What size for a refugium

[5ft24]

I currently have a small homemade refugium on my tank... (HOB made from an old eshopps 300GPH overflow)
My sump doesn't have room for a built in refugium, so I want to make one I can plumb in that sits next to it... Is there an optimum size for a specific gallonage of tank? or should it just be as big as possible for the room I have?

 

[GoReef165]

I think that 1/3 the size of your DT is a good way to go. I have a 90gal reef with a 20 gal sump that also didn't have a way to create a refugium internally into it...I was very limited to the room left under my cabinet and so I added a micro 5gal refugium. Pretty small but It still works pretty well. Anything is better than nothing as you know. Good luck 5ft24.

 

[5ft24]

cool... Mine is a 75, and I'm in the same boat... 20G sump and no more room in the stand... I have a 10G glass aquarium and can get 8x10 pieces of plexiglass frlm lowes for 2 bucks a pop to make baffles... Drill a hole in each end for a bulkhead and put it on a low stand next to the DT... Plumb it in to pump up to it from the dirty side of the sump and drain back by gravity into the return chamber...

 

[GoReef165]

Sounds like it works. My tank is in the front room and I didn't want the refuge on the outside of the cabinet so I crammed my 20gal sump as far over as possible under the cabinet stand to make just enough room for my 5gal refuge. I could have used a 10 gal because the footprint is the same but the height was the issue. I wouldn't have been able to get into it through my cabinet door from the top. I'm not double-jointed . I built a rack/stand out of PVC, bought that rubber coated closet shelf material at Home Depot and cut a piece to size for the top of the rack. Now my 5gal sits on top and my 2 MH ballasts sit on the lower shelf below...keeps them off the ground for water and allows the heat to escape easier.

 

[kingrb]

Go big as possible. Get some mangroves and Macro for natural filtration and Copepods to grow for fish to eat..
I wanted to drop a Big refugium in the laundry room behind my tank but my wife wouldn’t let me. So I have a 60 gallon under my 270 DT with 5 mangroves and cheato.

 

[aznpg]

hey dave get the biggest one you can get. the bigger the better

 

[gumbii]

the bigger means, less flow going thru it... less flow means more nuisance algae, and stank water...


the way i see it, no matter what you do to it, a refugium isn't really worth the mess... the bigger the sump means you should have more flow... right...? the bigger the refugium, you should up the flow, but the macro algae's might not like it... or it is a bit harder to do really...


good luck...

 

[GoReef165]

My 5gal refugium is a mini accent refugium... just enough for some chaeto and copapods to play in

 

[Laker]

IMO the bigger the refugium the better. The flow just needs to be matched to the skimmer. Flow through the refugium section should be slow. If there's a concern about lack of flow, just put cheap powerheads in the refugium.