What to put in refugium?

[fishin]

I got the refugium done and working on putting it in. My question is what types of macroalgae do I put in the fuge? Where do you get the algae from? How deep should the sand bed be? What else should I put in the fuge?

Thanks

 

[Bearfan]

Chaeto. It won't go sexual on you and it's doing a great job in mine. I didn't put a DSB (only 1") since I have a DSB in my display. I got my Chaeto from ellisz and was thrilled with it!

 

[seaham358]

I would keep the sand bed shallow... Cheato is the macro of choice right now. LR rubble, make piles around the fuge for pods to live in. Get some mature sand from a tank or a friends fuge to seed your sand bed..

 

[fishin]

the way the sump is set up is first chamber is LR rubble. well here is a link to pretty much the same setup.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=53046

The sand bed in my tank is probably around 4" but I don't think it is arganite it has silica sand and crushed oyster shells. I bought the tank used. Do most the macro's do pretty much the same thing? I also bought a polyp my first peice of coral last weekend and it has a green thing on it. Looks like a green bubble I can try to get a pic of it.

 

[melosu58]

I keep Grape Calerpa in mine. Grows fast, eats up the nitrates and tangs love it

 

[seaham358]

Sump and fuge are 2 different things, which are you talking about? You cna have a sump/fuge combo is that what you have?
Grape caluerpa is great stuff except it goes sexual from time to time and fouls up the tank for a day or so, had this happen 3 times and then yanked all the grape out.
I have mexicana and cheato and they work well.
Green bubble sounds like bubble algae, pull it off the LR carefully and toss it...
I would put rubble in with the macro also..

 

[aquanaut]

What exactly happens when say it fouls the tank? Green algae on everything or what. Thanks

 

[seaham358]

they release spores and or excess nutrients into the water. Turned the water white/cloudy for a day... Did not seem to hurt anything but i will not be taking any chances with it again.

 

[fishin]

Thanks for the help and yes I have a sump/fuge combo. What are people using for lights over their refugium?

 

[ellisz]

I use chaeto in my fuge. As for lights, I just use a clip on light with a 20 watt 6500k CF screw in bulb. Does not take anything special. Some use grow bulbs as well.

 

[melosu58]

96 watt compact flourecent

 

[fishin]

pics

I just got it up and going and currently awaiting some chaeto that I ordered. I did test it to make sure it won't overflow with power off and no problems.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[seaham358]

looks good... what size tank is that..

 

[fishin]

it is a 30 gallon. Wished I would of went with the 38 it is four inches taller for only $18.00.