Setting up a refugium

[osrascom]

Im almost ready to put the water in my 180. I have a 75 g sump I will be setting up a refugium in the sump. 24" long. What should I put in it? LR, DSB,??

 

[rtb388]

i just have a peice or two of LR.. and cheato.. no sand makes it easier to clean out buildup

 

[hazmat319]

i just have a peice or two of LR.. and cheato.. no sand makes it easier to clean out buildup

+1
That's all I have in mine. I started off with trying to do a DSB and it just didn't work. I ended up taking out most of the sand and now I have a couple of rocks and a breeder net with chaeto. And probably about a 1 inch sandbed in half of it.

 

[osrascom]

Do you have a light on you cheato?

 

[sdheath]

You really do need a light for the chaeto. I was in Lowe's today, and they have a LED spotlight with a 5000K cplor temp, and I think I'm going to give it a shot. It's a little more money, but should last forever.

 

[osrascom]

Thanks for the help..Another question checked off the list!!lol

 

[Gillundr]

chaeto grows best in light and a pretty decent amount of flow in my opinion. If there is no flow through it, you can actually get cyano growing on and in the mess of algae lol. It also seems to grow faster with some decent flow. I guess the flow is like anything else it helps push the nutrients to the chaeto and carry away the cleaner water. I'm not talking about a huge powerhead pushing on it but something to push a little water across it will help it I use a nano or a number #1 koralia. Gracilaria is also a great algae to grow in a fuge. It's nice because fish eat it and it grows at a good clip. it does need a little stronger flow than chaeto though and should be tumbling gently in the fuge rather than just sitting.

 

[hazmat319]

chaeto grows best in light and a pretty decent amount of flow in my opinion. If there is no flow through it, you can actually get cyano growing on and in the mess of algae lol. It also seems to grow faster with some decent flow. I guess the flow is like anything else it helps push the nutrients to the chaeto and carry away the cleaner water. I'm not talking about a huge powerhead pushing on it but something to push a little water across it will help it I use a nano or a number #1 koralia. Gracilaria is also a great algae to grow in a fuge. It's nice because fish eat it and it grows at a good clip. it does need a little stronger flow than chaeto though and should be tumbling gently in the fuge rather than just sitting.

This was happening to me. My chaeto has been getting red slime on it. So I put it in the breeder net and suction cupped it to the baffle so it creates a waterfall effect inside the net. It tumbles my chaeto and I think it's helped. And my rocks and little bit of sand are covered in pods so I'm not so worried that it's too much flow for pods. I know there are 2 schools of thought on that though. And you definitely want light over it. Do it on the reverse schedule of your DT lights and it helps with the pH. My light in my sump comes on at 9pm and is on until 8am. Good point Gillundr!

 

[osrascom]

I havent got the water in the tank yet, so I know know how strong the flow is. I do have a dart gold for my return pump, so the flow should be good.