So my tank has been going 8 months now, SPS dominated and everything is running beautifully. the only issue is my chaeto wont grow and keeps dying. i know my set up is very low on nutrients, and i like it that way, the sps seem to enjoy it and i plan to keep doing what i am doing. i want to take the chaeto out but then i just have this big empty space in my sump, any Suggestions on what i could do with it to actually get some use out of it. maybe a DSB? but i dont really see the benefits to putting that in such a small space and what would it actually do for my tank and my corals.
Refugium set up
- Thread starter Jarrett
- Start date
- Location
- Staten Island, Brooklyn
miracle mud? or rock rubble and grow pods?
ive read mixed reviews on the miracle mud that it doesnt really do anything. and with reproducing pods in a refugium, i get how its nice to have it as a natural food for the fish but how would they ever make it to my DT alive they would just get chopped up from my return pump. anytime i see a pod in my DT its dead and floating around lol.
- Location
- Apopka, Florida
I started my tank with dry sand & dry rocks. in my sump I had the same,then I put a bottle of reef pods in the sump and with in the month I notice them everywhere in the display tank.... So they do make it thru.
As for the miracle mud, the only draw back is that ive read it needs to be replaced every few months, So I went with sand.
As for the miracle mud, the only draw back is that ive read it needs to be replaced every few months, So I went with sand.
- Location
- Mt Sinai, NY
What bulb were u using on the fuge? Spectrum means a lot for optimal growth. Mine took off with a 5100k bulb.
- Location
- Valley stream
thats why you put sand first then the mud on top so when it need to be replaced you just add some more
I've had the same problem with chaeto over the past 2 years in my refug but I've had great success growing caluerpa ( grape algae ). I grow it with a 5000 k flood lite.
I couldnt tell you mbg75, but i am pretty positive my light is sufficent enough because the chaeto was growing for a long time, but since gettin into SPS i have upped my husbandry and the algae is pretty much non existant in my tank. i dont even really care for the growing of algae, because to be honest it does nothing in our home tanks, with such little space to grow. i just wanted to see if i could use the space for something benficial to the tank. i guess i can just use it to put more live rock in.
- Location
- Apopka, Florida
More live rock,amphipods, copepods, hermits to help with the detrus(bad spelling I think)
i never understood why you would add live stock to a sump, i understand the actual true purpose of a refugium is for livestock to be safe but if i added hermits and other stuff that would be basically having a secondary tank below and just adding to the bioload of the tank i would think. i know hermits dont really produce bio load but they do poop, and that would just accumulate down there i would think.
- Location
- Mt Sinai, NY
There are different types of cheato also. I originally had the thick strand type which grew slow. Now have the fine stuff and I pull half out every 2 weeks.
- Location
- Mt Sinai, NY
Maybe a frag section. Make a rack and add a par38 rapid led to light it. That way no unsightly frag rack in the dt
I rigged my fuge with a mini rack for frags and new coral. Best thing I could have done. Makes acclimation easier on the coral I keep. I run a 65K daylight CFL fuge boomed in a month. Thinking of what to do with the excess maybe put some in my FO DT for the fish to play and eat.
- Location
- Mt Sinai, NY
If you try fuge again. This is the bulb to get.
It's a 5100k 23w cfl r40. 120w equivalent
It's a 5100k 23w cfl r40. 120w equivalent
Sponsor Reefs
We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.
Click here to sponsor $10:
