ReeferPatt
Well-known member
Well my refugium, a 20g display, is lifeless other than the plant life. Was thinking some life other than pods running around would be cool. Any suggestions? If so what do ya think? YES/NO
Critters in a refugium, YES/NO?
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auqua man
Well-known member
Herefishyfishy
Smart Bass
How do you prevent it? Got brittle stars, mini starfish, pods, and I think I might have even spotted elvis in there. Many keep cleaner crews such as snails and hermits. Diablo uses his to grow out softy frags such as shrooms and Leathers. I have often used it as a holding station for outgoing fish. Useful place.
kevinpo
Expert
Yes it can be quite useful to house invertebrates in your refugium such as snails, feather dusters, mini brittle stars, etc. Many of these creatures eat detritus and will reduce particulates in the water column over time giving the tank that crystal clear look. Also the clearer you keep your tank water the more bang for the buck you get out of those expensive lighting systems we need for our SPS corals 
Regards,
Kevin
PS: If you keep hermits I would only keep the very small type like the blue leg and maybe scarlet as the larger ones can be destructive.
Regards,
Kevin
PS: If you keep hermits I would only keep the very small type like the blue leg and maybe scarlet as the larger ones can be destructive.
tasos
Well-known member
My refugium is 38'' long, 20'' wide, with a plenum based dsb, and chaetomorpha upon it, to take the ammonium that would be produced.The sand keeps tiny brittlestars and a small population of gammarus, some red planaria (I know they are bad but I don't want to mess with medication unless is absolutely nessesary ).I used to see many little srimp 5-7 mm( 1/4 '') Active swimmingand didn't like much each other!!.They resembled a mysis but very tiny and energetic........
I lost them all when I changed the flow in the refugium(is in my sump) from 500g/h to 1000 g/h.It is not much of a flow for a 40 inches of refugium!!chaetomorpha and the plenum need increased circulation..........
What is te average water flow you keep in your refugiums?Are they creature friendlly?Calcareous tube worms keep propagating in my refugium glass.Is that an indication that I may have too much of organics in the system, or that the systems matures and produces phytoplancton?Does anyone know the nutritional habbits of these little white worms?.
Sorry I posted too many
).I used to see many little srimp 5-7 mm( 1/4 '') Active swimmingand didn't like much each other!!.They resembled a mysis but very tiny and energetic........ I lost them all when I changed the flow in the refugium(is in my sump) from 500g/h to 1000 g/h.It is not much of a flow for a 40 inches of refugium!!chaetomorpha and the plenum need increased circulation..........
What is te average water flow you keep in your refugiums?Are they creature friendlly?Calcareous tube worms keep propagating in my refugium glass.Is that an indication that I may have too much of organics in the system, or that the systems matures and produces phytoplancton?Does anyone know the nutritional habbits of these little white worms?.
Sorry I posted too many
kevinpo
Expert
Hello,
For a refugium your size 1000-1500gph is about right. The small animals you were seeing are mysid shrimp. They don't like high flow but will be in your main tank and refugium in areas of low flow and in the macro algae. Fish love to eat them if they can catch them. They will be nocturnal when predators are present.
The red planaria are not really bad but rather a cosmetic issue. The only danger from them is if you have a large population and they all suddenly die, then they release body fluids that are toxic to most life in the tank. They rarely die all at once except when treated with Flatworm Exit or similar product. They don’t like intense light and are algae eaters.
Tube worms may be a sign of excessive food or nutrients in your system but sometimes they can suddenly appear for a few months and then disappear only to reappear a year or so later. Sometimes they never reappear. The best way to determine nutrient levels in your system is algae growth and nitrate levels. Nitrate should be undetectable with little or no algae growth in the main display tank. Even in the refugium the algae will grow slowly when it reaches the size that equals the nutrient load.
Regards,
Kevin
For a refugium your size 1000-1500gph is about right. The small animals you were seeing are mysid shrimp. They don't like high flow but will be in your main tank and refugium in areas of low flow and in the macro algae. Fish love to eat them if they can catch them. They will be nocturnal when predators are present.
The red planaria are not really bad but rather a cosmetic issue. The only danger from them is if you have a large population and they all suddenly die, then they release body fluids that are toxic to most life in the tank. They rarely die all at once except when treated with Flatworm Exit or similar product. They don’t like intense light and are algae eaters.
Tube worms may be a sign of excessive food or nutrients in your system but sometimes they can suddenly appear for a few months and then disappear only to reappear a year or so later. Sometimes they never reappear. The best way to determine nutrient levels in your system is algae growth and nitrate levels. Nitrate should be undetectable with little or no algae growth in the main display tank. Even in the refugium the algae will grow slowly when it reaches the size that equals the nutrient load.
Regards,
Kevin
And here I thought the word "refugium" came from refuge...a place for critters to hide from fish...lol. Hopefully, you're refugium will soon be filled with these critters that you're asking about. They're great for your tank!!
shallowreef
Well-known member
I too wanted to make my fuge a living space for a mandarin. But i was too worried about it getting sucked into one of my fuge drains and being dumped into a filter sock. Thats what happened to my sharks the first time i had them. Unless i were to put up some type of fence over teh intake holes but that will restrict flow and could cause an overflow of it becomes over grown with algae.
I think the HOB refugiums, such as CPR Aquafuge are great for growing pods!! I'm in the process of putting together a sump/fuge to go under a tank and am worried that it won't be as good as the HOB. I can see where the sump/fuge would do a much better job of nitrate and nutrient reduction as it holds more water, surface area and can hold more macro. However, with the HOB units, water is pushed from the tank into the fuge and then dumped back into the tank. Pods don't have to survive a trip through a pump...lol.
kevinpo
Expert
The majority of micro fauna that goes through pump impellers survives the trip but seldom survives the fish during daylight hours (of course this depends on how many and what type of fish you have)
Regards,
Kevin
Regards,
Kevin
jtyce
New member
The same thing happened to me. My refugium was crawling with pods and I went to a 700GPH pump from 400 when I started keeping SPS and there are no more pods. I have hundreds of them cultivating in a 10 gallon tank for me mandrin so I shook some of the cheto into a 1 qt measuring cup and add them. I still don't see any. I recently put a ball valbe on the pump and cut the flow a bit as my corals started looking a little ruff. It is only a 55 gallon with 700 gph pump plus four large power heads (two ossilating plus SCWD connected to my pump). I am not new to reef keeping but am new to SPS and do not know how much flow is enough.
Snappy
clever title goes here
I have also used a HOB unit in the past and they work ok but if you have the space go bigger. I now have what I would call an ornimental refugium in a 40 gal unit beside my main display. I have about 10-12 types of macro, lots of LR & rubble and a few softies I threw in for good measure. I keep a mandarin, 2x blue stripe pipefish and few other things to liven it up. The above fish mainly eat pods which produce like crazy in therubble and cheato. I have never had any fear of any fish getting sucked into the powerheads, although I keep the flow quite gentle for the pipefish. Perhaps I have turned my "fuge" into a "non-fuge" now but it still does a great job of exporting nutrients and is entertaining as well.
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