Refugium Explosion of life !!!

[Civicdemon]

Just wondering if any one els has all of a suddent had an explosion of life in the refugium with out anything really changing in the system.

Was looking at my fuge yesterday and wow, I have a couple bristle worms on the bottom and So many Copepods, Tiger pods Amphiopods and I also notice little shrimp, I think its missis shrimp. Im like wow there wasn't this much last month. But yet all my water test are pretty much the same. only thing I noticed last week is my GFO gave out and floated and a got a bit of algae on the back glass. But after my water change last week it went down and I have since added new GFO to the reactor.

I think the life started to exploded after I added new Carbon. I know it sounds weird but after I added new carbon last month its like wow. So needless to say this time around when I bought the GFO and Carbon I got the big buckets so I have some to replace it every month or so.

Now one question What do you guys use to help corals get healthy and food wise. So far I use phyto ones a week and some coral frenzy. I also spot feed ones a week with no flow for the brains, and my LPS I sprey with misis 2 times a week. And my RBTA I feed 3 times a week.

 

[NathanMI]

I put a bottle if tigger pods in my fuge 3 weeks ago and now they're everywhere! I added like 5 pounds of live rock to seed my system and some macro algae also. They're EVERYWHERE throughout my fuge and DT! My seahorses hunt all day it's awesome! I want to get a mandarin to help.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

If your talking about phyto, did you just start feeding? Phyto is great for growing amphipods. Do you have 2 cleaner shrimp?

 

[Civicdemon]

No i have 1 blood red shrimp. My other skunk shrimp disapered one day. I also have a pepermint shrimp. But now i have alwys used phyto 2 times a week. Just a squirt from the bottle here and tthere. Just wondering what els people use for there corals.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

Marine snow

 

[Big K]

I feed:

Phyto, Phyto Gold, Zooplank, Microvert, Pellets (to the softies), Gonio power (to the goni/alvi), and Acro Power.

Rotating target feeding with the planktons every other day. Pellets and Acro Power once a week.

 

[Civicdemon]

o wow that's a lot. I usually just feed the LPS misis and squid, and the others I give coral frenzy and phyto. I just got some Rogers reef food im going to start using also.

 

[Big K]

I tend to buy things even if they aren't needed. Chemicals and food keeps me from filling my tank to the brim! lol

 

[MitchReef]

My fish are lucky if they get fed a second time in a week....as for the corals they generally do great with just intense lighting....

 

[NathanMI]

I have to feed my seahorses every day!

They'll sit in their food bowl for hours waiting for some shrimps!

I have Copepods everywhere! I have seen some amphipods in the fuge but not the DT
Ill have to get some phyto for them and start feeding it twice a week.

Magnified pictures:

Copepods:

Amphipod:

 

[Civicdemon]

Nice, Im actually thinking of making my 30gl fresh into a sea horse tank. My Refugium in my 125 is crazy packed with everything. I even see misis shrimp in there.

 

[NathanMI]

I love seahorses! U may have to feed them more but they're way better than fish!

I've never had a seahorse die from ich either! (Dam tangs)

 

[Civicdemon]

seriously tangs are crasy ich magnets, But I still love them. I just resently los a Sailfin because I had a roge ATlantic blue tang picking on him. Got rid of the ABT but it still died. So im hopefully going to try another and add another one in a couple months and see how it goes, I just added a Heniocus a couple days ago and everything is going smothe with him, Only other thing now is that my tham Flame angel is picking of my wellso again so he has to go.

 

[Big K]

Speaking of seahorses, if you don't mind a bit of threadjacking, Civic...

Nathan, my wife really loves the seahorses but we are concerned about them spawning. She's watch tons of videos of them shooting out 100s of babies and we wouldn't want to be overrun. Is it as prevalent as it appears or is there some way to mitigate their spawning?

 

[NathanMI]

Well they do spawn a lot but you could get all males or all females. They just need their own tank. Babies don't live unless they're cared for very carefully in seperate tanks.

I will keep fish to breed them soon but i don't keep fish in my DT just a few and seahorses.

 

[Big K]

Hmm... dead baby seahorses would be worse! lol

maybe all one sex then. Thanks!

 

[NathanMI]

It's easy to tell as long as they're big enough.