Water Flow

[Khann]

Hello all I'm new to this forum and I'm starting a 56 g corner tank i have everything else figured out except the filter system.I would like to do a Refugium. My Questions I have is Flow rate is there such a thing as too much flow through the Refugium?My box is 20" long 10" wide and 16" tall I was planning on a 300GPH overflow/skimmer box directly into the Refuguim wasn't sure yet if i was going to use a diffuser plate and give it a rain effect or just plumb it straight.Then i was going to set up a 600GPH return pump with a water gate to maintain sump depth.My other Question is where are you all buying your allgea I didn't want to go with calupera because of the dying off with no warning oh if I did have to go with calupera and had say 3 types would they all die at the same time or would one go and then the rest be able to catch most of the Bio Mass and just shock my system in stead of killing it off.

[Angelscrx]

Wow good questions. I would like to know as well. I just set up my refugium and I had some issues with waterflow but the folks here were very helpful in getting mine worked out. I bought a refugium kit with four different macro algaes on ebay and it came with all different kinds of good stuff. I would definitely recommend it. The the only thing is I am probably going to get rid of some of the algae and keep the Cheto because I have heard nothing but good things about it. I hope someone answers this one soon. Sorry I couldn't be of much help but I am pretty new to this too.

[russ1974]

I think I can help answer some of your questions. Ecosystem setups using mud beds and macroalgae benefit from high flow rates. In one of our 55 gal reef tanks, we run about 700 gph through a 30 gallon ecosystem refugium with a return valve as you suggested.

To answer your second question. One of the best ways to create an artificially stable enviroment in your refugium is to provide 24 hr lighting. With this method you can succesfully grow any popular type of caulerpa, ulva, or cheto with very little to no die off. This method also aids in keeping your ph stable while the main lights are off. It's really a personal choice, but when mixing algae types one will eventually dominate the rest in growth while the others tag along. As for where to purchase macroalgae for your refugium, look no further than one of coral forums sponsors liveplants.gulf-coast.net.

[icereefer]

I myself use caribsea,mineral mud and caribsea sand in my refugium. and like russ said most set there's up in a high flow rate. but I've been asking around and I went to a low flow rate in my refugium and since I have I valved my RIO pump on my hang on down to only running about 65 to 75 GPH, but then again my refugium only holds around 3 gals of water. and I run my 6500k pc 24/7 and since I lowered my flow rate my macro has been growing like weeds I believe the less water flow the more time the macro has to extract what it needs to keep it growing faster.
but then again this works for me!
PS you can see the macro I run in my refugium on this forum,it have worked very well for me, plus like I said I should have some ready for you in about a week if your still interesed, and zack has some grape he's selling too. I find if you run that under your chaeto,it won't cycle out that bad. grape just does'nt do as good under 24/7 lights as some of the other macro's