Fish or starfish in a refugium

[J33ps]

Not to high jack your post but I also put one in last night I have chaeto alge in there with sandy bottom I was wondering if I should put any fish or starfish or anything like that I was told I should put something in there but don't know what thanks and sorry

[J33ps]

Mines not just a tank it makes its own water line but as long as u will not over flow if your pump goes out you should be fine and chaeto alge works great for getting nitrates out I've used it for years in my sump

[J33ps]

I build mine it has stages from water coming in then drops 2 in then goes to the return pump where it drops another 2 in it acts like a wet dry filter

[J33ps]

In-between that I have chaeto alge with a holgen ligh for the alge growth

[J33ps]

So back to my question should I put in inverts or fish or anything in there with the cheato alge I have sand in mine I was told I should but never said what

[Sniperhank]

You can put fish and such in there, but it is not needed at all. The fuge is supposed to be a safe place for things like macro algae and pods can grow/reproduce. It can easily be used as a place to remove critters that are having issues in the tank.

[J33ps]

I've been told serpentine starfish or sand sifting stars to help clean it

[carey]

I wouldnt out a sand sifting star fish in a refugium, not enough food. In fact I'm not a big fan of adding them to the display tank either, if they dont find enough food they burrow under the sand and die which causes more problems than they were "solving.".

[J33ps]

Ya I can see that

[HairyBrenndog]

When I set my refugium up. It actually got populated with invertebrates from the display tank thru the overflow.
As to buying anything you'll prob find stuff will appear anyway. Plus you'll have occasional hitchhickers from the macro algae u buy from the lfs.
Although it takes time. Just my experience for info.

[J33ps]

That would be cool but I have had the tank up with sump for 6 years and I've never had anything in there yet

[J33ps]

I just recently put the fuge in there I like it I put a couple of hermit craps and a snail in there to keep the algae at bay if I don't it will go to the upper tank and I can't stand algae

[carey]

The idea of a refugium is so that algae GROWS in it. I completely leave mine alone and have no snails or hemits either. The algae in your refugium should be algae thatotherwise would grow in the main tank.

[spoonman]

+1 I set mine up to grow algae to reduce nitrates and phosphates and keep the algae out of the display tank.

[J33ps]

Yes I did that to but I have cheato algae for that I don't want every other algae to grow in there and then filter in to my display tank like its doing now