should i have any water movement in my refugium? bearing in mind that its about 300 litres and the only water movement is water down into it from the main tank then overflow to the sump.

i've heard that there should be minimal water movement, but should there be ANY at all for my size fuge?

Mine is driven by a IWAKI RXLT30. I also have 2x TUNZE 3000lph power heads in there for additional circulation.

Not sure if it matters? My fuge appears to be working, but then again pretty hard for it not too?

edit - Mine is 740 litres.

pie

edit - Mine is 740 litres

so I can roughly half the water movement?... RXLT15 and 1 Tunze?

I might add a single powerhead from my main tank once the closed loops go in, ta.

What is growing in it?

Macro Alge (calurpa), some coral frags (30ish), calcerous algae, a 2 year old sand bed, snails, worms, pods etc etc.

Its also lit with 250watt MH and 4x 4foot T8s.

Pie

in mine, just caluerpa, pods, snails, LR etc. no frags so water movement prob not so important?

live rock needs a level of flow to be effective doesnt it??

or is there no rock in it (ie just the sand)??

i thought that was only important when going through the nitrogen cycle?

Rocks just in there because its in there. All I want the refugium to do is increase overall water volume. Growing calurpa, fags and pods is just a 'bonus'.

More rock can't hurt, but again its just 'spare' so its in there, not part of any great design. I belive the best way to keep a healthy environment is a hight volume of water per fish. Shouldn't be a seceret but I almost 2500 litres of water to 16 fish total. A good average and a very healthy environment.

Bigger is better.

Pie

the nitrogen cycle is continuous though isnt it?? :-?

dammint now im confused

All I want the refugium to do is increase overall water volume. Growing calurpa, fags and pods is just a 'bonus'

I agree, and hence why I took your recommendation to keep my old 4 foot tank from day one Pies. Best recommendation you gave me I reckon - mainly because if Im slack and forget a water change/maintenance, the sheer volume of water keeps the tank ticking over nicely eg: 6-8 weeks without water change and not even a sniff of PO4 or NO3 (salifert).

My LR is currently in the refugium purely as Im waiting to finish closed loops (waiting OM-4-way should be here soon) Once done, I'll move most of the LR to the main tank and only have a minimal amount in the fuge too, maybe 20kg or so?

Eventually, Im going to section off the refugium (single baffle, with space at bottom) to stop caleurpa accidentally floating into overflow, blocking it and flooding floor. I will then have macroalgae in left side and LR in right. Can you see any problems with doing this?

initial cycle is a one-off thing - ie: ammonia-nitrite-nitrate-nitrogen (unless you get old tank syndrome?) except:

If a lot of fish are added to a newly cycled tank, the sudden increase in waste products will cause a new mini cycle to start all over and since there are specimens in the tank, they are at risk of death or injury due to the ammonia or nitrite spikes that will occur

http://www.reefcorner.com/Manual/nitrogen_cycle.htm

pies your huge... mmm that doesn't read well....

I totally agree that bigger is better.... I also believe that more rock = more porus serfice area = more natural filtration.

more water, more flow, more skimming. more rock and more reading (this last one probably most important)

less feeding, less fish, less hands in tank, less changing techniquers all the time....

Mike used to mention that was why he used a bioball tower in his fish import system, to cope with shipment spikes, thou he did not probably have as much water in system as steve/nick do.....

Steve - you testing for spikes i take it? what is your experience so far?

Peter

I agree with a bigger sump to create a large water system.

I cant fit anything bigger than a 50 litre one in mine...

:evil:

Still working fine, but nowhere near ideal.

My cabinet is tiny, (Still got a fuge in there though!).

I kinda wish I'd made my sump smaller. Then I could put some shelves under there and have some storage space. As it is I have like an inch on each side and if I want to change the sump, no way I'm getting it out. Everything for the tank is sitting on a shelf NEXT to the tank. Looks extremely messy.