Refugium questions/help

[Beano1169]

thank you very very much!!! and if anyone was following my old thread my nem is doing much better and since its getting colder out there the temp has stabilized as well!!!

[hillegom]

You should be cleaning your filter out every 3 days or so. To keep detritus in there for long only allows it to degrade into nitrate. you want to get rid of the stuff before it decays.
Do not wash the filter in fresh water. This would kill all the bacteria in it. Wash it with water taken from your tank. Then replace that water with new saltwater.
Mini water change.

[reefwars]

i have some macro thats not invasive and very slow growing its a display macro and not very good for nutrients. i also have several oter types of sump macro which is good for export but you dont want it in your display. if you want some of either send me a pm and ill cut you some

[reefwars]

very unlikely that feather caulerpa will hold enough nutrients to crash your tank, you cant be possibly running all that much in a hob filter. if its in your display tank your screwed feather caulerpa is very invasive and hard to get rid of in small tanks.

swapping out mature cheato with your caulerpa would be ok.

[Beano1169]

hahah thank goodness the feather isnt in the display, I only put it in the hob fuge just to help cycle and get rid of pesky nitrite and nitrate. its starting to send roots through my grate though :O so hopefully i can keep trimming those before the fall off into the tank :P thanks for the advice on cleaning the filter. every three days is that necessary?? I do weekly 25% water change out and I ato with fresh when I can, waiting for the float valvue to get here to make my ATO system.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Beano1169

hahah thank goodness the feather isnt in the display, I only put it in the hob fuge just to help cycle and get rid of pesky nitrite and nitrate. its starting to send roots through my grate though :O so hopefully i can keep trimming those before the fall off into the tank :P thanks for the advice on cleaning the filter. every three days is that necessary?? I do weekly 25% water change out and I ato with fresh when I can, waiting for the float valvue to get here to make my ATO system.

if your just having live rock rubble and macro then cleaning every 3 days is a bit much , when i use to run hob's as a refugium i didnt clean it at all just blow a turkey baster in there or suck some crud out with a baster.

pods will love the dirtyness of your filter.

in a tank as small as yours you will not have any nutrient issues or parameter isuuse if you just do water changes.

rinsing your frozen food will help with phosphates if you dont plan on running a reactor.

[Beano1169]

Brilliant! thank again Denny! right now for frozen food Im feeding just prosalt - mysis shrimp not cube but flat pack and I usually desolve it in salt water before feeding