Help setting up freshwater refugium please.

[rcombs]

I have always ran A refugium on my saltwater tanks. Always used sponge filters on my freshwater tanks. I am setting up a glow fish tank in my living room. I have a tank with an overflow 24" x 24" x 14" tall with a brand new synergy 15 gallon refugium. It is completely empty besides my return pump. How should I set this up. Any help will be appreciated.

[kodyboy]

Fill it full of fast-growing plants.  It could have just a bunch of floating plants or be full of Java fern.  It all depends on your goals. Refugium help pull excess nutrients out of a reef tank and produce plankton to feed things in the main tank.  I do not see why you would want to do this for glofish.  I would think the fish would appreciate a heasily planted tank more than a refugium.
maybe the "refugium" could be used to highlight another small species like shellies, killifish, micro rasbora etc.

[Ron]

My understanding of a refugium on a saltwater setup, is that it provides a place to grow organisms that wouldn't survive longterm in the main tank. Macro algae for nutrient removal, a safe place for pods to breed, etc.

What is the goal on your freshwater tank?

Are you looking for help with the plumbing or how to stock things into the refugium?

[kodyboy]

That is the same concept I have for a refugium too. The closest thing I can think of for a freshwater tank to a saltwater refugium would be a shrimp tank full of Java moss.
I just don't think it would work the same way on a freshwater tank.

[rcombs]

I am going to stock the tank with fake plants that glow. I think stocking with Java fern and shrimp would be a good idea. I have about 1,000 cherry red shrimp. They would possibly serve a part in the ecosystem in the refugium. Possibly a smaller breed of fish. I like that idea. The reason for using a refugium for freshwater..... Because I have it. It's something new and knowledge is an advantage. Who knows maybe I'll like it better. Some of the articles I have read stated that it keeps the tank crystal clear with minimal maintenance. Back to the setup. What has others used for substrate in the refugium? Miracle mud, sand, gravel. What works best? Thanks e everyone for your comments so far. 👌

[rcombs]

My understanding of a refugium on a saltwater setup, is that it provides a place to grow organisms that wouldn't survive longterm in the main tank. Macro algae for nutrient removal, a safe place for pods to breed, etc.

What is the goal on your freshwater tank?

Are you looking for help with the plumbing or how to stock things into the refugium?

The plumbing is ready done. It's almost ready for fish. Just looking for stocking tips/ advice on the refugium. Plants I can grow in it, substrate to use, any other filter media such as bio balls, filter floss. 😎. Thanks Ron.

[kodyboy]

I see what you are doing now. I think the refugium will work well for that.  I don't know if the shrimp will help or not but they will look cool.  The glofish would benefit the mout from fast growing plants that can be harvested periodically.  Since you have 15 gallons I would suggest an eco-complete substrate (designed for plast growth) and lots of crypts and Java moss.  They should grow fast and look good.  I have a glofish tank in my classroom with glo-danios and glo-tetras they are cool. I read like the glo-tetras as all the colors school together and they are larger.  I added a couple of wild type black tetras, white tetras and longfin black tetras to highlight selective breeding and transgenic organisms. I never thought about glowing plants that is a good idea.

[Ron]

... Some of the articles I have read stated that it keeps the tank crystal clear with minimal maintenance. ...

The big difference with freshwater is that the bioload is typically so much higher. You'd have to keep almost nothing (relatively speaking) in the display tank for the refugium to have any significant impact.

I do agree that something is better than nothing. Anything you do should be an improvement and only the significance or impact would be debatable.

For plants, if you don't have cats or dogs, look into pothos if you haven't already. I've seen on other forums where people are really exicted about using these in freshwater sumps or refugiums to reduce nitrates. A big advantage is that only the roots need be in the water and then you can let the rest of the plant go nuts (so you're not limited to the water volume for space like you would be with fully aquatic plants. I was excited about trying it  in my sump until I found out it's poisonous to cats and dogs - don't want to risk my dog getting sick.

[rcombs]

So far

[rcombs]

Why did they load sideways lol. Click on them they go normal.

[kodyboy]

Looks very nice.  Pack the refugium full of plants or do the pothos (I have used plastic gutters to hang pothos off the bacr of tanks before they grow quite fast) or do both and you should have an awesome shrimp and glofish set-up.

[rcombs]

Added some pothos. Tracking down some lava rock. Gonn look for a floating pot and pack with lava rocks to hold the pothos. Also filling the bottom with some lava rock for BB to colonize. Used some 100% polyester batting that came in a roll for stopping any large material to
Be sucked into my return pump. Any suggestions to help me on what I'm doing? First time
Fresh water refugium here lol.

[rcombs]

Forgot the light is on a timer of 8 hrs during the daytime. Also has a True Color bulb so it's called.

[kodyboy]

I would aim the light more at the plant:)
seriously I would just put a plastic cup, or container, (punch it full of hole) in the refugium, fill it full of lava rock and let the roots dangle in the rock, but in reality as long as the pothos does not fall in (that will kill it) just having the roots hang in the water is enough. You might want to put some sort of climbing "fence" behind the plant to have it grow up something as opposed to all over the place. Instead of that I suppose you could just trim it often. 

[mightieskeeper]

I have a freshwater refugium on my 120 gallon.  It is a 40 gallon with duck weed and valls.  It works great to help my Diy plastic kitty litter wet/dry.   In the bottom is plant substrate but the duck weed took over and choke most of my valls out.  I would use a hydro pot from the "pot stores"  filled with small lava rocks to hold the roots in the water.  The hydro pot could sit in egg creat, plastic, or acrylic over the sump.  I got fancy with my show tank and drilled 12 3" holes in glass lids to grow strawberries.  Aquaponics is very cool to do with your tank.