How big of a refugium

Hey Tangster, are you saying to take out the cheato? I thought the cheato was a good form of exporting No3 and Po3/4. If so, what do you recommend? Luna

 

I am not telling anyone to remove anything But if I'm asked what I do and I know it works as I have used and have about 200 lbs of cheado at the shop for those who just have to have cheado I won't use it .. My experience with cheado in a side by side comparison on several system and then removing the cheado fuge via a valve and then Xing the flows of the water through the opposite tanks the cheado lost out every time. First off Cheado requires water flows way to fast for a dsb and a refugium to do its job.. Thats what the guy here found out.. You have to know this guy! Q super doubter reading anal expert Butt kissing worshiper .. The Engineer guy here last winter . Would run me down anytime he saw me to talk about his problem of NO3 and PO4 and then I'd tell him then first out of his mouth was well This book and that book and I just finished a article by this guy , and they say !!!


But when he did give in I worked .. Cheado is not much more then tumble weed period thats its job .. And what many found and how it got its start is it can be ran 24/7 But what it lacks is a root system.. Its like a Bromide ? On that word but its the type of plant that lives off of a host tree and not its own root system. I can call my sister on that one Now I found out long before all the books where started that if lite up 12/12 hrs a day that The Grape and Feathers Caulerpa bikinensis , Caulerpa sertularioides and some of the types like Halimeda opuntia and their root systems working the sand to break the nutrients down where they start you'd be better off .. But these can't be lite 24/7 like phytoplankton they need some down time to convert their foods to waster by products .

Major problem with this hobby I find is to many people want to push the envelope in the wrong areas . Even Cheadom needs down time and if they properly sized and flowed their refugiums they would find that bigger is not always better and your fuge can only support some much vegetation with its fertilizers available and then the water has to be slow enough to allow the food to settle out into the sand . Now if you use Mangroves then the faster the flows the better .. thats why many have aproblem with them..

Refugiums have been in use for 30 plus yrs .. and longer nothing new excpet the people trying to reinvent the wheel.. I'll keep my rooted plants thank you very much But also the above mentioned Caulerpa's will live floating also just need some dark time and slow flows ..

 

Ok, I have about 15 mangroves and cheato(about the size of 2 bricks long wise). If I remove the cheato, do I just stay with the mangroves or do I replace the cheato with something else? Luna

 

You missed the point that I probably did not make ? But Mangroves are good at what they do But they need to be in a mud media I always used cat litter. But they need fast flows and that does not lend its self well to denitrification process at all . here you need really slow flows and time . Mangroves if used should be in a satallite type tank of their own.. set up for them I if I still ran them would just toss them into the overflows of my tank.. They will do the rest .

 

Hey Tangster, look at this video and tell me what you think. Btw, I've added another 6 mangroves after this video was made. Luna

Lunatik's homemade refugium

 

Are you there Tangster?

 

I am now Video looks good the skimmer airstone trick works well when venturis first it I many others used to do about the same thing as we had become used to the old air driven skimmers and liked the finner dryer foam of the air driven units.. Get yourseld 4 of the coralife life wooden air blocks and change them out every week and roatate them . Remove one from skimmer and into a bleachwater mix of 50/50 that that then take the one you just removed from the bleach soak and put that one in freshwater soak then that the one from the F/W soak and set out to air dry then take that one from the F/W soak and put in the skimmer .. aboiut a week tops they start to slime over bad and look at the small luft air pump for it.

The Mangroves looks good but I'd shoot as much water flow as I could over tem I'd add another drain bulkhead or jump up to a 1.5 or 2 inch outlet bulkhead drain to sump. Mangroves need lots of flow they have to stay flushed off with the cheado we grow for people to buy I keep in in a 12 ft x 2ft x 2 ft trough and I have a Big Moe pump and I shoot about 3,000GPH through them.. now of our grass tanks I send about 20 gph or abouts just a good stream.. and they are setting in 6 inches of sand the Cheados are in a bare trough. The mangroves get the same set up ..

 

So what macro algae works well, I currently have cheato in my refugium and it does grow at a rapid rate of knots! My lighting is on a reverse photo period, so it is on for around 12 hours. I have not tried any Caulerpa's but from what I've read is that they can go asexual. Is this just a over hyped risk or is it really something to be concerned about? Does the same also apply to Halimeda?

I suppose the long and the short of it is what would you recommend!

 

Look I don't have a clue about how to approach this reply..I'll probably piss off someone ? But Hey I have been know to do that to Family members and other loved ones .. But what you read ! and what do I use ?
I use these a C&P from the above post The Grape and Feathers Caulerpa bikinensis , Caulerpa sertularioides and some of the types like Halimeda opuntia and their root systems working the sand to break the nutrients down where they start , Now I have used the same culture given to me 30 yrs ago or more .. And I have never in that time had a single culture to go asexual!
I recall when I started to read some idiots talking about hey if we light these plants 12 hrs aday then 24 has to be better! And I saw many so called experts talking that mess in a few book I'm sure some of the worshipers of these God can tell you their names . I don;t have room in my head to retain worthless info myself .. My hard drive is red lining now Anyways After the great idea hatched I be damned some pretty intelligent people jumped on me for offering up some common sense as I under stand how a plant works as do all living things , even back in Biblical times they knew that there was a time for everything. Work play sleep run grow harvest . These plants only go asexual to preserve themselves for future generations . From over stimulation and no time to give off their waste products oxygen How many days could you run 24/7 ..

I still have and use off spring of my original cultures and I have given away tons of them.. And to this day I have not had or lost any to going sexual..But I give mine time off to sleep and give off their waste . Its amazing how stupid educated people can be Watching New right now a lady who is a reporter and a Lawyer just found out you can get Hook worms from letting a dog like your face ! and that your children can get infested by them from playing and she just said I'll never let my dog lick my mouth again ! LOL Hell I knew that from My Grandmother who made it to 5th grade before having to get to work on the farm.. Idiots . But thats the frustration I face daily from people wanting Data I call it common secse But now the Drs Scientist ? told the reporter , I guess its official now LOL She won't be dog licked anymore .

Oh algae then you get the experts who would be the very first to say Its all natural just like to ocean and we are replecating it ! Well I think all swamps get some dark time , Then it went to well our study and data shows us that Caulerpa;'s release Toxins ? Well yes they do all plants have chlorphyils in them and they all leech out thats what makes the water yellow and all the old smart guys use carbon and thats how they /we came up with a yelloing test Then it was written Carbon kills And thats another story But take this for whats it worth . I have used and contuniue to use Caulerpa and never had them to go sexual.. And if they did ? I have carbon in the system.. And never a issue with my SPS or tanks health .

 

You are a diamond geezer

I think I may just give it a go and get some Caulerpa. That's the thing with this hobby, so many opinions it's difficult to know what's good and what isn't. Do you risk doing something when you've spent so much time and money and end up screwing it all up! But then we all live and learn I suppose, and the great thing about places like 3reef is that us beginners to the hobby can get advice from people who have been doing it for years.

I also get the sneaking suspicion that people with a lack of common sense may just get on your nerves! ;D Speaking of common sense, that could lead me straight onto today's society and the 'nanny state'....second thoughts I'm not even gonna go there!