Display question
 

Just a question I've been seeing quite a few sw aquarium pictures lately that have incorporated the refugium and sump into their displays some look good some great and some that should stay hidden question is would you incorporate your sump and refugium into your display and if so how would you do it or would you even consider it?

For a "refegium" to be beneficial there wouldn't really be anything worth looking at. Anything with fish or shrimp etc is just taking away any life that could be grow..pods, etc. I guess you could have an artfully planted macro tank...but i think most people just use refugium as an excuse to have a smaller tank..

Depends on whether you want art or a supposedly functional refugium. or as most people end up making it ...a low flow alternate tank.

Really i suppose it depends on what you want to see. I personally think the refugium concept is just another reefing practice that took off with little insight, serves no point...practically speaking.

But i have seen beautiful tanks that are called refugiums....

you can always open your tank with a window of sorts that views the refugium...sort of like a basement to you main tank....that is if sump is below your tank. But then you can't allow your sump to be messy... most peoples i think are less than immaculate :)


if you have a dedicated fish-room....sky is the limit i suppose

My sump is ugly so I wouldn't want to incorporate it into my display. I ditched my refugium three years ago and have never considered running one again.

I used to have high nitrates and phospates, and after some reading and research decided to try a refugium. Had it stuffed full of chaeto, but hardly made a dent with my nitrates and phosphates. I later ditched it, and went to bio pellets and and GFO. My nitrates are now zero all the time, and phosphates near zero.

So, IMO, refugiums are over rated and not worth the extra effort, light and power to keep running, if your goal is to reduce high nitrates and phosphates.

You can say it! Refugiums are yet another marine tank gimmick.

imagine Dez is getting tired of me still putting up pictures of his old tank but think a visible fuge can look great.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h316/das75/ref-1.jpg
http://s67.beta.photobucket.com/user...l?sort=3&o=236

Well i'm using this gimmick strictly to grow pods.