Refugium Critters

[dstalfire]

I have a thriving 20 gallon mostly chaeto with some calperra in it. It has three lights on it that are on when the main tank is off.

My question is:

What should I have in there for critters and why?

Thanks

Dan

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

I wouldn't worry about it. The critters from your display will eventually populate your refugium with all you need. I wouldn't intentionally add anything in there.

 

[dstalfire]

I am worried because the sand is getting a black layer on top of it.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

In the refugium or in the display? Do you have a picture of it? Also, given your current tank history, I would suspect that you are going to have some problems down there. Adding more organisms won't help you any if not make it worse. I would just keep up your current tank maintenance for a couple months and watch as things turn around on their own.

 

[dstalfire]

The black junk is only in the refugium. I thought you wanted sand burrowing snails in it to stir the sand up so it doesn't go stagnant?

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

I would first find out what the"black stuff" is. Is it cyanobacteria? Hydrogen Sulfide?

 

[dstalfire]

How can I tell?

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Pictures help

 

[Serioussnaps]

Spray some frozen cyclopeeze in there a couple times a week...DT;s is ok but it fuels some algae IMO

the better you feed the little critters...the more nutritious they are for your big critters(fish)

 

[Sinclair9]

Sorry for the insanely dumb question but, is chaeto just green hair algae? If so, how does it not spread to your display tank. Thanks.

 

[dstalfire]

Chaeto is a type of macro algae that uses the same nutrients that hair algae uses.

 

[GreshamH]

Cheatomorpha forms cell chains and doesn't attach to substrate, definitly different the hair algae.