Rock in your refugium?

[Cthulukelele]

I always pack as much rock as I can in my refugium. I do not grow Chaeto though, I greatly prefer Caulerpa. It grows SUPER fast, and Im able to harvest over 2 lbs weekly from my 20 gallon refugium/sump on my 75 gallon. I use it to feed the tangs, angels, and rabbitfish in my FOWLR. It prefers having some rockwork to grow on vs just floating around. Plus, I have a ton of copepods breeding in there, to constantly replenish the display and keep the mandarin and all my wrasses fat and happy.

Do you dose phyto?

 

[Picassoclown]

Personally, if I had a large sump like yours I would just drop a couple good size pieces of real live ocean rock in there and call it a day. I have rubble and marine pure balls in my sump along with chaeto. The chaeto does not need to rotate to grow huge but the rubble allows for detritus build up. If you use large rocks you can easily turkey baste that sump section clean. You can grow chaeto in there too if desired. You have good options with a large sump. You can see how tight my small fuge is and I had to use rubble due to the size but so far my nitrates stay at 10 month after month with heavy feeding 3x per day with frozen and 12 fish.

Nice setup Lavey. Do you have any recommended sources for live rock? I am just nervous I will introduce all sorts of pests if I add it in.

 

[Picassoclown]

I would remove the Cheato & light and add ocean cured live rock. I would not use premium live rock, but the less expensive "Base" rock. I think the resulting diversity would help use nutrients in a more balanced fashion rather than simply binding N&P. Add a CUC to the Fuge to keep gross organics from building up. Feeding some phytoplankton to encourage pod production would help also.

Any sources for the live rock? Like I mentioned with lavey, I'm just nervous about the pests that ocean cured rock will introduce.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Hey Sauce. I would agree with you if my rock was live rock. Unfortunately it is dry rock, hence why I believe this is part of my cyano problem. The lack of flow in my macro chamber where my rock is and not having enough bio-diversity (tank is only 6 months old post-cycle) is probably not the sole reason, but definitely attributing to the issue I'm facing.

The next time I set up any system, I am getting live rock from a sustainable source and adding it to the tank. I will never again do a dry rock set-up like this. Cyano was out of control, but seems to be getting a bit better. I will be using @SunnyX method if in a week it does not start to improve.

Dead rock doesn't make cyano. It isn't the cause. As you mentioned, the lack of bacterial diversity sounds like a major contributing factor which is not helped by removing rock that has been curing for 6 months.



Rock being a detritus trap is another thing completely with many ways to get around.

You can add Flow into your macro chamber to help with the sheeting cyano.

I'd still be coming down on the side of Adding quality rock or rock rubble to the system vs removing previously inert rock.

I practice what I preech.

 

[Lavey29]

Dead rock doesn't make cyano. It isn't the cause. As you mentioned, the lack of bacterial diversity sounds like a major contributing factor which is not helped by removing rock that has been curing for 6 months.



Rock being a detritus trap is another thing completely with many ways to get around.

You can add Flow into your macro chamber to help with the sheeting cyano.

I'd still be coming down on the side of Adding quality rock or rock rubble to the system vs removing previously inert rock.

I practice what I preech.

Now that's a real fuge...very nice

 

[Lavey29]

Nice setup Lavey. Do you have any recommended sources for live rock? I am just nervous I will introduce all sorts of pests if I add it in.

Oh there are some places on here that get good reviews but I have not used them personally. You would only need like 2 decent size rocks that you could QT in a bucket and remove pests but even if something gets in its in your sump chamber for removal but the micro biodiversity you add will Jumpstart your main tank.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Dead rock doesn't make cyano. It isn't the cause. As you mentioned, the lack of bacterial diversity sounds like a major contributing factor which is not helped by removing rock that has been curing for 6 months.



Rock being a detritus trap is another thing completely with many ways to get around.

You can add Flow into your macro chamber to help with the sheeting cyano.

I'd still be coming down on the side of Adding quality rock or rock rubble to the system vs removing previously inert rock.

I practice what I preech.

The water level in that fuge terrifies me just looking at it lol. Beautiful fuge tho

 

[Picassoclown]

Dead rock doesn't make cyano. It isn't the cause. As you mentioned, the lack of bacterial diversity sounds like a major contributing factor which is not helped by removing rock that has been curing for 6 months.



