How are these two different or are they the same thing? if they're different, which one is better for what? What's the pros and cons of each?
Sump? Refugium?
- Thread starter captmicha
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They are different, but often associated together in practice. A sump is basically where equipment like a protein skimmer, heaters, media reactors, etc. are kept so that they are out of view and not cluttering up the main tank. It also acts as a way to gain total water volume and increase overall system stability. Often, live rock is placed in a sump for extra biofiltration. A refugium, on the other hand, is generally where macroalgae is grown, is lit, and considered a place set aside for copepods / amphipods / mysid shrimp to grow. In many cases, a refugium is set up as a section of a sump, but there are cases where each is completely separate from the other.
lol so what is it called when you have equipment, liverock, macroalgae, and pods together in one set up?
They are not limited to saltwater setups. They have caught on in FW as well. I have had both on my large FW setups and dropped to just the trickle filter (wet/dry) sump system. The refugium creates a nice safehaven for raising fry away from the others that might find them tasty.
What stops the (mobile) critters from moving from compartment to compartment and maybe getting to the pump and find it's way back to main tank?
When I set up my own system from scratch later (I'm supposed to be getting a fully set up system first) I definably want a sump/w a refugium. Is that supposed to be the ultimate filtration for a marine tank?
How well can it work for a fresh water tank btw? There's no live rock, only inert media that bacteria grows on and plants. How is that better than a hob or a canister?
When I set up my own system from scratch later (I'm supposed to be getting a fully set up system first) I definably want a sump/w a refugium. Is that supposed to be the ultimate filtration for a marine tank?
How well can it work for a fresh water tank btw? There's no live rock, only inert media that bacteria grows on and plants. How is that better than a hob or a canister?
Nothing really prevents critters from moving from one compartment to the other and potentially being carried up to the main tank. In fact, that's kind of the point. While I've seen it debated how many pods / other microfauna actually make it from the sump / refugium back up to the main tank, one of the reasons for having a refugium is to allow those microfauna to have a relatively predator free area to multiply and act as a food supply for the main tank. I cannot say definitively how many make the trip, but if skeptical, it's easy enough to remove pods from a refugium manually and put them in the main tank yourself. The movement of larger critters can be limited by the use of strainers.
I wouldn't call anything "the ultimate filtration" for a marine tank. A sump and refugium can, however, make it easier to be sucessful in keeping a marine tank.
In fw, a sump still provides additional water volume (stability) and more surface area for bacteria to populate if any kind of media or rock is kept within it. Heaters can be kept there instead of in the main tank, which can be an important consideration for some larger fw fish species that can damage heaters. Similarly, a fw refugium could be used to house and propagate fw shrimp for food, as well as be a place to grow fw plants to help export nutrients from the water (especially useful if the inhabitants of the main tank are not friendly to plants). I would say a sump and/or refugium on a fw system can be better than a HOB or canister filter because the benefits have the potential to be much greater than a HOB or canister filter for only a small difference in electrical consumption (i.e. -- the pump to circulate water from the sump / refugium back to the main tank is likely to consume a little more electricity than the pump running a HOB or canister filter). The cost of setting up a sump / refugium can also be quite low, considering they are easy to DIY and can be made from old tanks that are sitting around unused, a few pieces of inexpensive glass, and some silicone.
I wouldn't call anything "the ultimate filtration" for a marine tank. A sump and refugium can, however, make it easier to be sucessful in keeping a marine tank.
In fw, a sump still provides additional water volume (stability) and more surface area for bacteria to populate if any kind of media or rock is kept within it. Heaters can be kept there instead of in the main tank, which can be an important consideration for some larger fw fish species that can damage heaters. Similarly, a fw refugium could be used to house and propagate fw shrimp for food, as well as be a place to grow fw plants to help export nutrients from the water (especially useful if the inhabitants of the main tank are not friendly to plants). I would say a sump and/or refugium on a fw system can be better than a HOB or canister filter because the benefits have the potential to be much greater than a HOB or canister filter for only a small difference in electrical consumption (i.e. -- the pump to circulate water from the sump / refugium back to the main tank is likely to consume a little more electricity than the pump running a HOB or canister filter). The cost of setting up a sump / refugium can also be quite low, considering they are easy to DIY and can be made from old tanks that are sitting around unused, a few pieces of inexpensive glass, and some silicone.
The return pump has a foam filter over the intake strainer that prevents anything unwanted from entering the pump.
As fsn77 pointed out there is nothing to prevent a fish going from compartment to compartment and is not an issue anyway. (Wasn't for me) I kept plants and fry in my refugium.
Surprisingly, they are neither complicated or costly to operate. I have found them to do a better job at filtering the water than a HOB system. In a SW application they need to be 1/3 the size of the main tank. That is also an ideal size for FW and you can go smaller of FW as long as you can filter effectively. I made a DIY sump from 2 plastic tubs. Water turnover was about 10x an hour. Total cost was less than $100. The pump and the bio-media are the 2 biggest initial expenses.
As fsn77 pointed out there is nothing to prevent a fish going from compartment to compartment and is not an issue anyway. (Wasn't for me) I kept plants and fry in my refugium.
Surprisingly, they are neither complicated or costly to operate. I have found them to do a better job at filtering the water than a HOB system. In a SW application they need to be 1/3 the size of the main tank. That is also an ideal size for FW and you can go smaller of FW as long as you can filter effectively. I made a DIY sump from 2 plastic tubs. Water turnover was about 10x an hour. Total cost was less than $100. The pump and the bio-media are the 2 biggest initial expenses.
I can't wait to try it then when I set up a marine tank. I looked for tank scrubbies in two different dollar stores for bio filtration and couldn't find them.