Refugium for freshwater?

Do the same principals apply to freshwater aquariums for running a fuge for nutrient export? I could see having a beautiful cichlid tank and then running a fuge underneath because you can't plant anything in their tanks. Seems like it would work.

 

I don't see why that wouldn't work.

 

Seems good to me

 

on a forum not long i read that a fuge isnt the same thing as it is in saltwater..these big wigs with these huge freshwater tanks are taking those plastic little rubbermaid 4 drawer extra space cabinets and turning them into a wet dry filter..

supposedly from i read wet dry filters are used for freshwater and fuges are used for saltwater..

what would you put in a freshwater fuge..does cheato grow in freshwater??

http://www.3reef.com/forums/refugium/freshwater-fuge-72788.html

 

You could presumably put any freshwater plant in it and it would suck up nitrates just like a fuge...or you could just plumb another aquarium next to it with a common sump and have a display planted acting like a fuge with the added benefit of extra water volume and what not.

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i cant find where i was reading that but ill find it..the guys had some massive tanks and they had these huge extra drawer space cabinets turned into wet drys..

also i saw where they were making this screen filter thing, the water trickles down it and it supposed to clean the tank so good you wouldnt believe it..i see if i can find it..it was like a plastic screen sheet thing, idk it was pretty cool and the thread was huge with people trying it and having success and even people were using for saltwater tanks and had superior water supposedly

 

In the past I had a 36"x6"x6" tank mounted above a 40gal breeder.

Fluval 104 pumped from the 40 down and back up to the small one (window box) which then over flowed back down to the 40.

the small tank had pea gravel 2.5" deep and was planted almost solid with mini bambos.

Never had a Nitrate issue with the 40. Bambo's acted like a mangrove in our salt setups ..

 

I've kept planted tanks before, but would never have though about plumbing one to a cichlid tank to use as a fuge until after getting into SW. It sounds like it would work since the same principals apply. IMO this isn't done more often for FW because it's much easier to do water changes than it is to set up a fuge.

 

I've seen some wet/drys turned into plant grow tanks. Thae main problem you will have for your africans is that your ph will be too high for the types of fast growing plants you would used in a fw fuge (crypts, ferns)

 

I have thought similar. No need for a fuge with a planted tank. Didn't know Cichlids eat plants. I like Cichlids but like plenty of other fresh tropicals to not have a dedicated cichlid tank.

Didn't even think about trickle filters and fresh water. Just figured there would be enough tank surface area. Was wanting a sump to store other stuff and run media. Hummm... knowing what I know nw about salt... I could have an awesome fresh setup with minimal upkeep and exspense.