Rock being a detritus trap is another thing completely with many ways to get around.

You can add Flow into your macro chamber to help with the sheeting cyano.

I'd still be coming down on the side of Adding quality rock or rock rubble to the system vs removing previously inert rock.

I practice what I preech.

Second full system on the bottom hahaha. That's awesome though. What you said makes sense. I will do some moving around. I think the best way forward is to move my bigger rock underneath the filter socks, and add rubble were the bigger rocks were to allow a better flow rate and to increase surface area for bacteria to grow.

 

[Picassoclown]

If anyone knows a good place to get some rock, I'd appreciate it.

 

[ScottD]

If you want rock rubble, why not just break up the rocks you have into rubble?

 

[Picassoclown]

If you want rock rubble, why not just break up the rocks you have into rubble?

I am looking for live rock, which I would happily hulk smash into rubble, but my rocks now are just not old enough and lack the diversity.

 

[ScottD]

I am looking for live rock, which I would happily hulk smash into rubble, but my rocks now are just not old enough and lack the diversity.

Do you have a lfs nearby? They might be an economical place to get a piece or 2 of live rock from. I’ve heard good things about Tampa Saltwater and KP Aquatics. I haven’t dealt with either other than KP Aquatics is run by the daughter of someone that I dealt with many years ago with buying a cuc from and he was great to deal with.
You could also check out any local groups and see if someone would help you out with some rubble or rock from their tank.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I am looking for live rock, which I would happily hulk smash into rubble, but my rocks now are just not old enough and lack the diversity.

Where are you located?

The water level in that fuge terrifies me just looking at it lol. Beautiful fuge tho

Why is the water level concerning?

This sump is 125g. It's the powerplant for an 8'x30" 300 g Display as well as a 30g, 11" deep frag tank. There needs to be a lot of flow back room.

 

[Picassoclown]

Do you have a lfs nearby? They might be an economical place to get a piece or 2 of live rock from. I’ve heard good things about Tampa Saltwater and KP Aquatics. I haven’t dealt with either other than KP Aquatics is run by the daughter of someone that I dealt with many years ago with buying a cuc from and he was great to deal with.
You could also check out any local groups and see if someone would help you out with some rubble or rock from their tank.

I would do my LFS, but I have personally seen every single pest in their tanks from asterina star fish, aptasia, and vermetid snails. I just cannot trust it. I will look into the others. Thanks Scott!

 

[Picassoclown]

Where are you located?

Why is the water level concerning?

This sump is 125g. It's the powerplant for an 8'x30" 300 g Display as well as a 30g, 11" deep frag tank. There needs to be a lot of flow back room.

I'm in TN. LFS is not an option as mentioned above.

 

[Cthulukelele]

Where are you located?

Why is the water level concerning?

This sump is 125g. It's the powerplant for an 8'x30" 300 g Display as well as a 30g, 11" deep frag tank. There needs to be a lot of flow back room.

I wasn't saying there was anything wrong with it. I'm just terrified of high water levels because I'm a weenie lol

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I'm in TN. LFS is not an option as mentioned above.

@Eagle_Steve

Got any idea of live rock in the area?

I wasn't saying there was anything wrong with it. I'm just terrified of high water levels because I'm a weenie lol

Gotcha. I had a 180 spontaneously fracture from the bottom at the end of last year. I think I'm jaded to water now after being ankle deep in it throughout my lower flow.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I'm in TN. LFS is not an option as mentioned above.

What part of TN? That makes a huge diff.

 

[Picassoclown]

What part of TN? That makes a huge diff.

Knoxville

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Knoxville

I am in middle tn, so can't help you there, but get where you are coming from on not getting it the LFS locally.

We do have LFS around here that keep rock in fishless tanks that is ghost fed or ammonia dosed to keep it "live". There will be some newer rock in there as well (all previously dry rock), but typically when they add a load they dose the holding tank up to at least seed the rock with some bacteria quickly.

In doing this, the rock is pest free at least. Or you can choose from a container that is LR from where someone traded in some, tore down a tank, or whatever. That rock you will need to QT of course.