So who actually does the CRYPTIC FUGE?

[widmer]

My guess is very few. It gets mentioned from time to time in threads here, but I haven't actually seen anyone talking firsthand about it. I figure most people are growing that macroalgae, and aren't bothering to insulate part of their fuge from light. Yea parts of the refugium ie the sandbed, under rocks will be naturally shielded from light, but does anyone do the full-on cryptic? I'd love to hear more about it.

I think I might try one for reasons yet to be discovered (lol).

 

[xenon]

I can't figure out what your talking about.

Care to explain in more detail?

 

[widmer]

cryptic fuge is a term that gets tossed around these boards. If I understand it correctly, which I might not, it is a refugium that is 100% shielded from light 24/7, and contains crushed coral/sand/LR, so that it may be maximally inhabited by organisms that are not active in areas where there is light. Obviously a person won't be growing macroalgae/chaeto in there, to give you more of a mental image.

 

[stan zemanek]

Im not sure if this is the same thng as a cryptic zone but take a look here!
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=969713

 

[widmer]

Hey thanks stan. I like their way of thinking- culture the aiptasia down in a sump, since it obviously is able to thrive up in the display. Specifically to the aiptasia part, I probably won't be trying that, as I'll never be one to use a protein skimmer, and under the same reasoning, won't be doing UV radiation. Xenias could be fun though to try putting in the macro side of my sump. I wonder what the low-end limit for light is that I could provide them with.

Don't want wander too far off topic here, the question remains, does anyone do the cryptic? Picture all the little bugs that come out at night, how it would or would not benefit the aquarium to have a large population of them active 24/7.

 

[Pirate@40]

I have two refugiums with my 90 gallon. The lighted one is on a shelf above the non-lighted "cryptic" one. The lighted one contains 16 mangroves, snails, hermit crabs, etc. The non-lighted one has sponges, sea squirts, bivalves and other stuff in it. I believe it helps filter the water. As the animals have gotten larger and reproduced in it, my skimmer waste production has gone down noticeable to the point I don't even run the skimmer much anymore. I think for biodiversity and filtering purposes, they are good things to have. There are no socks, sponge blocks, or any other artificial means of mechanical filtration in my system, it's completely flow through. I started the cryptic fuge with a seed pack from Steve Tyree and was very satisfied with what he provided. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm not sure how a cryptic refugium differs from a dark sump filled with live rock, but I certainly have that (a 44 gallon trash can about 1/3-1/2 filled with rock and the lid on).

However, I cannot tell whether it does anything useful or not. I expect that at least it acts as a source of other potentially denitrifying live rock. It does serve as a place for solids to settle out, for better or worse.

I do dose silicate for sponges, etc., and I do have fair growth of small sponges in some places, even in my lit refugia (but down under the rocks).

 

[wogga]

I have two refugiums with my 90 gallon. The lighted one is on a shelf above the non-lighted "cryptic" one. The lighted one contains 16 mangroves, snails, hermit crabs, etc. The non-lighted one has sponges, sea squirts, bivalves and other stuff in it. I believe it helps filter the water. As the animals have gotten larger and reproduced in it, my skimmer waste production has gone down noticeable to the point I don't even run the skimmer much anymore. I think for biodiversity and filtering purposes, they are good things to have. There are no socks, sponge blocks, or any other artificial means of mechanical filtration in my system, it's completely flow through. I started the cryptic fuge with a seed pack from Steve Tyree and was very satisfied with what he provided. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

could you please post some photos? i'm pondering cryptic application, and would love to see how your system is implemented.

 

[NatureNerd]

I guess by the descriptions above, I have a 25-30g dark fuge on my 75g reef. It is just what I set up many years ago for additional denitrifying rock. It has a fair amount of live rock and a shallow sand bed. The glass is tinted and it is in a closed cabinet.

I think most small un-lit fuges will end up with a similar population of life that I have seen. Surprisingly, pod populations are not high. This may be due to a lack of algae or other food sources. There are some pods and small pistol shrimps in there but not anywhere near as high of a population density as in my display. Not even close. Considering that there are predators in the display and none in the fuge, this is a surprising result. There are a few filter feeders that live in my fuge, a few tube worms, feather dusters, and small sponges. But, in general, in my "dark" fuge, there is very little life. It looks like a barren rubble zone. In my system, there does not seem to be enough nutrients to keep larger filter feeders like bivalves and sea squirts alive long term. These animals did last a year or so but slowly vanished.

 

[Playa-1]

I think it depends on what your definition of Cryptic is. There are lots of unlit RDSB's running out there. The whole RDSB in a bucket thing.

 

[schatzi]

Of my 280 system gallons, 29 is currently in an unlit tank filled almost full of rock. I'm getting ready to add another 40 gallon tank serving the same purpose. I have unused rock in my garage that has been cleaned and I plan to slowly add pieces to the 40 gallon over time. I won't go to extreme to shield light from them, but they will be unlit and dark most of the time since my sump is in the basement. They will receive light when I have the overhead flourescents on while I'm down there. At any time I could add a light an convert to a fuge. I have a DSB 29gal fuge now that is exploding and had wondered how another 40 gal fuge might benefit the system.

I think these tanks are beneficial to have and can be cheap depending on how you get the rock. Take advantage of petco's $1 gal sale and add one or two. My systems track record since I cycled I believe supports that these tanks are beneficial. I've been running now for 14 months, currently have 11 fish in the DT and 2 in a remote clown tank (part of the system 280) and have not had one fish death or illness in that 14 months. I believe my "secrets" are that I QT and run a large amount of water.

 

[tmz]

I 've used several along with a bare bottom chaeto refugium for several years. I have a lidded brute can filled with live rock fed drain water from the bottom that exits near the top. it then flows over a bin filled with deep sand and covered with several inches of live rock , in ambient light ;then into the sump. There is a bare bottom chaeto refugium run on opposite photo period fedfrom another drain and some additional live rock in ambient light in another vessel. Lot's of filter feeders and sponges in the darker areas. I also dose vodka and vinegar with about half of it feeding into the cryptic and ambient refugia .