Would a HOB Refugium be worth it?

[DaveMc]

Good afternoon everyone,

 

i currently have a HOB Refugium that I used on my old 10 nano tank. Was thinking about using it n my current 36g Bowfront tank that I have. I was just wondering if it would really be worth it in the long run? The HOB fuge holds about 1 gallon of water and was looking at adding some macro algae to help with nutrient export, along side my skimmer. I don't have the room for a regular refugium because of limited space and my stand doesn't have the place to put one. Was gonna place some extra filter floss in one chamber and leave the other 2 for the macro algae and possibly Pods in the near future. 

 

What do you think? 

[Subsea]

If your goal is nutrient export, I see little point with such a small volume.  If you want to feed live food then I see your point.

[Jimbokro]

Tried something similar using the center chamber (Fluval 13.5) as a cheato chamber using an 8W red LED bar against the glass shining into the chamber.  Cheato expanded quickly as expected even without any rotation but I had to thin it down with a pair of long tweezers.  NO3/PO4 levels began to drop an stabilize with heavy feeding.  No algae in the display.  All is good, until pieces of cheato began to find their way around the final filter (vertical 100 micron material curtain filter in chamber 3 before the pump).  Cheato became a major PITA sticking in the tank and growing wildly.  Ditched it all and I’m now maturing a river ATS which isn’t very efficient but which is still enough to keep NO3 at “0”.  I got 1 4” very fat OC clown that eats at least a half cube per day.  I also change 2G of water ever 7-10 days.  

[WhatsReef]

I mean if you already have it there on hand and it's not going to be a hassle or introduce undue complication to the setup then why not do it. Nice little place for pods to breed and to grow some chaeto.

[DaveMc]

2 hours ago, Subsea said:

If your goal is nutrient export, I see little point with such a small volume.  If you want to feed live food then I see your point.

That's what I was thinking, if it was a bigger volume of water in the fuge may be worth a try. Still may use it for the live food aspect. My wife is wanting a Mandarin but told her it needs live food to live. If I can use this to grow pods for it then may still use it. 

[DaveMc]

4 minutes ago, WhatsReef said:

I mean if you already have it there on hand and it's not going to be a hassle or introduce undue complication to the setup then why not do it. Nice little place for pods to breed and to grow some chaeto.

Yes, that's what I am thinking now @WhatsReef. Since my wife wants a Mandarin would be a good way to grow pods for it. I don't have it setup yet, was going to wait until I done my next water change before setting it up as I would have to move my skimmer to the other side of the tank. Man,, can't wait to get a bigger tank and a sump lol.

[DaveMc]

1 hour ago, Jimbokro said:

Tried something similar using the center chamber (Fluval 13.5) as a cheato chamber using an 8W red LED bar against the glass shining into the chamber.  Cheato expanded quickly as expected even without any rotation but I had to thin it down with a pair of long tweezers.  NO3/PO4 levels began to drop an stabilize with heavy feeding.  No algae in the display.  All is good, until pieces of cheato began to find their way around the final filter (vertical 100 micron material curtain filter in chamber 3 before the pump).  Cheato became a major PITA sticking in the tank and growing wildly.  Ditched it all and I’m now maturing a river ATS which isn’t very efficient but which is still enough to keep NO3 at “0”.  I got 1 4” very fat OC clown that eats at least a half cube per day.  I also change 2G of water ever 7-10 days.  

Yes, cheato has a way of getting all over the place. Learned the hard way when I first got into the hobby. I had a 10g nano and thought it would be a good idea to put a small clump in the back corner of the tank itself for decoration and also a place for smaller inverts etc. to hide and for the fish to nibble on. Started growing real nice and helped with keeping NO3 down, but then it went a little wild. Took me a month to get it and all the little pieces out of the tank lol. 

[coryscritch]

I have a hob refugium on my IM 14 gallon. It does a nice job. I’m able to use my 2nd chamber for a protein skimmer or reactor if needed. 

[WhatsReef]

Man, I wouldn't even try a mandarin in a 36 personally. Especially if there are any other fish in there to eat the pods. If you do you'd better get like 75 lbs of live rock and build the entire tank into a pod factory.

[DaveMc]

21 minutes ago, WhatsReef said:

Man, I wouldn't even try a mandarin in a 36 personally. Especially if there are any other fish in there to eat the pods. If you do you'd better get like 75 lbs of live rock and build the entire tank into a pod factory.

@WhatsReef, was just thinking about that after my last post. I only have 3 other fish in the tank, one being a clown and he is a little pig lol. Hmmmm, this could be a really good bargaining chip with the wife to get a bigger tank sooner lol. 

[WhatsReef]

9 minutes ago, DaveMc said:

@WhatsReef, was just thinking about that after my last post. I only have 3 other fish in the tank, one being a clown and he is a little pig lol. Hmmmm, this could be a really good bargaining chip with the wife to get a bigger tank sooner lol. 

Convince her to snatch up this JBJ Rimless 65g AIO @ 20% off - https://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=38971

 

Edit: wait, it's 15% off ON TOP of that

Edited January 20, 2019 by WhatsReef

[DaveMc]

8 minutes ago, WhatsReef said:

Convince her to snatch up this JBJ Rimless 65g AIO @ 20% off - https://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=38971

 

Edit: wait, it's 15% off ON TOP of that

Oh SWEEEETTTTTT! That would be perfect for the room I have available right now. Love AIO tanks and have been trying to decide which to go with. with this sale I may just have to pull the plug on it. That's a good price for it, plus my current lighting should work perfectly or it.

 

Thanks for the heads up on this @WhatsReef!

[WhatsReef]

I didn't realize it was on sale, but I was looking at that one before I bought my Fusion 40 so that crazy good deal was just dumb luck for me to find haha. But it's a fire sale over there since Petco is liquidating them and folding them into their other brands so deal will be gone once they sell out - all the more reason to tell your wife you've got to buy it today without thinking to much haha. Just make sure you use this coupon, they kind of hide the coupons for people who aren't looking for them: https://www.drsfostersmith.com/general.cfm?gid=1447

[DaveMc]

6 minutes ago, WhatsReef said:

I didn't realize it was on sale, but I was looking at that one before I bought my Fusion 40 so that crazy good deal was just dumb luck for me to find haha. But it's a fire sale over there since Petco is liquidating them and folding them into their other brands so deal will be gone once they sell out - all the more reason to tell your wife you've got to buy it today without thinking to much haha. Just make sure you use this coupon, they kind of hide the coupons for people who aren't looking for them: https://www.drsfostersmith.com/general.cfm?gid=1447

Awesome! Got the links saved, didn't see that one for the 15% when I first went there so a big thank you for that lol. Currently at work but will call her once I get lunch and see if I can "sweet talk" her into doing it now haha. 

[Pod Your Reef]

HOB refugiums are always a good option.