Display refugium, mangroves and macro

Scott Ulrich · Jan 1, 2020

Hi! I have a display refugium 20 g tall) that sits next to my display tank (40 g breeder). The fuge stays half full so it it constrains about 10 g water.

Currently the refugium just has live rock (and heater/pump), but I bought some grape caulerpa that it's in qt right now. I was also thinking about adding some mangroves - I see you can buy a pack of red mangroves on ebay.

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on other items to add? The fuge is currently bare bottom buy I plan to add some sand a well.

Also would it be better to use aquarium lightning or better to use a grow light?

Thanks!
Scott

VR28man · Jan 1, 2020

someday I intend to try seagrass

Marine Plants - Floridapets.com

floridapets.com

Sea Grass

Saltwater Sea Grass for sale. Aquacultured USA. Hardy strain of sea grass for saltwater aquarium. We have been culturing this for ten years. It’s great for growing baby seahorse fry and fish fry of all kinds also dwarf seahorse. This sea grass originally comes from the habitat areas in...

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

some kind of Halimeda are nice too

Halimeda

Halimeda Macro Algae or saltwater plants for sale are beneficial addition to the reef tank aquarium. Amphipods and Copepods love to set up breeding colonies in this beautiful macro algae. Halimeda is a great nutrient exporter and will also produce valuable oxygen for reef fish and corals...

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

Some forms of Gracilaria are also very tasty, but given my limited algal knowledge I’m not comfortable making recommendations on line.

Scott Ulrich · Jan 2, 2020

Thank you for the suggestions! I will look into those for sure. I also attached a picture of the setup.

Thanks!

SmokenFunny · Jan 2, 2020

Super fun part of the hobby! I had culpulara and did not like it.It wanted to take over and started growing in my overflow and everywhere else.Go to algae barn, they have lots of cool, clean grasses and chaeto,bugs and whatnot.
KEEP IN MIND, you're going to have measurable nitrates for chaeto to grow.The lighting is debatable.Lots of people have lots of different lighting, from simple-to expensive H380.I have the latter, and grows like crazy.Your mileage may vary

Scott Ulrich · Jan 3, 2020

Thanks for the suggestions! I just ordered 10 mangroves, some dragons breath and chaeto to add to the grape caulerpa.

My nitrates have always read at or near zero. Wondering if I should I order and start dosing potassium nitrate?

After going through all the first year issues (cyano and hair algae issues) I thought I was in the clear as all was good for a few months. I also started feeding exclusively frozen food after my phosphates started going up due to flake food. But about a month ago I had a bubble algae outbreak and it has covered the tank. I bought 2 emerald crabs that are currently in my qt, but I'm hoping those combined with the fuge macro will help out-compete the bubble algae. I added some tigger pods around 9 months ago, but they didn't seem to last long (probably my fault as I just dumped them in without acclimating), but I think some are starting to get established in the sand bed as I can see them on the glass when it starts to grow a film of algae.

Regarding refugium lighting, I have a Finnex Fugeray strip light. I am planning to start with that and then upgrade to a stronger full-spectrum hanging grow light if needed. I'd love to have a Kessil but I'm too cheap to spend that much on a refugium light

My current corals in the main tank are a few lps frags (hammer, candy cane) and a few softies (mushroom, ricordia, gorgonian, devils hand). I'm looking to add a duncan in the near future.

Scott Ulrich · Jan 8, 2020

I received 11 mangroves and added them to the refugium today. I drilled holes in a storage container and zip-tied it to second one to give a temporary grow area until I see how they do and maybe find something more aesthetically pleading

I also added a full spectrum led grow light.

The Caulerpa is still in the qt tank but I will probably move that over tomorrow.

Scott Ulrich · Jan 11, 2020

Update: Added the caulerpa, chaeto and red dragons breath to the refugium. The ebay seller for the chaeto and dragons breath attached them to frag plugs, which will be nice until they get established.

Scott Ulrich · Jan 25, 2020

Update: it's only been 2 weeks but the caulerpa and chaeto have really taken off and almost doubled in size. Plus, some of the mangrove propagules are starting to sprout so that's good

reefcubed · Feb 1, 2020

There are different ways to grow mangroves based on desired appearance. Most people want them to grow aerial people roots. However for you, and what I believe to be your desired result, nutrient export, I would put them in deeper sand, and also eliminate the enclosed structure. Mangroves export nutrients through the water column, so your setup is kind of inhibiting access to your tanks waste water. Secondly, mangrove propagules don’t really begin to grow and take off until their roots are settled. So by adding a deeper sand bed, you won’t need the lid to hold them upright, and they will also feel comfortable enough to take off. Hope that helps!

Scott Ulrich · Feb 1, 2020

reefcubed said:
So by adding a deeper sand bed, you won’t need the lid to hold them upright, and they will also feel comfortable enough to take off. Hope that helps!

Thanks for the info! I dip agree that the roots are sputter cool, so might try that with at least one or two

Right now the bottom container is filled with sand, about 4", and the propugales are sitting on the sand, but not pressed down into it. I get what you are saying about access to the water column - I can cut holes in the top container to allow water flow, but I'm concerned they would fall over until they have established roots.

I have some work to do today since the refugium has started to grow a lot of green algae, including on the mangroves themselves

there it's also algae growing in the skimmer, so I'm going to move stuff around so that the light isn't hitting the skimmer directly. I do think the bubble algae in the main tank is slowly starting to recede, between the mangroves, macro and emerald crabs, so that is good at least.

Thanks!

Scott Ulrich · Feb 2, 2020

Cleaned the skimmer, which was a mess, and moved the lights and algae to the left side. I pulled up one of the propagules and it looks lie roots are forming.

Scott Ulrich · Feb 15, 2020

I cleaned out the refugium since it was getting pretty overgrown. I removed about 2/3rds of the caulerpa... Is there a proper way to dispose of this stuff? Just let it dry out and then throw it in the garbage? I'm in Ohio so not don't really have to worry about invasive marine issues.

I cleaned out the mangrove container... the mangroves are growing some good roots! So much algae in the refugium. Maybe I should lower the lighting time? Currently at 16 hours off cycle. The bubble algae is slowly receding, but my tank has started getting some red stringy stuff, mostly attaches to my gorgonian (picture included). I'm assuming that the tank just has to rebalance.

Also picked up a fairy wrasse, purple candy cane and red lobo brain today. All going into qt.

Thanks!

User · Apr 22, 2020

Looks good! Any more Details on the full spectrum grow light?

F i s h y · Apr 22, 2020

The red appears to be cyano... more specifically red cyano bacteria. A quick search on here will tell you more than you ever wanted to know.

Scott Ulrich · Apr 22, 2020

The full spectrum has done a good job at growing the mangroves, they've sprouted leaves, grown a couple inches and the roots 4"+. Ice had to move the lights up twice now

The caulerpa has grown well, probably doubling every month. The chaeto does not grow nearly as fast.

Definitely some cyano, also dinos, I think adding everything threw off the equilibrium, but I took the collection cup of the skimmer for a couple months, just added it back and I think everything is bank under control.

User · Apr 22, 2020

Scott Ulrich said:
The full spectrum has done a good job at growing the mangroves, they've sprouted leaves, grown a couple inches and the roots 4"+. Ice had to move the lights up twice now

The caulerpa has grown well, probably doubling every month. The chaeto does not grow nearly as fast.

Definitely some cyano, also dinos, I think adding everything threw off the equilibrium, but I took the collection cup of the skimmer for a couple months, just added it back and I think everything is bank under control.