Choosing plants/critters for a 10G fuge?

[unwired]

Hi,

I thought I'd try a quick post to ask for suggestions for my upcoming nano tank. The tank itself will be a desktopper and slightly under 9 gallons. Having said that, I bought a 10G glass tank to be my sump/fuge (I wish I could have had a 200G sump from my last 150G tank).

Anyhow, the basic premise is to 'fill' the main tank with lots of neat stuff (fish, corals, inverts) and still have plenty of filtration in the hidden sump under my desk. (...and yes, I already know that I'll personally spend more time looking at the critters in the fuge ).

Anyhow, here are the suggestions I'm looking for.
How deep should the live sand bed be?
I plan on having the overflow come into a live rock section with divider to sand bed. I could potentially fit a second divider for plants if the critters attack them too much.

what kind of plants should I think about growing?

What should I get for a cleanup crew?
So far I was considering a bunch of turbo snails, peppermint shrimp, and mexican red legged crab.

Let me know what you think.
Thanks.

 

[reefman23]

A DSB (deep sand bed) wont be effective in a small tank like a 10g. I would suggest not even having sand in a fuge that small.

I would also suggest not having the LR down there either. I have a LR section and I am in the process of removing it. It quickly becomes a detritus collector and you will need to remove all the LR and vacuum out the bottom about 1 a month... really quite a hassle. Let the LR in your display take care of the biological filtration.

I would suggest Chaetomorpha as it is the easiest macro to take care of. It is an excellent nutrient exporter, can be easily trimmed back simply by pulling it apart, and does not have the problems of periodic die-offs which can wreak havoc in your tank.

I would also suggest not having any sort of shrimps or hermits in your refugium as this can negatively effect the various pod population as well as removing the various forms of algaes that will grow down there. You want to have algae growing on the walls of the refugium so that they dont grow on the walls of your display!

So basically I would suggest that you have an area where you are growing chaeto in a bare bottom environment free of a clean-up crew with lots of flow and lots of light (on a reverse schedule of the display lighting).

HTH,

Jesse

 

[unwired]

NOt what I would have though. I suppose I'm glad I asked the question.

As far as algae growing on the fuge walls, I think I'd be scared that it will filter into the main tank and end up on the walls there, no? The theory was that the algae would hopefully filter out of the main tank and get eaten by critters below (what is reality is however a different story).

Most of the fuges I've seen online look pretty clean (other than the ones you mentioned with live rock or dirty sand). Perhaps I'm only seeing systems when they start out

Any suggestions on the lighting?
Do I need a 50/50 bulb or should I go for some standard high temp bulb?
Space is something of a concern and I don't really have room for a huge flood reflector down there. I'd also like to keep heat to a minimum.

Thanks.

 

[reefman23]

Well the thing with the algae growing in the refugium is if it is growing there, than it probably isnt growing in the display. the idea is the micro and macro algaes in the refugium are taking in PO4 and various other nutrients which is starving out any algaes in the display.

You are going to want a lamp that is right around 6,500k. This will optimize growth of the algaes.

HTH,

Jesse