# Starting a FW Refugium Inquiries



## dkjmeaden (Nov 16, 2015)

Howdy Gang,

im new to the forum world, if im doing anything wrong let me know haha, here we go,

i would like to start a freshwater refugium just to add another element to the hobby, my main tank is a 60g housing 2 plant species, 1 common goldfish, 1 red-tail shark, 1 demasoni cichlid, 2 yo-yo loachs, 2 black skirt tetras, 2 white skirt tetras and 3 chinese algae eaters, so far with all the research ive done, im going place it below main tank, id like to go with a 30g size tank(5g input/coarse media, 20g refuge then 5g sump), gravity fed to stage one being existing foam then to plastic pot scrubbers and maybe some biomax, then to stage 2 being plants(one species for consuming nutrients and one species for the garbage), shrimp(cleaner shrimp and cherry shrimp and maybe a crawfish and for substrate im thinking a 50/50 mix of plant soil and pea gravel then to stage 3 and final stage polywool or something very fine and rigid before hitting the sump and back to main, id like to move heaters to refugium and in the refugium create water falls for aeration, purchase a wavemaker for main tank to keep things moving possibly 2, one high and one low opposite of eachother and i think that sums it up, any advice and or knowledge would be greatly appreciated, stuck on what brand name and size pump to get, preferably one thats quiet and produces little to no heat if thats possible, from bottom of refugium to top of main is going to be 4 feet,

hope to hear from everyone soon, thanks


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## Hammer (Apr 22, 2010)

I have heard of refugia ( as in pristine ecological areas where from which nature can replenish itself), but not refugium. I am guessing some sort very natural biotype with both aquatics and land-based scaping. What ever it is...keep us posted. I am interested. Would it be temperate? Are you going to line your water course with some sort liner to create the water falls? In my younger days, I built a few ponds and water courses, Doing it on tank-sized level would be very interesting.

Keep us posted
Hammer


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## datfish (Sep 7, 2012)

Hammer said:


> I have heard of refugia ( as in pristine ecological areas where from which nature can replenish itself), but not refugium. I am guessing some sort very natural biotype with both aquatics and land-based scaping. What ever it is...keep us posted. I am interested. Would it be temperate? Are you going to line your water course with some sort liner to create the water falls? In my younger days, I built a few ponds and water courses, Doing it on tank-sized level would be very interesting.
> 
> Keep us posted
> Hammer


This should be informative for you.


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## dkjmeaden (Nov 16, 2015)

Howdy,

Hammer...im hoping it to be permanent for my 60g, i went with lexan as my friends parents own a glass shop and had the perfect piece to make all the dividers without alot of waste or extras and i learnt you can bend it as they did the one piece to create a waterfall effect/aeration effect.

Datfish...thanks, that was one of the first ones i say when researching.

had a 50g i was gonna use but the stand i had to build was gonna take up too much of our kitchen space so im using a 20g as the stand will only be ruffly 4" wider then the current one that bases for the 60g, sump pump came in yesterday so that was pretty exciting, went with a fluval sea sp2, for the first compartment im thinking of going with plastic pot scrubbers then circulates thrue the dividers on waterfall into second compartment wich ill have soil mixed with substrate and either go with a 60/40 or 70/30 mix, cleaner shrimp and red cherry shrimp and possibly snails aswell wich as they multiply ill feed to 60g tank...i hear loachs love snails so gonna run a few test first before i go full on snails as i hear they can multiply like crazy and some cleaner/filter plants then circulates thrue polywool and foam pads into third and last chanber the sump pump, gonna run i think two gravity input lines with auto shutoff both input and output lines will have valves inline so i can control flow and a bybass for easier water change.

Ive attached current images and some more as i progress more, tonight im gluing everything together, building new stand this weekend so hopefully sometime next week ill have er up n running minus the shrimp and some plants


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## dkjmeaden (Nov 16, 2015)

Got the new 60g community/20g refugium stand built, just deciding on paint or stain n all that fun stuff n the little one is for my snails n marbled cray fish tanks out of the scraps so virtualy no waste haha, tomorrow i go pick up cherry shrimp n new year shouldve have her finally complete, cant wait!!!!


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## Hammer (Apr 22, 2010)

Dkjmeaden,
I now see what you are trying to do. It is like a secondary tank which acts as a large bio filter chamber, it seems very ecologically efficient. Keep us posted
Thanks


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Refugiums and sumps are much more commonly used in saltwater setups. We use various species of macroalgae in our sw refugiums for nutrient export.

Welcome to BCA btw.

Anthony


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## dkjmeaden (Nov 16, 2015)

Here is the stand all finished, i forgot how hinges work n bought the wrong ones, outside instead of inside either it way it worked out n is operable, main thing is the wife loves it lol, away on holidays visiting family, got the refugium tank all done, ill post pics when i get back, bought 3 rc shrimp for now and placed in my snail tank for now, hopefully while im here in pg i find an overflow kit to take back or ill have to order one, either way last piece of the puzzle is the overflow and i can finally put it all together, refugiums are very popular in the sw world, i myself of being a canister filter owner for 4yrs am just done with them n instead of going back to subersed or hob i did some research and found that refugiums are kinda a big thing for discus n seeing how there fw, i figured not only try er out for my community but the benefits and addition of a dif filter setup along with growing plants, shrimp or breeding seemed pretty cool, the hardest part i think in setting up will be playing with the flow rates n water levels.

Stay tuned for more updates n the finish line


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## dkjmeaden (Nov 16, 2015)

Just ordered the CPR C- Siphon Aquarium Overflow - CS50 Deluxe (300GPH) from jlaquatics, should be the waiting for me when i get back home!


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## dkjmeaden (Nov 16, 2015)

All the parts are in, stand done, refugium done, time to get the elbow grease n get the fun goin


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## thegrandpoohbah (Jan 6, 2016)

Nice work! I'd skip the crayfish in the refugium though, it'll likely snack on your other shrimp...


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## dkjmeaden (Nov 16, 2015)

I realized that am now giving its own special home, got the stand, tank, refugium set up n plumbed, callin er a night, finish tomorrow with plumbing tidying, wire tidying, rcs n plants, ooo what fun the plumbing, dialing in n power outage test was lol, almost had major failure n water everywhere with overfilling of tank n refuge haha....gonna learn today


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## dkjmeaden (Nov 16, 2015)

Hi gang, sorry its been long, going threw pics and notes and hopefully revive my adventure, check back soon.....alot has changed!!!!!!


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## dkjmeaden (Nov 16, 2015)

Well almost done going thrue all my pictures and my last sd card decided its game over so hopefully all pictures i have at the moment will show you guys my progress to date


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## dkjmeaden (Nov 16, 2015)

Here's a pic, been running 2 months now with updated/improved tank setup, been busy lately, hopefully I can add more pics and details soon!!!


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## dkjmeaden (Nov 16, 2015)

Wow been too long, feels like yesterday i was doing this, alot has changed moved since then and had to shutdown alot of the tanks but recently in the process of purchasing a new home and as luck would have it, this house has a hair salon room, hoping for an easy transition into a fish room and bring all the projects and dreams back to light!!!!!! i will definitely get this project back up and running as well as start a new thread on my fish room ADVENTURE.


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