is a hang on back Aquafuge2 by CPR Aquatics. I wanted to try to have an all LED system so the fuge is lit by one ecoxotic LED 8000K Stunner Strip. I started off with a handful of chaeto and a 2" stem of caulerpa and in two months it is as you see it now. I don't have a heavy bio load in the main tank to provide too much nutrients but I'm really happy with the growth I've seen under the LEDs. It is proof enough to me that LED's can sustain macro algae growth.

    I'm very happy with both the Aquafuge and the Stunner Strips quality and functionality and would highly recommend either company if you're looking to add a fuge to your system or playing with the idea of switching out your current fuge lighting to LEDs.

    Enjoy it best in HD full screen. These critters are small.


    Just how many species of pods and different macro algae can you spot in this vid?
    Comments 7 Comments
    1. Mits's Avatar
      Mits -
      Very nice! I love that stunner strip, I may have to put one of those on mine!
    1. zandofrey's Avatar
      zandofrey -
      Looks great! I think I need to buy a bigger house so I can add more stuff...
    1. MonKei's Avatar
      MonKei -
      Now I have an idea of what I want to do with my future refugium. Way cool!
    1. Jessy's Avatar
      Jessy -
      Thanks guys! It is super fun to watch.
    1. Mostly Rock's Avatar
      Mostly Rock -
      I just set up a 37 gallon above the height of my display tank, to use as a gravity drain refugium. I put 6" of sand in there with a cup of sand from my reef , some LR, and a couple types of Macro-algae. I will be adding more LR and Macro-algaes over the next week or 3. I got some pod cultures from AlgaGen to kick start it. It's really kool, being able to see copepods moving around in the tank, from around five feet away! In a few weeks to a month (depending on what testing shows) I'm going to add an overflow box, and a maxijet in the DT, and drain it into the bottom of the pod pile! It'll be visible initially, but I'm making things hide-able, or at least look pretty kool.
    1. Jessy's Avatar
      Jessy -
      Quote Originally Posted by Mostly Rock View Post
      I just set up a 37 gallon above the height of my display tank, to use as a gravity drain refugium. I put 6" of sand in there with a cup of sand from my reef , some LR, and a couple types of Macro-algae. I will be adding more LR and Macro-algaes over the next week or 3. I got some pod cultures from AlgaGen to kick start it. It's really kool, being able to see copepods moving around in the tank, from around five feet away! In a few weeks to a month (depending on what testing shows) I'm going to add an overflow box, and a maxijet in the DT, and drain it into the bottom of the pod pile! It'll be visible initially, but I'm making things hide-able, or at least look pretty kool.
      Sweet keep us posted with pics. Also let us know how you like those AlgaGen pods.
    1. oreefer's Avatar
      oreefer -
      thanks for posting the video its worth a thousand words