Freshwater refugium?

[lomeli562]

I was wondering if it is worth looking into in the sense that you can set up a wet dry filter with a section set for plants to help reduce nitrates. Like adding a section with an upflow design where you can grow some nitrate reducing plants in gravel maybe even set up an algae scrubber above it. This way water changes can be reduced a bit and you might be able to add more fish. Any and all comments are welcome thanks

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[seove]

I was wondering if it is worth looking into in the sense that you can set up a wet dry filter with a section set for plants to help reduce nitrates. Like adding a section with an upflow design where you can grow some nitrate reducing plants in gravel maybe even set up an algae scrubber above it. This way water changes can be reduced a bit and you might be able to add more fish. Any and all comments are welcome thanks

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

It's definitely something fun to have. I've had a hard time growing plants in mine though. There could be several reasons:
1. Plant eating critters and
2. lack of a CO2 system.

With the wet-dry filter it's hard to maintain CO2 levels. One day I'm going to get another bunch of hornwort or some fast growing plants to see if I can get them established. They are doing ok in the DT though.

 

[lomeli562]

Im thinking some tough low light plants like java fern and anubias and maybe a pothos plant ive heard that they soak up nitrates like crazy.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Coyne]

You can look into a product called Miracle Mud for the substrate. It's supposed to be specially designed for refugiums.
I've never used it myself, but have mainly heard good things. The negative reviews didn't really have a lot of details. "I heard from a guy who said who said it caused his cousin's friend's tank to crash" type of thing.
Anyways, something to look into and see if it's right for you.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[alyxandria]

I've been thinking about making a Refugium myself for my african cichlid tank. They tend to tear up any live plants so it would be a way to reduce nitrates without having to constantly replace the plants.

 

[lomeli562]

Yea i have 2 plecos an african featherfin catfish and a huge apple snail so most plants i throw in there get chewed up

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[seove]

You can look into a product called Miracle Mud for the substrate. It's supposed to be specially designed for refugiums.
I've never used it myself, but have mainly heard good things. The negative reviews didn't really have a lot of details. "I heard from a guy who said who said it caused his cousin's friend's tank to crash" type of thing.
Anyways, something to look into and see if it's right for you.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Great comments. Note. Moving from grave to sand substrates requires some rethinking. For example, stirring or siphoning a sand substrate can do a lot of harm like crash your tank. I've made plenty of mistakes with sand and luckily I didn't crash my tank with Hydrogen Sulfide. It's a lot to learn but it's fun.

 

[lomeli562]

Well i was going to look into the miricale mud but my original plan was to use pea gravel or something a bit larger and flow water up through the gravel and past the roots like a bog filter

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Mebbid]

You can look into a product called Miracle Mud for the substrate. It's supposed to be specially designed for refugiums.
I've never used it myself, but have mainly heard good things. The negative reviews didn't really have a lot of details. "I heard from a guy who said who said it caused his cousin's friend's tank to crash" type of thing.
Anyways, something to look into and see if it's right for you.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

the miracle mud is snake oil. It used to be popular with the saltwater aquarium owners, but has fallen out of favor because there wasn't any notable benefits to using it.

Refugiums can work, but like was noted, there are issues with co2. Without some supplement such as excel then I highly doubt you would see enough growth to matter. With a sump the algae scrubber would be a neat idea though.

For fresh water tanks, water changes are by far the best method of nitrate removal.

The thing to remember with nitrate removal methods is that you need to be realistic with your expectations. Refugiums started primarily in salt water where the bio loads are relatively low with very low nurrients. Any single method of nitrate removal wouldn't be expected to remove more than a few ppm of nitrate per week. They definitely won't help cut back on water changes with even a moderately stocked fresh water tank.

 

[Coyne]

I have an interest in this because I like trying different stuff. I don't want to speak for the OP, but I personally am not looking for a nitrate removal short cut. I have plants because I like plants, not for any nitrate absorption properties they may have. When/if I set up a refugium, it will because I enjoy trying something new and finding out for myself how well it works.
I've got one of those double tank stands for my 20 Longs, and I've been starting to eyeball the lower one. ?
There's currently a species conflict between the two though, so I can't just combine them into one.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[seove]

I have an interest in this because I like trying different stuff. I don't want to speak for the OP, but I personally am not looking for a nitrate removal short cut. I have plants because I like plants, not for any nitrate absorption properties they may have. When/if I set up a refugium, it will because I enjoy trying something new and finding out for myself how well it works.
I've got one of those double tank stands for my 20 Longs, and I've been starting to eyeball the lower one. ?
There's currently a species conflict between the two though, so I can't just combine them into one.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

I definitely understand. I set up mine for that exact purpose. I wasn't thinking about nitrate removal but was trying a new wet dry trickle design that was a big improvement over the one I had 15 years ago. I ended up adding a refugium and a hydroponics grow bed to add to the fun. It's always fun coming home to see how it's doing and to think about what needs to be done next. As for plants? Because the system is so efficient at oxygenating the water, it doesn't allow for much accumulation of CO2 so I'm having some difficulty growing plants in the refugium but they are starting to take off in the the DT. It's just big fun if you like DIY.