tigé21v
Active Member
Not sure if this is the correct forum or not. If not, mods please move.
I have a 40 breeder that I use as a remote fuge. No sand, no rocks, nothing but chaeto. Packed with the macro. I usually pull out around 5 gallons every week or 10 days.
The other day, i noticed a "cloudiness" in the corner, looked to be about the bottom inch or so of water. (I have the sides covered, so didn't get a close-up view). I put a maxi jet in it to stir things up a bit, and started to catch the smell of rotten eggs.
shut the power head off, came back the next day, and pulled a few ml of the cloudy water out and injected it in front of my ORP probe. ORP dropped like a rock. 
Could the water in the 40 breeder really be stratified to the point where there is an oxygen-free zone?? Even with the macro algae completely filling the tank? Granted, it is a very low flow fuge, probably less than 40 gph, and the water comes in at the surface at one end and exits the tank (at the surface) on the other .
But still, with all the macro algae in there, wouldn't it seem like an oxygen free zone would be darn near impossible?
I went ahead and drained the entire fuge today. There was lots of detritus on the bottom. Maybe that was using up any available oxygen in that lower level? And boy, did it smell.;Dead
And I went ahead and added a maxi jet plumbed with a spray bar, to pull water from the top few inches of the tank and shoot it down the length of the bottom of the tank, under the chaeto.( Well, that's the goal anyway. Time will tell if it works or not.)
I hope I didn't upset my system too much by doing it. I've had really good success growing the macro, and all in all the system has been just chugging along.
Anyone else running a remote fuge have a similar experience?
TIA
I have a 40 breeder that I use as a remote fuge. No sand, no rocks, nothing but chaeto. Packed with the macro. I usually pull out around 5 gallons every week or 10 days.
The other day, i noticed a "cloudiness" in the corner, looked to be about the bottom inch or so of water. (I have the sides covered, so didn't get a close-up view). I put a maxi jet in it to stir things up a bit, and started to catch the smell of rotten eggs.
Could the water in the 40 breeder really be stratified to the point where there is an oxygen-free zone?? Even with the macro algae completely filling the tank? Granted, it is a very low flow fuge, probably less than 40 gph, and the water comes in at the surface at one end and exits the tank (at the surface) on the other .
I went ahead and drained the entire fuge today. There was lots of detritus on the bottom. Maybe that was using up any available oxygen in that lower level? And boy, did it smell.;Dead
And I went ahead and added a maxi jet plumbed with a spray bar, to pull water from the top few inches of the tank and shoot it down the length of the bottom of the tank, under the chaeto.( Well, that's the goal anyway. Time will tell if it works or not.)
I hope I didn't upset my system too much by doing it. I've had really good success growing the macro, and all in all the system has been just chugging along.
Anyone else running a remote fuge have a similar experience?
TIA
