Sea Apple in a Refugium

[marcsupial]

Would the refugium section of a Trigger Systems Sapphire 26 sump be sufficient to house a sea apple? It is 7 3/4”x12 1/2” with about 8” deep of water. I think that works out to about 3 1/4 gallons of water held in there.

 

[DSEKULA]

The sea apple may fit in there, but why?
Sea apples generally find one spot in a constant indirect flow and stay there. They are filter feeders that need some pretty heavy specific feedings. If they are not happy or well fed they will die and it is extremely toxic to your tank. They are in the cucumber family and cuke nuke is a real thing. If the apple feels threatened for some reason they will start to expel their inards as a last line of defense which is also toxic to everything else in the tank... they are an awesome animal and look really cool but I personally wouldn't put one in my sump since you generally don't give the sump as much attention as the dt and they need very specific care. If your confident you can care for one they are a really interesting addition to a reef. I had one for a few years in my seahorse tank since as an nps tank I was able to feed it easier etc but when it died due to a heater malfunction (few days earlier) it took out the tank without warning.

 

[marcsupial]

You pretty much spelled out the why. My display isn’t suited for their specific needs but they’re really cool animals and I would enjoy observing one. I have a tiger tail cuc in my dt so I’m well aware of the dangers of cuc nuke. The refugium would keep it far away from anything that would threaten it and prevent it from accidentally finding a way into a powerhead or wave maker. I currently feed ~25ml of phyto a day into the tank and try to remember to put ~5ml of that directly into the sump to feed my copepod population. So it would definitely get some attention down there.

My main concerns are:
- Is only ~3 gallons enough space?
- Should I consider removing my filter socks to make sure it gets fed enough?
- Does it need a substrate or would a bunch of rubble rocks and an Xport brick be fine?