Starting a Refugium on Existing tank

[clavo]

Hi all. I was given an ecosystem refugium (hang-on the back) and I am thinking of adding it to my existing tank, which has been up for over a year now. I don't want to use miracle mud--I want to add fine sand, rubble and macro algae to the ecosystem refugium. My first question is: Has anyone used an ecosystem refugium and modified it to be used without miracle mud like I am thinking of doing? Secondly, if I add the refugium to the existing tank, will there be a cycling period if I use inoculated sand? Any advice is appreciated.

[Rob]

those fuges are relatively small, so as long as you you dont go and add uncured rock or somethign you should be fine.

i have never used one of these, so i cant speak to the specifics of this unit, but in general i would use a small grain sand if it can be made deep enough. if you can get a good 4-5 inches of sand in there cool, anything less wont do you much other than providing a place for some critters to live

then get some base rubble rock and stick it up, MarcoRocks is a great source for high quality base rock thats real cheap. then add you macro algae and you shodul be good to go..

[christensonjes]

Yep, what Rob said