Are refegiums the same as sumps?

[lslover0127]

I guess the title really asks the question for me. I was at a store and the salesperson was telling me that a refegium is exactly like a sump exact for it has the added benefits of being a hospital tank also. Is this true??

 

[lslover0127]

I guess the title really asks the question for me. I was at a store and the salesperson was telling me that a refegium is exactly like a sump exact for it has the added benefits of being a hospital tank also. Is this true??

 

[Electrobes]

Argh... I am starting to hate the "assistants" at LFS - Okay a refugium is a "sump" (in this case a tank) that houses mainly macroalgaes, sand bed (your prefereance), and live rock (again, your preferance if you want it there). I think what you LFS guy meant by hospital tank is not for treating illness, but to keep invertabrates or certain fish safe from predators like certain shrimp, copepodes, or even other fish being overly harassed by others. Like a sump you can also house equipment like a protein skimmer, a heater, etc.
When I think of sump, I think of bio balls which is what I believe most sumps are. The benefits of a refugium, in my opinion, far outweigh the benefits of a regular sump. A refugium keeps macroalgaes that constantly do their own feeding (aka filtering). Liek other plants they use photosynthesus to make their own food.. using carbon dioxide. Whats good about this is that any unused carbon in the water eventually gets dissoved forming carbonic acid. Carbonic acid makes the water drop in pH (screws with the alk of the water, which mean the buffering of pH gets messed with). On top of the pH ordeal, as I mentioned before you have other living organisms that can live in peace and not in predation. Many people grow shrimps or other food for the main tank inhabitants.. plants as well. Thats a short summary for you of what a refugium is.

 

[reefrunner69]

No it is far from true, a refugium is a seperate, yet attatched tank for growing macro algae and encouraging pods and worms to reproduce. It is kinda like a living filter for denitrification and export of nutrients. A hospital tank should never be attatched to your main display tank, it defeats the purpose of having a hospital tank, same for quarantine.

FWIW, many people combine a sump and refugium into on tank, seperating the fuge with baffles.

 

[BillyZ]

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