Pod-maximizing refugia

[karimwassef]

Interesting - I don't vaccum my sand or gravel or mud or even my bare bottom sump areas.

It looks dirty but I've let it be for years. And my pods are thick.

The idea that detritus is beneficial certainly appeals to me. It closes the loop of a sustainable life cycle and creates a food supply for those pods and worms.

Another interesting note is the concept of "fluffy detritus". I think this is key since caked detritus just forms a silty floor without much water circulation - like bricks. I like worms for this, especially sand worms. They do a remarkable job aerating the detritus filled regions and creating access tunnels for the pods. It's a cooperative.

 

[ThRoewer]

Interesting - I don't vaccum my sand or gravel or mud or even my bare bottom sump areas.

It looks dirty but I've let it be for years. And my pods are thick.

The idea that detritus is beneficial certainly appeals to me. It closes the loop of a sustainable life cycle and creates a food supply for those pods and worms.

Another interesting note is the concept of "fluffy detritus". I think this is key since caked detritus just forms a silty floor without much water circulation - like bricks. I like worms for this, especially sand worms. They do a remarkable job aerating the detritus filled regions and creating access tunnels for the pods. It's a cooperative.

When detritus solidifies at a certain height it starts forming anaerobic zones. While those can be quite effective in reducing NO3, they can also be quite dangerous if something disturbs them.

My original plan was to have a remote deep sand bed in there as well and I may still do that later as especially a sand bed with coarse gravel is for sure good for Pods.

...Is your new refugium doing as well as your old one. Do you have any pictures or videos of your new one and how you set it up?

I just moved it yesterday, and so far I have just dumped everything from the old into the new. So it's for sure not yet established.
I plan on arranging it next week.
I plan on having one half for Cheatomorpha and the other half for red macro algae.
I also want some Halimeda in there

BTW: buying macro algae is another good way to get a diversity of pods.

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[GXPKY]

I

-Dennis

 

[NS Mike D]

anyone dose phyto into their tanks? I started for my corals and noticed increase pod activity in my fuge. Now I just add it directly into my fuge so the pods get first crack at it before the corals even it means the skimmer might pull some out

 

[karimwassef]

Yes. I dose phyto.

It's not just pods though. Phyto is the beginning of the food chain followed by zooplankton, etc...

 

[vikinglord13]

I've seen successful phyto cultures before, does anybody know if it's possible to grow zooplankton?

I suppose if one grows phyto they can, in turn, feed that to the zooplankton and dose both to the tank?

 

[Lavoisier]

I dose phyto as well. It is possible to culture, just a question of time and effort. Search for threads here on RC. Also there are excellent books and articles.

 

[2_zoa]

I tried that- display refugium sitting above the DT draining straight to DT.

Too many bubbles in the DT.

My sump is above my DT. Not directly above but, above on the other side of the wall. My drain has a 45 to aim it into the DT. I then have a short piece of pipe and at the end I keep a small piece of sponge that the water hits right before the DT water. No bubbles. I do have to keep the sponge clean though.

Had I thought about it a little more, I might have setup a herbie drain setup from the above sump. That would run with no bubbles at all. And be silent. Not that mine makes noise.

 

[ThRoewer]

I would like to create a flow-through phyto culture that continuously produces phytoplankton. I managed - more by accident than by intention - to sustain some very persistent algae blooms in QTs. The last I only got under control by adding rotifers (Brachionus) to have them eat it up. With enough light and a low through flow rate it should be doable to create a self sustaining culture - at least for some time. The incoming water would need to be filtered to prevent rotifers and other phyto predators from entering the culture chamber.
It may even be a way to get rid of phosphates and nitrates...

 

[zeemofree]

I would like to create a flow-through phyto culture that continuously produces phytoplankton. I managed - more by accident than by intention - to sustain some very persistent algae blooms in QTs. The last I only got under control by adding rotifers (Brachionus) to have them eat it up. With enough light and a low through flow rate it should be doable to create a self sustaining culture - at least for some time. The incoming water would need to be filtered to prevent rotifers and other phyto predators from entering the culture chamber. It may even be a way to get rid of phosphates and nitrates...

That's exactly what I want to create with my 55 gallon, it's going to be have full of rock and half full of sand with a reversed slow flow through it.

 

[ThRoewer]

My 20 gallon refugium is below the 40B in my 200 gallon system. All water from the 40B goes into the refugium and from there into the sump tank (another 40B).
The refugium itself has no pump that could harm pods or larva that come almost every night from the 40B.
By now there are clouds of pods in the dark corners.
I still have to reorganize it as most things just got dumped in.
Another thing I plan to add is an at least 2" sand bed - as soon as I have figured out how to create a plenum that doesn't get clogged up by fine sand and detritus.

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[RTab619]

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