refugium critters

Ya, I know they were harmless, but they really produced fast and I didn't want them to get out of hand. I have one in there now and I think one in my DT.

 

You talking about a refugium or a sump ? I just trickle about 10GPH through mine the top is scuzzy looking an nasty , Ever seen a clear pretty swamp or a real saltmarsh they never look or smell pretty .

 

If they ever get out of hand its because there is enough food for them to eat they are great at cleaning up They're hard to find or see t during the day and feed lie crazy on micro algae and bio films at night. I would never get ride of any of them there paper shell snails

 

i was referring to the refugium and how it has little to no water agitation at 10-20GPH in my case. and i was curious if i should put a pump in there to move water, but it seems as you mentioned i should leave it be.

i sourced some unscented natural clay kitty litter. im giong to get 50-60lbs of it to give me a 2" "MUD" base and then the 60lbs of aragonite sand ontop. i have a T8 fixture that fits perfectly over the fuge and ill use that with a 6500K bulb. then ill leave it alone. i do have to do 'maintenance' to the chaeto in there though dont i? cleaning it up and such. that question might warrant a new thread

 

Lots of stuff from my tank makes its way to my sump and fuge. I don't use a filter bag and have snails, peppermint shrimp and even a watchman goby that have taken the ride. Most of the stuff I leave, but I wanted the Goby in the DT so I pulled the refug apart and pulled him out. Anyone else have stuff riding through the plumbing?- Paul

 

Pump to circulate your fuge? I wouldn't, but I am a fan of what Tangster said above...slow and grow. Sort of like that old commercial - rinse and forget it

Feed to fuge 10% of the DT tanks volume per hour and just let it be. Never touch it, don;t try and clean it - just forget it. Roger said in 6-12 months you won't be able to see in it. He's right. Here is a pic of the top of mine...enjoy ! haha

 

No cleaning ever required slow flow and like mention by C.G I have over the yrs hit upon what I call the 10 10 LOL rfugium is to be 10% of system's volume then 10% of the refugium volume should be ran through the refugium per Hr . As for maintaining the grass just pull it out and toss it ito the trash can. never shear it with scissors or break it off this just allows the algae to bleed chlorophyll and stored nutrients back into the water

Now thats a refugium Looks like one I'd have and this is the reason I only stick my old spaghetti noodle fork claw thing in mine I twirl it and yank out grass I'm never sticking my hand in there ..

 

lol ok. 75gal DT so 7.5gal per hour. the fuge itself holds 15gal of actual water so i can safely go with 10gal/hr of flow and be good.

right now i have 4" of sand. im going to wallmart to find some special kitty litter for a 2" clay base before i put any water to it.

then ill setup the drain to be a U shape at the farthest corner and as far down to the sand as i can get it and let the games begin. ill then let it grow...

thanks all