could this be considered a modified refugium

Ballyhoo · Sep 29, 2024

so I bought my second tank last month with the intention of being able to have Nems. since I have an older tank a mother tank it's about six months old. It already started to have Coraline and I used some of the rock work and gravel to help cycle the new tank. I did end up getting a nice young Carpet nem, and a bta two Clownfish, and a black and blue damsel. the bta has been rather bashful., my new tank is the Red Sea 29 gallon nano with a pretty nice back end 4 gallon sump. It's wonderful how they integrated a the amount of sump area in the back for tank fit filtration opportunities, for example, I was even able to fit in a little desktop reactor in the sump and my heater fits in the sump ; still none of that would allow for lighting, so I was just fooling around, and I put a bunch of dragons tongue in a net and placed it on the aquarium surface and I'm wondering if is this an idea for an integrated refugium and if so, what else might I add besides Dragon tongue? I mean the issue with a Refugee is just a temporary thing until the tank matures I guess.

TX_REEF · Oct 1, 2024

It should be fine as long as the macroalgae is getting enough flow and light. Since it's contained you may also want to shake out any detritus that settles in it occasionally. Also, maybe I misunderstood your wording, but I would not keep a BTA and a carpet nem together. I'm pretty sure they carpet will kill the BTA given time and opportunity.

livinlifeinBKK · Oct 1, 2024

Didn't you start a thread about this like yesterday?
You can try that if you want and find out if it works or not...it isnt the same thing as a refugium. From your other thread I read that you're aiming to control nutrients with macroalgae and reduce the growth of other algae. If that's your primary goal, there are multiple ways of achieving that which are more aesthetically pleasing.

Ballyhoo · Oct 2, 2024

livinlifeinBKK said:
Didn't you start a thread about this like yesterday?
You can try that if you want and find out if it works or not...it isnt the same thing as a refugium. From your other thread I read that you're aiming to control nutrients with macroalgae and reduce the growth of other algae. If that's your primary goal, there are multiple ways of achieving that which are more aesthetically pleasing.

i've explored a few but not settled on other methods yet. just seemed like a simple diy.