I was going to convert a 30 gallon tank into a Refugium and a place to put equipment.

Right now I have

75 Gallon display (No Plumbing)

Emperor Penguin 400

Turbo twist UV sterilizer

Sea clone Skimmer

2 Power Heads

Coralife PC Lighting 2x65 Blue and 2x65 10000K White

I am taking my Emperor off soon and want to get this tank converted I dont want to spend the money for a premade Wet/Dry unless I need to. Is a Refugium with Macro Algea and little Live Rock and a seperate Light Source the only thing i will need. A New skimmer will be added when converted. I will be using a Over Flow to send the water to refugium.

Robert Kunz

Hi adoptabobby! Welcome to TR!

Would the refugium be out of sight? If so i would make it a cheap as possible and not spend the cash on the wet/dry thing. From what i have been told many many times, you dont want to use the bioballs in the wet dry as it will cause a huge buildup in nitrates. In the Fuge (or display) go with the deep sand bed (DSB) of four inches or deeper. The sand toward the bottom will go anarobic and suck nitrates out of the water (turning them into nitrogen gas). A DSB can cause a buildup of hydrogen sulfide in the sand, a toxic horrible-smelling gas, but this is easily and safely removed by slightly stirring part of the sandbed every month or so.

Am i answering you question? Or i am i just rambling on? Wouldn't be the first time :)

As a final note, a friend of mine (colaebola on the forums, if he ever posts) uses a 30 gallon tank as his fuge and it works great. For lighting he is using the old single tube HO flourscent that came with the tank. He added a second smaller hex tank inside and uses it to hold his DSB. The rest of the 30 gallon is filled with macroalgae (cheatomorpha and calipura). His water quality is perfect (just checked it yesterday actually): ammonia, nitrite, nitrate = 0. There isn't a single hole drilled in any of his set up; he just lets the water overflow the hex into the 30.

Thanks A lot just wasn't sure if a Refugium was all i needed.

well It's time to get to work.

Thanks