macroalgae/pod breeding tank???

[whitetiprs]

Has anyone ever setup one of these before?

I have an extra 15 gal tank with seaclone 100 skimmer and a penguin 100 filter plus light and heater that I was going to use. would that be enough flow or should I add a power head?

The plan is to raise pods and marcoalgae, mainly the macro, to feed my girlfriend 3 tangs and supplement my mandarine with pods. I am going to stock it with tang heaven from IPSF and their pods plus some of the cheato from my fuge.

Should I light it 24/7 or regular daylight?
should I add a single fish?

Any help would be great

 

[DragonForce]

You could just connect the tank to your main tank. This is a great way for the pods to be able to have shelter. The pods will then wonder out of the refugium and back into the main and the manderin will be happy. Having the tank seperate would be a pain in the ass moving all the LR back and forth between tanks.

 

[whitetiprs]

Well my tank already has an attached refuge/sump and a HOB refuge so Im using this mainly for the algae.

 

[indy]

You can't grow the algae in your fuge? A dedicated algae tank does sound like a pita really.

 

[whitetiprs]

No, the sumps can grow algae both have cheato in them, however I want to grow different algae in the dedicated tank. I want to grow ulva and grassilaria which both died in about a week the last time I tryed to grow it in the sump. So I have set it up per the instructions from IPSF with a 65 watt 6700k CF light and a protein skimmer plus a power head to give it a bit of flow.

 

[seaham358]

Sounds good if thats how you want to do it. I would feed the tank some flake food once in a while. If you looking to grow pods then add no fish to the tank. A few crabs and snails for something to look at may not be too bad, I don't see them eating that many pods. Not sure why you would need a protein skimmer on a pod tank?

 

[melosu58]

As far as the light I leave mine on 24/7 but if you cut them off always have them on when your main is off and vice versa

 

[whitetiprs]

I was thinking about adding a damsel to the tank, as the only fish, to help supply the algae with nitrate/ nutrients to grow? good or bad idea?