Random Fuge Questions

[migston]

Does anyone put powerheads in their fuge? I know that fuges are supposed to be slow flow but I just recently upgraded my fuge and I gotta tell you, the settled detritus in my old fuge was disgusting. I'd really like to avoid that from happening again so I was thinking of tossing a minijet in there.

Secondly, does anyone know if cleaner shrimp eat pods? I'd like to stick a pair in my fuge so that their spawns can act as an occasional treat for my tank but if they eat pods, then it's not worth it. I'm hesitant to put a pair in my display because I have a a hawkfish.

[xian]

I have a powerhead in my fuge but still have a significant detritus buildup. The slow flow has more to do with resident time in the fuge. The powerhead will help circulate the water around the macro algae.

I keep a serpent star there as a detritovore but its still pretty gross.

Cleaner shrimp do eat pods. I saw one pick up a fairly big isopod the other day.

[migston]

Do serpent stars eat pods? I really want no pod predators in there since I have a Mandarin. Cukes would probably be too big for my little 8 gallon fuge huh?

[Ursus]

Toss some bristle worms in there. They love to munch on all the detritous they can get.

[cern]

I set up my fuge in 3 chambers. The first is rock that is setting on egg crate 2 inches off of the bottom. The second chamber has sea grass and the third has prolifera. I have low through put (about 300 gal/hr in a 100 gal sump but have 4 power heads in it to keep the water circulating. A lot of detritus falls out of the rock section but the bristle worms, 3 serpent stars and 4 "bad" crabs that came on coral as hitch hikers keep it cleaned up.

As far as the pods go, if you have enough rock and algae in the fuge, you will have plenty. I have so many that you see them all of the time, not just at night.