Refugium Vs Skimmer

[lgarvey]

Hey,

I have read stuff about refugiums and it seems that in many cases a refugium is a more-than-adequate replacement for a skimmer. The refugium I am running has a compartment full of bioballs (not sure if these will become a nitrate factory or not), and then a main compartment with a miracle mud DSB, and a load of macro algae.

It seems to have sorted both the phosphate and nitrate figures over night, yet it makes hardly any noise compared to a skimmer.

So question to experienced reef keepersf, do you think refugiums are a good replacment to skimmers and why?

Cheers,
L

 

[Crazy fishes]

Skimmers and refugiums are not designed to replace one another; actually many reefers would say that having both is the best setup. They are designed to do the same thing i.e remove nutrients (NO3 and PO4) but in very different ways. Skimmers work at the beginning of the cycle removing DOCs (dissolved organic compounds) which would later break down into nitrate and phosphate plus other nasties. The refugium acts later using macroalgae and the like to directly remove nitrate and stabilise the phosphate.

It is an interesting observation that I have made, and others probably seen the same thing, refugiums generally don't cause significant reductions in phospahte levels they seen to maintain constant levels. So if you have low phosphates they generally remain low and if they are high they remain high. Refugium in combination with Rowaphos is an excellent way to reduce both phosphates and nitrates and maintain them at low levels. On both my marine tanks I only use refugiums plus Rowaphos but skimmers can certainly be worthwhile if you are a heavy feeder or have a large bioload.
Nanos are usually kept without skimmers because water changes weekly +/- a refugium is sufficent.

Hope this helps

Kindest regards

Joe