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View Full Version : Lets Talk Refugium Diversity


thebanker
02/21/2011, 07:07 PM
We don't talk about this much, but my question is this. What's the best way to feed and stock your refugium so you get the most diversity?

I've added "tigger pods" and dosed live & dead phyto to my fuge. A year later, the tiggers seem to be gone.

I've added some LR, and have more chaeto and 2 species of caulerpa than I know what to do with. My refugium is fed exclusively by my skimmer, which is fed exclusively from the outflow from my biopellet reactor. I have amphipods, aiptasia, sponges, and hydroids, but I can't tell if there are copepods in there. I've seen a few small snails, and a mini brittle star or two. But that's it. I haven't seen enough pods to say with certainty that the fuge is providing any food source for my fish & coral.

What is everyone else doing, aside from "just leaving it alone" to give their refugium a boost of diversity and life?

Misled
02/21/2011, 07:28 PM
There's tons of pods, snails, hermits, bristleworms, limpets, chaeto, rubble rock, a 5 inch sandbed, and a butt load of xenia. The fuge is fed by the output of the skimmer, which is fed directly by the overflow of the tank. I don't feed it, it gets what it gets. I'll move rocks back and forth between the fuge and display to keep diversity in the tank.

thebanker
02/21/2011, 08:00 PM
Limpets! Really!? I haven't heard of anyone keeping chitons either, but I'm sure somebody is.

I have some xenia in my fuge, but since it's T8-lit, it doesn't do as well. What lighting do you have on yours, out of curiosity?

vikubz
02/21/2011, 08:04 PM
If you want to see more pods, many folks feed phytoplankton like DT's. Many of the tastier and more nutritious pods are really small, so it would be tough to see them. I always see them on the glass of my display where I can see them roaming around. You can get more diversity by getting some LR or chaeto from other reefers and import some more critters that way. Tigger pods are a cold water species so they won't last in our warmer tanks.

I got some corals from a local reefer and after that I had spaghetti worms which I had not had before.

thebanker
02/21/2011, 08:12 PM
Tigger pods are a cold water species? That's utterly ridiculous that I've been adding them to my refugium in hopes that they'll proliferate!

I've also seen "Pods" in a plastic sealed bag with a spout. Anyone tried this brand, or know the brand I'm reffering to.

dread240
02/21/2011, 08:26 PM
I used 2 bags of those and see plenty of pods in my fuge now. I started a totally sterile tank, no live rock or live sand at all, so I can't think of any other way they would get in there.

They also seem to be populating quite well, though I haven't seen many make it up to my display tank yet

Misled
02/21/2011, 10:18 PM
Mikey, I have a spiral 65k daylight bulb from HD. The zenia is starting to catch on pretty well. I just moved it out of the DT cuz I didn't want it there. There's also a pretty large manjano that I'm saving for a nano I'm gonna set up. It's center is larger than a quarter and it has really nice color. If you go back to some of Marc's old stuff, he had a few just like them. Might just stick it and a couple clowns in the nano.

thebanker
02/22/2011, 02:53 PM
I used 2 bags of those and see plenty of pods in my fuge now. I started a totally sterile tank, no live rock or live sand at all, so I can't think of any other way they would get in there.

They also seem to be populating quite well, though I haven't seen many make it up to my display tank yet

Great to know. I'll try this brand of pods. It's incredible that 4 LFS owners have told me that Tigger Pods will thrive in a tropical refugium. When you think about it, they store them in a refrigerator at the LFS (ostensibly to maintain a high level of dissolved oxygen in the bottle) to keep them alive.

Mikey, I have a spiral 65k daylight bulb from HD. The zenia is starting to catch on pretty well. I just moved it out of the DT cuz I didn't want it there. There's also a pretty large manjano that I'm saving for a nano I'm gonna set up. It's center is larger than a quarter and it has really nice color. If you go back to some of Marc's old stuff, he had a few just like them. Might just stick it and a couple clowns in the nano.

Thanks Jesse. Good to know. So I have a 17 watt T8. Comparing watts-to-watts, it sounds like you have much more light. I need to get a T5 fuge light or something. Or would that not have any effect on pods? (nutrient reduction is a sidebar to this conversation, obviously more light would help with that).

Gamepro_inc
02/22/2011, 03:05 PM
I swap rocks out between DT and fuge. Also I use to use a Marc Weiss product called Reef bugs but my LFS cant get it anymore if you can than it may help with your pod production. I have: ampipods, bristleworms, baby brittle stars, some fan worms, and other crawlers. If you trade rock or something like that with fellow reefers that may help. Do you have any predators in the fuge? I use a 20" T5 36watt fixture over my 10gal fuge.

thebanker
02/22/2011, 03:12 PM
No predators in the fuge, and I also swap out rocks, usually for fragging operations. I've seen "reef bugs" but I never bought it, because it looks like a joke.

What, exactly, are you buying in a container of Reef Bugs? It looks like a bag of dust.

KafudaFish
02/22/2011, 03:12 PM
Look for Capt.'s fuge discussion thread.

djkms
02/22/2011, 03:14 PM
ive heard really good reviews about this stuff
http://joeknowsreefs.com/reef-science
I am probably going to pick some up in the next week or so.

thebanker
02/22/2011, 03:14 PM
Look for Capt.'s fuge discussion thread.

Hey! Just because I pay for the upgraded search features, does not mean I'm obligated to use them! :lmao:

KafudaFish
02/22/2011, 03:17 PM
duh!

vikubz
02/22/2011, 04:35 PM
Check out oceanpods.com.

zenpytho
02/22/2011, 04:56 PM
i put a couple containers of dt's in my fuge 4 months ago and now its almost to many pods u can see them with or without lights on any time of day i tried triggerpods and didnt seem to have any luck

breiter3
02/22/2011, 06:14 PM
I find that my fuge doesn't look too diverse till night. Then you whip out the flash light and watch everything go nuts. Mine is overflow, to Skimmer, to fuge, and I don't specifically feed it, although I'm sure scraps end up down there. I also add DT's Phyto weekly. To get my diversity up I enlisted a fellow local reefer who gave me a handful og cheato full of bristle stars, pods, shrimp, snails, and star fish. That did the trick for me.

Misled
02/22/2011, 08:45 PM
Thanks Jesse. Good to know. So I have a 17 watt T8. Comparing watts-to-watts, it sounds like you have much more light. I need to get a T5 fuge light or something. Or would that not have any effect on pods? (nutrient reduction is a sidebar to this conversation, obviously more light would help with that).

I really don't think lighting intensity will have much of an affect on pod population. I had a "dark" area with just rubble rock in a fuge before. There were plenty of pods.