My fuge... Is this a problem?

fragmatic · Mar 30, 2013

Stagnant... it needs to be moving through... enough not to spoil... I like to think of my under tank refugium as a natural cave (but is lit at night) where the water flows through but lots life forms have a refuge there and can multiply in abundance. I shoot for as much divergence of life forms as I can figure out how to host. Is why I have a under tank refugium, and sump, and a display refugium. .. and I consider both of my refugiums as ongoing learning curve diverse life forms eco crazy sort of things... LOL..

It "seems" like the more kinds of life forms I can host the healthier my tank system gets.. and you know what? .. that makes perfect sense.

IE:
Today I acquired three kinds of sponges for my display refugium and that excites me.. it has 12 mangrove plants in it... and fish.. and a shrimp, pom pom crab.. hermits.. three mollies,. one kind of sea grass (I'm working on more kinds),... and other stuff. (I'll be adding more mollies as time permits so they will be live bearing lots of babies for natural fresh live food for my system.)
It is a 20 long..

BTW gang... has any one tried a beta in their refugium????

Mrfresh · Mar 31, 2013

Here's my fug
Now the cheato is all the way to the top and I have to cut it back every two weeks now

Mrfresh · Mar 31, 2013

Sorry here's a full sump

kchristensen8064 · Mar 31, 2013

This is my first time with a refugium/sump and I am definitely doing a lot of learning and trial and error. I just want to know what is good and bad. I've learned that what's bad in a display may be good in a fuge so now it's differentiating good from bad in there. The cyno seemed bad because it was stunting my chaeto's health. The water had movement threw it but I think it might have been a little slow. The surface of the water didn't seem to move and had a almost film type thing going on with it. So I did add some circulation to it today. I will just have to tweak the amount till everything is happy. I definitely noticed an improvement with the added circulation. I can almost see the chaeto smiling at me

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kchristensen8064 · Mar 31, 2013

Mrfresh said:
Sorry here's a full sump

This is how I want mine to look! It looks clean. Mine just looks gross right now and it's hard to believe something so dirty can keep my water clean.

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fragmatic · Mar 31, 2013

If it will let me upload them... :
Under tank refugium and then the display refugium...

View attachment under tank refugium.jpg View attachment under tank refugium.jpg

MrFresh, how'd you upload those pics??

kchristensen8064 · Mar 31, 2013

This is mine. Everything has this reddish/brown look to it.

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fragmatic · Mar 31, 2013

kchristensen8064 your refugium looks just fine!

kchristensen8064 · Mar 31, 2013

fragmatic said:
kchristensen8064 your refugium looks just fine!

Even with all the cyno in it?

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kchristensen8064 · Mar 31, 2013

I'm curious on the uploading of pics too? Most pics posted on here appear broken to me, even the ones I upload. I have to log on the computer to be able to see all the pictures. Is it just a problem with the app?

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kchristensen8064 · Mar 31, 2013

Did all my tests this morning and here's where everything stands.
PH - 8.0
Temp - 78.6
Salinity - 1.0245
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrite - 0.1
Nitrate - 0.0
Phosphate - 0.0
Calcium - 500
Iodide - 0.06
KH - 8

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fragmatic · Mar 31, 2013

kchristensen8064 said:
I'm curious on the uploading of pics too? Most pics posted on here appear broken to me, even the ones I upload. I have to log on the computer to be able to see all the pictures. Is it just a problem with the app?

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No, actually it has been great, we (they) just got a new server and are still working on the switch and bugs that need to be worked out. It seems the server uploads the pictures but being they moved the application it still doesn't know where the server put them. They will get it working. .. it is called growing pains...LOL.. a good thing.

I'm impressed you have an iodine test kit. Not many have one, me for example.

I test for salinity, temp, pH, PO4, KH, Cu, NO3, NO2, NH3/NH4, Ca, and Mg

fragmatic · Mar 31, 2013

kchristensen8064 said:
Even with all the cyno in it?

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IMO yep. If I could upload pics I'd show you my crop of it.

Reefing Madness · Mar 31, 2013

kchristensen8064 said:
Even with all the cyno in it?

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Yup, thats where you want it to grow, if anywhere, just something else there to eat the excess nutrients out of the water for ya.

kchristensen8064 · Mar 31, 2013

Yeah I have a Iodine kit but I need a mg test kit. I guess I'll just have to be happy with the fuge. My display is clean so I won't worry about it. Unless of course that changes too. I appreciate everyone's input this forum has been an amazing tool for me since getting into reefing.

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Mrfresh · Mar 31, 2013

kchristensen8064 said:
This is how I want mine to look! It looks clean. Mine just looks gross right now and it's hard to believe something so dirty can keep my water clean.

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Thank you so much for what u said,
This system isn't quite where I want it to be but it does the job.
I embarrassed by the plumbing but its what came with the tank. When I have some time ill try and up grade it.

Trust me it looks good not on pics but there always a long crazy road to get there...pics can make anything look easy...