Tropical Fish Forums

[Oscer]

I see. The tank in the pics was used to keep African cichlids so no plants, good enough reason for FW refugium IMO.

Nice link, Quaid
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[Gaza]

that is a great idea,I did think of this at one time and it is to be one of my future plans
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[FishAddict85]

I hope, dataguru doesn't mind this, but I am sure she won't mind. I'm also bumping this thread. LOL!

http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/plantfilter.html
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Setting up a 55g wooo!!!

[tkipfer]

lol, when I read marcos's first post I image of small shrimp crawling around on waving beds of java moss in the current, you ever think about becoming a writer lol, (sorry it jsut seems funny to me). anyway, I think it would be a great idea and have also thought of it but never gone through with it. but now that I rember it, I shall go through with it! well I doubt I will but mabye with my 135 gallon african chichlid tank I will, I don't know. I would love to see someone on this board take up that project as if I do it will be in a few months as I am buying qutie a few tanks in the next couple of months (a 80, 120, 40 and a bunch of 10's I hope). if anyone does take up this project and really gets going on it I think it will be a very informitive thing to do and who knows, you may find that it helps the tank in a significant manner.
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[schaadrak]

I've heard of people with goldfish or oscars doing this with the fish on top and the 'fuge underneath with low light plants and crawfish or shrimp to catch any scraps.

Another thought is to just have one really tall tank with a perforated divider splitting the top and bottom sections. The divider would double as a UGF with water being pumped from the bottom to the top and returning through the gravel on top of the divider.

[DF Bobo]

this seems like an interesting topic! from what I know, a saltwater refugium is typically used to support macroalgae for nutrient export and as a controlled growing area for copepods who eventually find their way into the main tank, feeding fish and corals.

the nutrient export subject seems possible since there have been a few links to plant filters. those would be quite effective in tanks with cichlids or herbivorous species where plants can't be used in the main tank.

as to the food part, is that really possible in a freshwater environment? the question is are there creatures similar to copepods that would be in an established freshwater system? I have heard that java moss does contain some microfauna that feeds shrimp and fry, but I don't think adult fish would be able to eat such small food particles.
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[schaadrak]

[mcfish]

[EDIT: merged with existing topic on the same subject - MA]

how well would a refugium work in a freshwater tank? the tank would allready have a filter. the refugium would have many plants in it and would be a converted 10gal. the lights would be set to be on when the main tank lights are off. other than plants maybe a bambo shrimp or 3 otos would go in just to keep an eye on alage.

[fishlover888]

Actually, this is done before by other people. They use two tanks, one only has plants used for filter purpose. The lights on the plant tank goes on/off 1 hours before/after the main tank lights goes off/on. The idea is to provide 24x7 plant filtration for the fish in the main tank.

In your case, 10 g maybe too small for filtration purpose of the main tank. It will still help to get rid of the fish waste. Just don't use it as the only way of filtration. Also, in order to have this work, your main tank need to have enough plants too. You can not have too much bio load in the 10 g or the whole thing is point less.
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2 g nano tank 3 Danio, pH 7.6 80% WC/ 2 days

[Dimitrios91]

I noticed that no one has responded to these posts for years, lol. I was searching about the cleaning of fresh water refugiums actually when I came across this thread. I have used a 20 gallon long tank under my 55 gallon long for almost 7 months. Was simple to make the refugium. Couple pieces of plexiglass, a pump capable of circulating enough water and overflo for this to work properly, an over flo, 2 bulk heads, bio-balls, filter padding. Ever since I created this refugium, my Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and pH have been perfect. The heater sits within the refugium as well.