Basics Of A Refugium

I early on decided to create a refugium to replace the wet dry filter I originally bought.
I was tired of the constant maintenance of sponges, after a while they get quite nasty.

The idea behind a refugium is that it is a safe area for mini fauna to thrive, without predators preying on them such as fish in the display tank. These copepods, amphipods and isopods etc. will eventually make their way into your display tank and benefit fishes and the sand bed.
It is also very common to have an abundance of tube worms helping with the filtration.

Usually a type of macro algae is kept in this tank to export nutrients like organic nitrates and phosphates.
The macro algae will absorb these nutrients and when you prune the algae because of growth you take those nutrients out of the water.

The benefits of a refugium seemed like a no brainer. I have not regretted creating it.