Refugium Substrate or BB?

[Qube]

So, I've been researching for weeks regarding the best route to go as far as refugium substrates (which is the best) or no substrate at all. To be honest, I haven't got a clue??? Everyone seems to have different opinions and I'm looking to gather the opinions from this thread and formulate a plan for my 75g build. I want to know what sand (fine, course, DSB, etc), Refugium "product" or if you just have nothing at all. They all seem to have benefits...

Alright, what substrate, if any, do you use in your fuge?

 

[Retired_AF]

I'm setting up my tank now, but my plans are to use live rock rubble and some chaeto in my fuge. Live rock for the BB and the chaeto to help absorb nitrates.

 

[Qube]

Sounds good! Are you going to go bare bottom or are you going with sand?

 

[AquaRick]

I have a DSB in my fuge. 4-5" of course sand, followed by 2-3" of fine sand. Rock and calupera, chaeto on top of that. Rock pieces everywhere else in my sump that has room for it. (Return chamber, around skimmer etc)

 

[Qube]

I have a DSB in my fuge. 4-5" of course sand, followed by 2-3" of fine sand. Rock and calupera, chaeto on top of that. Rock pieces everywhere else in my sump that has room for it. (Return chamber, around skimmer etc)

4" is about my max based on where the cut out is for my water to flow from the skimmer section into the fuge. Do you think that a 4" bed would be beneficial or should I think about going with a thinner layer of sand or bare bottom instead?

 

[AquaRick]

4" is about my max based on where the cut out is for my water to flow from the skimmer section into the fuge. Do you think that a 4" bed would be beneficial or should I think about going with a thinner layer of sand or bare bottom instead?

With only 4" I'd skip the sand and just do some live rock rubble.

 

[Qube]

I appreciate it! Thank you!

 

[AquaRick]

You can add macroalgae if you want on top of that rubble. Up to you really.

 

[Qube]

That's going to be my plan!

 

[Retired_AF]

Sounds good! Are you going to go bare bottom or are you going with sand?

No sand in the fuge. Just rubble and chaeto when I get them.

 

[audifusion]

some say a fuge just stores detritus and contributes to poor water quality.

The cheato is good but the dsb may cause issues long term, from what I've read.

 

[AquaRick]

I'd probably say the exact opposite. If you don't have a fuge, where is that detritus settling? I'd rather remove the detritus from my fuge knowing that's where it's going to collect. Though there are other ways to remove it. I don't really think there are any drawbacks to having a fuge.

 

[audifusion]

Yeah that's what I thought originally.

I guess it depends on who you ask.

 

[MacDracor]

I'm with Rick on most of this. There really aren't any serious drawbacks to a fuge, and so many benefits that it's hard to mention them all.
I have a 4" sand bed in my fuge and I've seen a very noticeable drop in Nitrates. LR rubble on top of that, and in the skimmer and return chambers. I also have about a dozen types of Macro Algae.

 

[Sniperhank]

Man, a dozen types of macro? I'd love to see a threat about that. I just got cheato today.

But on topic, I don't believe that a fuge really needs a sandbed. In small fuges, the sandbed would take over most of the space. If you have a larger one, you probably have enough sand and LR inside your DT. My fuge is bare bottom with cheato and about 3k pods.

 

[Gti_Leo]

i put sand in mine but i think its building up some hydrogeon sulfide, i see a black patch. i've gotta take the tank down and move it to my basement so i'll probably end up stripping down my fuge and leaving it bare bottom

 

[Sniperhank]

Makes it easier to clean too.

 

[MacDracor]

Well, my fuge is a converted 29 gallon tank. So I have a little more than a square foot of DSB. With the height of a standard aquarium, the DSB doesn't take away any useable space.
So, my macro. I have Chaetomorpha, three types of Caleurpa (prolifera, the feathery looking one, and grape), Halymenia (Dragon's breath), Halimeda, Shaving Brush, Mermaid's fan, Pinecone, C. Barbatos (green tufted algae), and Gracilliara. So, 11 types total. Will get some Ochtodes when I can.
For cleaning, to be perfectly honest, I don't do much. The thing is swarming with pods, and numerous small bristle worms. They actually keep the whole thing fairly clean. There's also some sort of nudibranch I can't identify.

 

[Ericwm]

This thread is a bit old so I'm gonna hijack it instead of starting a new one. I have a DIY hob fuge that has been up for 2 weeks now, it is working great. It is bare bottom with a bit of rock and some chato, it has a good population of pods. Anyway, my question is should I add something to clean up all the junk that has settled on the bottom? If so what should I add?

It's getting kinda nasty.



Ps. Let me know if you want your thread back.

 

[mr_X]

Vacuum it out. It might be a good idea to implement a filter sock to catch that stuff.