Anemone refugium - can it work?

[Ardeus]

Bta's are one of the things that really thrives in my tank and then I thought it could be a way of both exporting nutrients and also a place to drop rogue anemones from the main tank.

Are they really big consumers of phosphates as I heard somewhere? What would be their effect in the pod population of the refugium?

 

[Ardeus]

I am planning to use these silicone trays instead of live rock. Can these things leech something into the tank? It's food grade.

 

[vetteguy53081]

They can but you risk them getting clogged in skimmer and return pumps

 

[Ardeus]

The refugium has a dented baffle, so I don't think they can't get through. It's much safer than having them in the tank itself.

I currently have about 30 and every couple of weeks or so there's one on the move and it's always a hassle to find where to put them. This would solve that problem and would also supply a source of income from the tank.

My tank always has undetectable nitrates and phosphates and I feed 5 times/day. I suspect it's the nems.

 

[User1]

Search on Xenia refugium and/or sump. I do not believe BTA's would be ideal at exporting nutrients and there would be better choices be it algae or soft coral.

 

[Ardeus]

I have seen the xenias in refugiums and I was thinking about it, before thinking about the BTA's.

The idea of using the BTA's came from remembering reading somewhere that the anemones consume a large amount of phosphates. I can't remember where I read it and I can't find more information confirming this.

It sounds like a plausible explanation for my undetectable phosphates. I even bought another test kit because I thought the one that I had was not providing an accurate reading.

 

[User1]

I have seen the xenias in refugiums and I was thinking about it, before thinking about the BTA's.

The idea of using the BTA's came from remembering reading somewhere that the anemones consume a large amount of phosphates. I can't remember where I read it and I can't find more information confirming this.

It sounds like a plausible explanation for my undetectable phosphates. I even bought another test kit because I thought the one that I had was not providing an accurate reading.

It might be, I do not know. I also admit I do not understand much about BTA's because, well, they seem to have a mind of their own. Mine are rose. Started with 1 over 6 years ago. It split and two in a 29 gallon biocube is a bit much. I moved one of them into another. The original split again. Grr! So I consolidated both of the cubes into a 40 breeder. More splits over the years even after giving some away. Last year I upgraded to a 210 gallon mainly due to the BTA's needing space and I'm back up to 11. Really odd creatures.

I do not own a refugium although I've toyed with adding one for my Kenya tree clippings and also growing some algae that my tang likes. I don't know the impact it would have on exports but it does seem like it helps. I've heard some people treat it like exporting cubes of frozen food. At least that is what I read when people talk about turf scrubbers.

The way I see it, it doesn't hurt to try. Depending on the pump, and owning a BTA I'm sure you already know, just be careful on how you run the intakes for the return. If it is a non powered overflow then just make it is like a bean animal primary, secondary, emergency design in case one plugs up one of the overflows.

 

[Ardeus]

Here's the sump design:

The refugium overflows into the return pump chamber, I don't see how they can get through unless they are really tiny and in that case it's not a big deal.

I am going ahead with the anemone refugium. The main goal of this refugium was to supply pods to the tank and I think it will still accomplish that.

 

[Ardeus]

It might be, I do not know. I also admit I do not understand much about BTA's because, well, they seem to have a mind of their own. Mine are rose. Started with 1 over 6 years ago. It split and two in a 29 gallon biocube is a bit much. I moved one of them into another. The original split again. Grr! So I consolidated both of the cubes into a 40 breeder. More splits over the years even after giving some away. Last year I upgraded to a 210 gallon mainly due to the BTA's needing space and I'm back up to 11. Really odd creatures.

I do not own a refugium although I've toyed with adding one for my Kenya tree clippings and also growing some algae that my tang likes. I don't know the impact it would have on exports but it does seem like it helps. I've heard some people treat it like exporting cubes of frozen food. At least that is what I read when people talk about turf scrubbers.

The way I see it, it doesn't hurt to try. Depending on the pump, and owning a BTA I'm sure you already know, just be careful on how you run the intakes for the return. If it is a non powered overflow then just make it is like a bean animal primary, secondary, emergency design in case one plugs up one of the overflows.

I will be using a Herbie (just 2 drains). The overflow will be "protected" by the 2 gyre type pumps near the surface. It's not so much the BTA's that worry me, but the magnifica. A BTA having an encounter with a pump is no big deal, they are not that big. A magnifica can put a whole tank to sleep.

 

[beolson25]

I will be using a Herbie (just 2 drains). The overflow will be "protected" by the 2 gyre type pumps near the surface. It's not so much the BTA's that worry me, but the magnifica. A BTA having an encounter with a pump is no big deal, they are not that big. A magnifica can put a whole tank to sleep.

Did you ever do this? How did it work? What kind of light did you run in the Refugium? What spectrum? (Red/White/Blue?)

 

[Ardeus]

I did.

They didn't multiply in the refugium but I kept putting all the rogue anemones I found in the tank in the refugium (2 or 3 per week) and selling them.

I had a black box fixture in the refugium.

I stopped selling them after a shop asked me to send all of them and then refused to pay.

The tank stopped producing rogue anemones because my filefish ate all the anemones that dared to establish away from the main colony.