herring_fish
Crazy Designer
Re: Refugium
I have a 130 Gallon reef tank with 10 fish and several corals. It has been running for about 9 months with a dump bucket style Algae Turf Scrubber (ATS). I designed and built revisions 1 and 2 for my old tank and between them, ran great for 12 years. I shut down the old tank only because I relocated. I decided to re-used my tried and true Revision 2 ATS on my new tank.
In the first 4 months, I had no algal growth because the re-animated base rock bacteria took care of the light load of just the corals. My nutrient levels all ran zero. That is when I bought the fish. Just as the algae started to get growing, I added a 55 gallon sump refugium filled to the brim with a special coral rubble from Caribsea but is not offered for sale.
These pieces are just under fist sized and are very porous. They sit on a bottom of coral sand about 3 inches deep. My two mangrove plants dried up and died from neglect during a long set up phase so I placed their 95 watt compact florescent light low on one side of the tank so that its light goes through the glass and only hits the rock there and the rest of volume is dark.
The water enters the sump across the top at one end and spills over to the return pump at the other end. This means that there is very little water flow down deep in the rock pile. I wanted to see what would happen if I created cryptic and benthic zones.
Since I added the fuge, the ATS stopped growing any algae but the nutrient levels have remained steadfastly zero. I have never encountered a cycle spike in this tank. I have been slowly upping the addition of powdered food for filter feeders and too much flake food for the fish and critters.
Lately, I have started to get a little brown slim that grows slowly in the ATS. It floats on the turbulent surface of the water, in the dump bucket so it is easy to harvest. I assume that it is full of diatoms and other sun loving bacteria.
The rock in the show tank remains clean and my tests continue to run at zero. The splash from the dump bucket provides enough oxygen but without algae growing to take up the carbon dioxide, the pH falls so I dose additives. Alkalinity also drops so I started adding baked Arm and Hammer. Of course, I dose for calcium and other trace elements but don't do water changes. I did have an accidental salinity drop so I had to replace about 50 gallons several months ago. I have a top of system now so I hope not to repeat that again.
Basically, I have an almost no maintained tank that I can throw any food that I want into and everything stays happy and clean. What is going on? Is a large refugiun that powerful? What headache(s) am I headed for?
I have a 130 Gallon reef tank with 10 fish and several corals. It has been running for about 9 months with a dump bucket style Algae Turf Scrubber (ATS). I designed and built revisions 1 and 2 for my old tank and between them, ran great for 12 years. I shut down the old tank only because I relocated. I decided to re-used my tried and true Revision 2 ATS on my new tank.
In the first 4 months, I had no algal growth because the re-animated base rock bacteria took care of the light load of just the corals. My nutrient levels all ran zero. That is when I bought the fish. Just as the algae started to get growing, I added a 55 gallon sump refugium filled to the brim with a special coral rubble from Caribsea but is not offered for sale.
These pieces are just under fist sized and are very porous. They sit on a bottom of coral sand about 3 inches deep. My two mangrove plants dried up and died from neglect during a long set up phase so I placed their 95 watt compact florescent light low on one side of the tank so that its light goes through the glass and only hits the rock there and the rest of volume is dark.
The water enters the sump across the top at one end and spills over to the return pump at the other end. This means that there is very little water flow down deep in the rock pile. I wanted to see what would happen if I created cryptic and benthic zones.
Since I added the fuge, the ATS stopped growing any algae but the nutrient levels have remained steadfastly zero. I have never encountered a cycle spike in this tank. I have been slowly upping the addition of powdered food for filter feeders and too much flake food for the fish and critters.
Lately, I have started to get a little brown slim that grows slowly in the ATS. It floats on the turbulent surface of the water, in the dump bucket so it is easy to harvest. I assume that it is full of diatoms and other sun loving bacteria.
The rock in the show tank remains clean and my tests continue to run at zero. The splash from the dump bucket provides enough oxygen but without algae growing to take up the carbon dioxide, the pH falls so I dose additives. Alkalinity also drops so I started adding baked Arm and Hammer. Of course, I dose for calcium and other trace elements but don't do water changes. I did have an accidental salinity drop so I had to replace about 50 gallons several months ago. I have a top of system now so I hope not to repeat that again.
Basically, I have an almost no maintained tank that I can throw any food that I want into and everything stays happy and clean. What is going on? Is a large refugiun that powerful? What headache(s) am I headed for?
