What is a refugium?
A refugium is a compartment isolated from the rest of the aquarium population that may either be inside or outside the fish tank. The purpose of the refugium, as its name would suggest, is to provide a refuge for fish and other aquatic life. However, the refugium shares the same water conditions as the rest of the aquarium, making it ideal if the goal is to eventually release the isolated species into the main tank. A refugium may beneficial if a species of aquatic life, such as a fish, is injured and may need special protection from aggressive species in the aquarium. Often, a fish becoming injured will become a prime target for attack. The best way to keep it safe while it recovers is to keep it isolated. For some aquarium owners, this is very important, as some exotic fish species can be quite expensive. A refugium can also be used to keep prey species isolated until they are ready for feeding to the fish population. This allows the prey to get acclimated to the water so that they a
It is essentially a second smaller aquarium that is placed inside of the stand. This allows several benefits. For one thing, you can add things to the refugium that you couldn’t add to the display tank, such as a very deep sand bad, extra live rock, plants, and even small invertebrates such as copepods. The refugium is connected to the display tank via two pipes. Water can be sent into the refugium via two methods. The first (and arguably the best) is to drill the tank and insert a pipe into the side of the display tank that acts as a drain. The other method is to add an overflow to the display tank, which acts as a siphon. If you use the overflow box method, you should ensure that you get a type that will continue syphoning even after power is lost and resumed. To return water from the refugium, you need a water pump that has a higher output than the siphon. For example, if the overflow or drain siphons at a rate of 700 gph, you need a pump that can handle, say, 800 gph. You will then
As the marine hobby progresses, aquarists all over the world continually strive to provide the most natural and healthy environment possible for their pets. Because of the constant tinkering and sometimes questionable experimenting, new approaches are discovered that help move the hobby forward. This could be said for the recent popularity explosion of the refugium. Although the attributes provided for by a well established and maintained refugium is not new to the hobby, the understanding and acceptance of them by more and more people everyday is! Basically, a refugium is an environment that provides protection to a multitude of creatures that are not only useful to the system as a whole, but if established and run properly can lessen the maintenance and increase the stability associated with aquarium keeping. Substrate The first and one of the most integral factors for the refugium is what kind of substrate to establish. Depth should be no less than 3 deep and no more than 5 deep. Th
A refugium is a small aquarium that either sits next to or hangs onto an existing saltwater or reef aquarium. This is used by a growing number of aquarists to continually cycle water into and out of the existing tank. A refugium typically contains aragonite live rock, macroalgae, and a deep sand or mud bed. A refugium is the best representation of how nutrients are handled in nature. It recreates, on a small scale, the seagrass beds that are commonly found in association with a natural reef. How does a refugium work? With a refugium, instead of the detritus and uneaten food becoming trapped in a mechanical filter where it decays, this material will settle within the rock and deep sand in the refugium, where the micro crustaceans such as amphipods and copepods will feed upon it. As a result, and since there are no fish in the refugium, the micro crustaceans multiply, thereby adding a natural food source and biodiversity of the aquarium. A macroalgae, usually of the Caulerpa genus, is th
