refugium critters

so i setup my 20gal refugium tonight. put in the 60lbs of aragonite to give me 4" of sand depth. i threw in some chaeto and intend on planting mangroves. i intend to put a few pieces of LR and hope that a pod population thrives.

my question is do i purposefully put any sort of clean up crew in there? snails, crab, etc? i highly doubt id put a crab in there, but snails for the algae growth perhaps?

i know i dont want anything that will disturb the sand so nass snails are out of the picture, but ceriths or astreas that dont burrow?

 

You want algae growth in there. I don't feel there is a need to have a clean up crew in the refugium...

 

ya you want it to get as nasty as possible that way the algae thrives in your fuge and you have a nice big sustainable pod population

 

+1...except if a transitory nuisance, (like cyano for example), is choking out a long term nutrient solution like chaeto...chaeto is easy to clean but a chore is a chore so a CUC in that situation might be helpful.

 

I havehad the same question when it comes to my refugium. I have a very low flow in it so that algae and pods will populate but a nasty brown film (i think cyno) starts to grow. should i not get a clean up crew for that? it is a 3 or 4 gallon overflow refugium and its basically right under my 400w metal halide.

 

I don't care what grows in my fuge, as long as it does not chock out my cheato. I have some cyano but don't really care. I used to clean the glass, but my pods like the algae, so I don't clean my glass anymore. I had sort of an out break of those flat shelled snails.... Stmoas???? Sort of weeded those out cause they were really reproducing fast and didn't want them to get out of hand.

I have quite a few bristle worms and others in my sand, but was still concerned the sand was not being tilled enough. It has been nearly a year and I still don't have any bubbles in my sand. My DT has 3-4" and bubbles all day. So I put 3 Nassarius snails in to help stir it up. So far they seem happy.. We'll see how it goes.

 

Powerman you shouold have moved the stomatelas to your DT there very beneficial

 

I would put nothing in there hell in a about 6 months to a yr. you will not be able to see in there anyways I won't put my hands in my god knows what all is in there that could sting or bite LOL Really I can't see a inch to mine . no need for a mangrove and especially any rocks .
Now alot of live stuff will appear down the raod and if it does let it be thats where it needs to live and has a job to do thats why its there .

 

alright i wont put any snails in there. what about fauna? i understand we want fauna so would a fauna starter kit do me good?

 

@tangster: im also interested in your thoughts on water agitation in the fuge. im going with a low 10-15GPH flow through my fuge and the top of the water seems very idle. is this bad for exchange?