Hob refugium necessary?

Well no sand and a golf ball size peice of lr in there. For light I'm using a 11" coralife mini aqualight, just setting it on top of the filter. Was gonna use it for the tank light but not sufficient, I knew I kept it for a reason. It has a 6 watt t5 10k and a 6 watt t5 actinic. If there is a way to adjust the flow I haven't figured it out. The two filters put me roughly at 480gph. Lmao that's a lot for a 10 gallon, guess ill find out how that works out.

 

I broke some pieces up to about the size of a nickel, probably smaller and just covered the bottom. I believe the depth in mine is approx. 5.5" from rubble to the top of the water.

 

So how will I know if the fuge is working?

 

If the chaeto flourishes and the pods that live within it flourish, I believe you can call it a success. They will both do their part to remove nitrates from the water, and the pods that get into your tank will do theirs as a food source, as well as keep your tank clean.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong by that statement

 

Ok, well I didn't see any pods in the cheato I bought. Guess I got screwed...

 

Did you buy the chaeto online or at a store? Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can help you with that issue.

 

I got it from my lfs.

 

This is an example... fyi.... DIY sump/refugium and PVC overflow

 

Not necessarily. When I got some Cheato (advertised with pods), I didn't see anything crawling around in it. A few days later, there were some pods crawling around the fuge area. A couple days after that, they were in my tank and some mysis shrimp started to appear. I don't remember the exact amount of days, but I'm going to say about 7 days total when the mysis first showed up (call them a bonus). So I'd wait a few more days........

 

Ok cool, hopefully ill have some after awhile.