When to add the fuge

[obiwanthegoby]

Question....

Best advice on when to add Refugium citizens to a system. I have a 400 gallon display with a 110 gallon sump and a 110 gallon fuge (5 - 6 inches of sand). I was going to order a multitude of algae bristle worms, mini stars ect. from IPSF but re thought my decision after thinking it through. Would this be a good idea given the following information.

Live rock cured in seperate tub begining in Feb 2009 (300lbs)

Live rock added to display about 2 weeks ago.

Brown diatom growth has started.

5 hermits have been alive in the tank for 1 week as well as a few bristle worms from my existing 120's fuge.

All tank parameters are where they need to be. (Calcium 400, KH 120 - 130 PPM, PH > 8.0, Nitrate 0, Nitrite 0, ect.)

My ORP is reading about 250 though... no ozone yet.

I didn't want to dump a ton of money into detritovores just to have them starve,.... I have always added fuges to systems that were set up for several months to a year and didnt know when the best time to add the detritovores and algae to the fuge was.

any insights?

 

[thegrun]

I would waint untill you add fish (a bio-load) or you risk starving or at least stunting your fuge. I am in the process of adding a fuge (this weekend) to my new in November nano tank. I would give it at least a month after adding a few fish. I'm sure I could have started mine sooner, I was just lazy!

 

[obiwanthegoby]

Unfortunatley every SW tank Ive owned was already started (bad condition and good condition both) so adding the fuge was not an issue because everything was going. Thanks for the input... thats what I was leaning to anyway.