Refugium ?

[Widdyhammer]

What is better for a refugium, crushed coral, mud or sand?

I currently have a 30 gal fug with a grow light on it 24/7 that someone gave me. The bottom has crushed coral with about 40 lbs of live rock on one side and all my macro on the other. I keep buying macro and its not growing. I forget the name, but it looks like it has little green grapes all over it. The tank feeding the fug is a 150 mixed reef. There is a seperate 30B used as the sump.

I was wondering if I should change the crushed coral to a sand or mud and improve the lighting.

I need my tank to be as user friendly as possible before heading to a giant sandbox just east of the Atlantic. My girlfriend will be taking care of the tank for the year I'm gone.

Any and all help/advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[LaOtIn]

i would ditch the crushed coral and install a DSB of 4-5" with the LR on top of that. I would not run the fuge light 24/7, as all things too much is not good. put your light on a timer and run it 5-6 hours opposite of what your DT lighting is. I have my DT lights set for 7hrs in the afternoon/evening, then my sump/fuge light comes on about an hour after my DT lights go off and stays on for 5hrs. Ditch the grape caulerpa, rip it all out of your fuge and replace it with a couple of handfuls of Chaetomorpha. its a better macro (IMO). your fuge really doesnt need to have a high dollar light, theres really not much demand. a simple 24w PC or 24w T5 strip would be perfect.

hope this helps, and thank you for making sure we have our freedoms, the sandbox sux royal donkey....trust me, i know! bless you and your family!

 

[Angel*Fish]

^^^That's pretty much what I was going to say^^^

Be sure and read the sticky about how to properly do a DSB. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1652103