A Refugium's Diary

[aquemeni5110]

Hello everyone! I hope this post will provide useful information and new ideas for existing and future refugiums. Here I will document the progress of my HOB refugium on my 6G Nano as it grows.

Parameters:
1.022 @ 78 degrees


Lighting Schedule:
24/7 (to prevent caulerpa die off/sexual)

Maintainence:
- weekly 1 gallon water changes (R/O w/artificial salt)
- Aquaclear carbon bag (changed monthly)
- Filter pads cleaned weekly
- Top off w/ r/o

Dosing:

Monday:
- Kent Liquid Calcium
- Purple Up

Tuesday:
- Kent Iron
- Kent Iodine

Wednesday:
None

Thurday:
- Kent Strontium & Molybdenum

Friday:
- Kent Liquid Calcium
- Purple Up


This is what I'm working with. It's a 14" HOB Refugium/protein skimmer w/pump (312 gph) that cost me about $105 shipped via eBay.

I also bought an 11" Oddysea 50/50 PC light for $28 shipped via eBay as well.

7-25-06

7-31-06

8-4-06

8-9-06

 

[reefman23]

Cool! great idea. I look forward to seeing how this thing works for you!

Jesse

 

[Jennie]

It looks like the growth is progressing nicely. The water changes that you mentioned, are those for the main tank or the fuge. Also are you testing for the levels prior to adding these particular additives?

 

[aquemeni5110]

Jennie - Waters changes are for the main tank. I test the Madrel 5 in 1 strips weekly.

Nitrate = 0

Nitrite = 0

Ammonia = 0

PH = 8.3 to 8.4

Alkalinity/Buffer = 300

Before my nitrates were at a constant 10ppm. Since the addition of the refugium, it dropped and has stayed at 0ppm. Buying a test kit for the additives is next on my list of things to buy.

I was hesistant in putting caulerpa in my refugium reading up that it can release toxins back into the water if it were to suddendly die off/go sexual. Although it was free from my LFS, I just couldn't pass it up so I gave it a try. I had no intention in keeping them because I planned on buying a refugium kit which included live rock, live sand and chaetomorpha. As you can see from the previous pictures, It worked well and it grew extremely fast!!



8-12-06:

I had ordered and received a refugium kit via www.macro-algae.com. This kit contained: 10 ounces of Chaetomorpha (spaghetti), 3lbs of live sand and 3lbs of Tonga live rock. The cost for everything shipped was $45. Lots of pods, bristle worms, even a star fish were found and had survive the trip.

The sand bed is about 3". Only 1lb of live rock made it to the refugium. I even broke some down to conserve space. I'm thinking of putting in a cleanning crew. Is it neccessary? If so, what and how much critters would I need?

 

[Jennie]

Just be careful of the additives that you are using. The rule of thumb is to not dose anything that you can not test for. Keep us updated!

 

[aquemeni5110]

Thanks for the advise Jennie. Stupid newbie question: what's the worst that could happen if I overdose on additives? (Calcium, Iodine, Iron, etc..)

 

[reefman23]

Ca overdose can lead to precipitate, iodine can be very toxic if overdosed. If you overdose things like filter feeder foods, you can get excess nutrients that can lead to algae etc.

Jesse

 

[aquemeni5110]

Thanks reefman. There's a lot of detris sitting around. Is it good or bad? If bad, what can I use to clean it up? I tried putting a nerite snail yesterday and it end up moving into the skimmer chamber.

 

[reefman23]

Is there anywhere for some mechanical filtration media to filter out the detritus? In the meantime, you should be able to use some airline tubing or other small diam tubing to siphon it out.

Jesse

 

[aquemeni5110]

8-21-06:
Starting to see some growth, pods, stringy worms and orange bristles. Lighting schedule has been changed to 11:30pm to 1:30pm. I now dose Kent Liquid Calium & Purple up once a week (Monday's) just to be safe and until I buy calcium test kit.

 

[aquemeni5110]

Is there anywhere for some mechanical filtration media to filter out the detritus? In the meantime, you should be able to use some airline tubing or other small diam tubing to siphon it out.

Jesse

I do have 2 filter pads for mechanical filtration. It seems like most of the detris came from the bag of live sand. A lot has settled and lessened since then. I also bought airline tubing for syphoning.

 

[aquemeni5110]

UPDATE:

8-25-06

9-04-06 : Snails are multiplying as wells as pods.

9-20-06: Caulerpa!! I gave the chaeto a little prune because Some red sludge was accumulating on top.

9-25-06: Algae is Growing. Even patches of coralline.

 

[drty811]

your fuge is coming along nicely, they are one of my favorite things to watch. there are so many critters that you dont see in the display tank.

 

[aquemeni5110]

your fuge is coming along nicely, they are one of my favorite things to watch. there are so many critters that you dont see in the display tank.

Thanks Erik! Definetly, I wish I could see more of my fuge but that one angle is pretty much it.

 

[aquemeni5110]

UPDATE:

As most of you know, I ditched my HOB fuge and have converted my 2nd chamber into a fuge.

It's not much but I will still try to document from time to time.

11-14-06