right now I have rubble in the fuge, a good amout I think, should still move it or use it where it is? because it dose have a screen/sock 50mic I think before the rocks that the water has to go throgh. How much LR & LS should I have in a 10g refug, Right now I have 30/40 LBS of arraga mud= 3-1/2inchs and about 4-5lbs of rubble in it.
Help with Mistake and ICH
- Thread starter RioReefer
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luke33
In Memoriam
FWIW, i think your LFS may be after your money and not so much after your fish's welfare. Any LFS that suggest's to do a FW dip for ick isn't real smart. The only thing that is going to do for a fish with ick is stress them out even more and cause there immune system to drop even more. Just my .02
rustybucket145
New member
Just use your judgement on the rubble in the fuge. The more you put, the more places pods and worms will have to live/breed. One idea that I got from somebody here on RC (wish I could take credit 
) is to get a roll of gutter guard from a hardware store ($3) and some zip ties. Form a 'cup' out of the gutter guard, zip tie it together and zip tie a bottom on it (this makes a mesh 'cup'), then fill it up with your rubble. This makes kinda a 'rubble tower' I wish I had a pic of mine to show you but I don't. This keeps the rubble off your mud but still adds the benefit of housing pods.
) is to get a roll of gutter guard from a hardware store ($3) and some zip ties. Form a 'cup' out of the gutter guard, zip tie it together and zip tie a bottom on it (this makes a mesh 'cup'), then fill it up with your rubble. This makes kinda a 'rubble tower' I wish I had a pic of mine to show you but I don't. This keeps the rubble off your mud but still adds the benefit of housing pods.
rustybucket145
New member
I would say that your tank has Plenty of LR. I would focus your attention to providing a good habitat for raising pods right now. Your levels will correct themselves.
Now that you have the bioballs out you are on the road to a long term healthy reef tank.
Now that you have the bioballs out you are on the road to a long term healthy reef tank.
rustybucket145
New member
Also, do you ever 'prune' the plants in your fuge? It looks like they could use a good gallon or two pruned out.
rustybucket145
New member
AHHH HA!! The problem has been found!!!
The whole point of the fuge is to export nutrients through the absorbtion of nutrients and removal of plant matter. Let me try to break this down for you.....
Nutrients enter through the food you feed.
Fish eat food and process nutrients.
Nutrients leave fish via poop-shoot
Nutrients float around in water column until absorbed by algae or exported via skimmer.
When the algae (or plant) absorbs the nutrients it is 'holding' it for you.
When you feed your tang the algae (which is not bad) you are simply re-introducing the same nutrients back into the cycle.
So what to do???
Here's what I, and most people with fuges do. I have chaeto in my fuge (which is very similar to any other type of algae for this situation). I remove well over a gallon of chaeto from my system per month. I prune it from the size of a basketball down to the size of a baseball. It will be back the size of a basketball within a very short time.
I would suggest that you cut your fuge back BIG TIME!! Remove the cuttings and throw them away or give them to other local reefers who might want them. (or the lFS for credit).
When you remove these cuttings, think of it as emptying a big black cup of skimmate. By removing them you are exporting a ton of nutrients that would otherwise be re-introduced into your system via tang-poop or simply by dying and decaying.
Exporting the nutrients this way will lower your nitrates, phosphates and contribute to the overall quality of your water. I promise from my experience, the more you cut it back the faster it grows.
Ok, onto the pods, Sure, after you trim your fuge way back and add the rubble just follow any instructions that may be on the bottle of pods. I've never introduced them in this fashion so I don't have any experience. The BEST way to introduce them to your tank is to find another local reefer who will let you siphon some out of their tank and introduce into yours. That's how I got mine and I have probably seeded 20 tanks since then. The reproduce very fast in good water conditions and will establish a sustainable population that will last inevitably.
Hope this helps some.
rustybucket145
New member
Glad to help. Best of luck with your tank. I want to see some pics when all the corals grow in!!!
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