Filtration Question

Im currently running a skimmer and a tetratec 500 HOB as my filtration on my 30g tall. I was thinking about removing the tetratec and replacing it with a HOB refugium made out of a aquaclear 110 i have sitting around and growing Chaeto in it for nutrient export. Would this be a better way of doing filtration on my tank?

 

Since you running a skimmer I would think that would be fine. Adding a fuge to your tank would never hurt.

 

You can never go wrong with a refugium.

 

The main question is what type of skimmer are you running? My skimmer is so good all my chaeto died. While chaeto can live under light only, if you starve it of nitrates it will die. Give it a try, I always said I would run a fuge, but after adding the skimmer I didn't need it. It will breed pods for your tank, but so will a piece of live rock with a lot of holes. You could always use the ac for chemical and mechanical filtration.

 

The skimmer im running (please dont laugh) is an Odyssea PS75. I know its "over seas garbage" but it does skim pretty decently for what i paid for it. I doubt that i have to worry about starving the chaeto of nitrates. I guess you never know though. My primary reason of wanting a fuge is to reduce phosphates though. To run the aquaclear as mechanical and chemical filtration is a no go for me bc the TetraTec 500 already does a great job of that. And has a built in heater. So unless you guys think that the fuge would be a great way to reduce phosphates, i would just leave my filtration as is.

Is it still worth setting up a fuge instead of my current HOB? Or could i turn my current HOB into a fuge like i could the aquaclear? It is made out of black plastic though, so only light chaeto would be getting is from the top and not from sides. Would that be ok?

 

If Po4 is your problem, then just get a Phos reactor.

 

Think what you need to decide is what you are trying to accomplish with the refugium. It would be a great place for pods and other critters, but if you are looking to export nutrients it may not be large enough to do that. When I had a 12 Gallon Cube I did make a AquaClear in to a refugium and put a little 18 watt pc light over it. The cheato grew fine and housed lots of pods. If PO4 is an issue you may want to just run a Phosban reator as mentioned above. You will need to light the cheato if you do deicde to go that way.

 

po4 is the main reason i wanted a refugium. The LFS store guy recommended it. I would be happy with pod productions for my fish to eat, but thats not too important right now. If i did a refugium i would obviously need to light it and have a small t5 fixture laying around. I may look into the phosreactor, but i really wanna avoid having to buy any kind of chemicals for removing stuff. Hoping to go all natural as far as the chem filtration... Maybe im dreaming eh?

 

Hey Gilbert,
How is the Odessea skimmer working for you? How long have you had it running? Do you get alot of micro bubbles? Sorry for going off track. I just got one (still cycling my tank) and after alot of no reviews I am now hearing alot of bad ones. I just thought I would get your take on it. Thank you

 

Not dreaming, no. But it's not dishonorable in any way to run a phos reactor. The best "natural" you can do to avoid phosphates is to never use tap water. Short of that, phosphates will still accumulate over time from foods. Carbon and phosphate removing media in a phos reactor is a double whammy that's not frowned upon.

Other than that, I'm with you in that many chemical additions are simply avoidable and add a variable to the equation that we might be better off without.