Hi gang...I am moving into my 30L today and have a question. I'm leaning toward using an intank fuge caddy to add a fuge to my tank. Has anyone done this? If so, which compartment did you use and are you glad you did? Thanks!
muzikalmatt
Valuable Member
I'm running a chaeto refugium in the 2nd chamber of my Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion 40 and it's working like a charm! I'm using the inTank fuge basket with the IM Chaetomax fuge light on the back of the tank (after removing the black covering). I run the light 12 hours at night after my display tank lights go out.
At first I was having issues with detritus build-up and lack of growth, but I think that was because I had some marine pure bio-balls at the bottom of the fuge basket which were choking off the flow. Once I removed those the flow was much better and I saw a lot less detritus build-up. I also dosed about a half-dose of Brightwell's Ferrion (iron supplement) to give the chaeto a kick-start and since then the growth has been great. (I've since stopped dosing iron and the growth has continued.)
Overall I'm extremely happy with the fuge as it's really stabilized my nutrients (~3-5 ppm nitrate and 0.03-0.05 ppm phosphate) and my pod population has exploded. The main thing is to watch for detritus build-up and keep the basket walls clear so the light can penetrate to the chaeto. I typically give the fuge basket a shake in the chamber every three or four days to rinse out any detritus. I also like to rotate the chaeto in the basket as the portion that's up against the basket walls tends to get a little slimy. Maybe once a month you might want to remove the basket entirely and clean the walls, but I don't think I've done that in a couple of months and it's doing fine. It's fairly minimal work for a really great nutrient export method. (Just FYI I also run the IM Ghost Skimmer in the 4th chamber, but I'm fairly certain most of my nutrient uptake is coming from the fuge.)
At first I was having issues with detritus build-up and lack of growth, but I think that was because I had some marine pure bio-balls at the bottom of the fuge basket which were choking off the flow. Once I removed those the flow was much better and I saw a lot less detritus build-up. I also dosed about a half-dose of Brightwell's Ferrion (iron supplement) to give the chaeto a kick-start and since then the growth has been great. (I've since stopped dosing iron and the growth has continued.)
Overall I'm extremely happy with the fuge as it's really stabilized my nutrients (~3-5 ppm nitrate and 0.03-0.05 ppm phosphate) and my pod population has exploded. The main thing is to watch for detritus build-up and keep the basket walls clear so the light can penetrate to the chaeto. I typically give the fuge basket a shake in the chamber every three or four days to rinse out any detritus. I also like to rotate the chaeto in the basket as the portion that's up against the basket walls tends to get a little slimy. Maybe once a month you might want to remove the basket entirely and clean the walls, but I don't think I've done that in a couple of months and it's doing fine. It's fairly minimal work for a really great nutrient export method. (Just FYI I also run the IM Ghost Skimmer in the 4th chamber, but I'm fairly certain most of my nutrient uptake is coming from the fuge.)
NeonRabbit221B
2500 Club Member
Egg crates and zip ties! I put some chaeto in my 2nd chamber but it doesn't seem to help. Maybe its too densely packed?
