Refugium flow rate

[Charlie]

I was using a wet/dry where more GPH is usually better. I am now replacing the wet/dry with a fuge/sump 34"x12"x16". All of the water received by this sump will flow through the fuge compartment. What flow rate should I use?

 

[MT79]

All of the water received by this sump will flow through the fuge compartment

FWIW I run approx 500 gph through a 20 gal sump/fuge w/ a similar design. The baffles I used are a little over 12" high, so the water basically flows over my fuge compartment. This means even though I have 25x per hour turnover going through the sump, the flow that gets down into the fuge is indirect and pretty calm. I even had a ph in there at one point to increase the flow some, but since removed it. It basically depends on your set up. A low baffle before the fuge usually means more direct flow through the fuge compartment.

 

[Charlie]

In this set-up the water should enter 6" up from the bottom on one side and exit about 2" up (through a trap) on the other.

 

[MT79]

Generally speaking you want your sump turn over to be 10x's the main tank volume per hour. That being said, w/ a 6" baffle before a fuge on this type of set up, that may be too much flow going through. Macro algaes generally don't like high flow nor do refugiums overall as you probably know. You may be able to add something like Caulerpa since it anchors itself but floating algae, such as Cheato, may just get blown around and cause problems. HTH

 

[melosu58]

If you do use calerpa (I use grape calerpa) you`ll need to keep your fuge light on 24/7 and keep it pruned pretty good. Moved to General hardware and equipment discussion.

 

[Ziggy953]

I have about 300gph or so going through my 20g fuge. I have the water come into the tank at the far back corner near the bottom of the tank and flow through the tank to the other side where it dumps back into my sump and off to the display again. You really don't want more then 600gph going through a fuge you want your water to mingle in the fuge for a while.