Refugiums

[trigger]

I'm going to construct a hang on the back type refugium & wanted to know if it was a good idea or not to feed the refugium with the overflow of my skimmer? I have seen the powerhead type feed & wanted to utilize the overflow from my skimmer in the same way. Is this good or bad? Does anyone have plans to show you the baffle arrangement for such a beast?

Thanks Trigger :rockon:

[Dman]

I'm gonna play devil's advocate here and say:
The water you want flowing through your refugium should not come from the skimmer because it might be stripped of microscopic organisms and nutrients required to feed the diversity of life you're trying to establish in a refugium
Howzat?
Dman
:spin:.

[Mckitrick]

Yep. I agree with Dman. You don't want to use the water coming directly out of the skimmer because it's "too clean."

[trigger]

Thanks for your advice! I will feed it directly for the powerhead!
Are the Refugium contents available at the local marine pet stores?

IE; sand, copula?, little critters etc. Did you know where? I live in Mississauga & would like to get easy access to the good stuff!
Thanks Trigger :cheers:

[Dman]

trigger,
Reef Crew stocks all of your refugium needs, have a forum here to answer all of your questions, are reasonably prices and can be found if better LFS's in the GTA.
Howzat Brian?
Dman
:spin:

[trigger]

I found a site that references a skimmer overflow feeding the refugium have a look! Is this a good reference?

http://jjgeisler.com/reeftank/55g_sump-refugium2.htm

Also a refugium feeding a skimmer

http://jjgeisler.com/reeftank/Projects/Refugium-skimmer1.pdf

[Mckitrick]

In the first link, the output of the skimmer is combined with the return from the tank so the water entering the refugium is not coming only from the skimmer. I would think in that case, a good deal of water would be coming from the tank's overflow.

In the second link, it looks like a hang-on-the-back skimmer/refugium. In it's design, the skimmer outputs back into the tank and the water coming into the contraption is pre skimmer not post skimmer.

HTH's..