Refugum quetions

[hotimportknight]

Ive had my sump and fuge up and running for a while, I was wondering if I should maybe put some critters in the fuge to clean it up a bit? I have filter floss between the skimmer/inlet section of the sump and the fuge in the middle, but there is still a large amount of stuff accumulating on the sand bed in the fuge area... Would it be a good idea to put in a nassarius or 2? or maybe a few small hermits? Maybe have to supplement their diet a little bit with some tidbits of real food once in a while... I dunno though, what do you guys think? Here are some quick pics of my fuge area.

And what are all those white things on the glass? they are all over my sump and the back glass of my tank where I cant clean them off with the mag float. They have kind of a small spiral shape if you look up really close. Are they some sort of invert egg that attaches its self to the glass, or some sort of worms growing? they are pretty strong if you try to scrape them off, even the mag float doesnt take some off if I do hit them.

 

[reeffreak]

As long as whatever you put in doesn't eat your macro algae or stir the sand too deeply.I keep a few nassarius and astreas in mine.

 

[yote]

That little asterina star should be eatting some of that crap.
You should have something in there to help with ditritus.

 

[Bifferwine]

Those are spirorbid worms on your glass. Reef safe. Filter feeders. Throwing in a few snails or hermits to eat that detritus wouldn't be a bad idea. Cut eggcrate to fit on top of your baffle so they can't climb out into the return pump area though.

 

[hotimportknight]

Ah, good idea biff, thanks. How would you arrange that? Put it over the top of the whole thing with the chaeto under it? or just stand some egg crate up so that its standing vertically on the return pump side? Is there anything with smaller holes than the normal egg crate that is easily usable? I know there are some vinyl screens out there at the hardware store, but the guy working said he didnt know if it was treated with anything at all, id assume not, because its not metal, therefore not going to rust... I could see nasarrius snails slipping through the egg crate holes. any ideas?

 

[Bifferwine]

I've seen it done both ways. You can also get this plastic mesh from the garden section of hardware stores... It doesn't have metal in it, I have it in my tank covering the overflows.

 

[hotimportknight]

I just clipped some filter floss stuff on it with clothes pins, so that its sealed pretty good, it stick up and rests against the ATO float thing. But it wont effect it at all and it should keep the pump area a lot cleaner, that thing is filthy... I'm gunna have to shut it down for a while and clean it out some time soon. Does anyone ever do anything about their plumbing? I used clear vinyl tubing for a return, and it looks really really nasty. There is nothing you can really do about it except go through all the hassle of replacing it right? What do you guys with PVC do? I'm definately going PVC with my next tank when I go bigger. the flexible stuff was driving me nuts today and wouldnt stay where i wanted it.

 

[hotimportknight]

Kinda off topic of the original thread, but it has to deal with detritus. Ive got some issues in my display where the water circulation cant really reach, like in corners of the tank where rocks are and such. What would be a good investment to take care of this stuff? Ive got a bunch of nassarius and they keep the main open areas of the substrate clean and white, but in those corners no one cleans... Would some little hermits be more apt to get in there and eat that crap out? Or any kind of reef safe crab of some sort?
I think for crabs at the LFS they have an arrow crab, that the guy wants like 28$ for (which is only about 20$ more than fosters and smith, but I dont want to drive up there for a crab!) and it looks like its not really reef safe and gets large anyway. Any other suggestions?

 

[reeffreak]

I belong to the ''crabs are evil society'',so no crabs.Use a powerhead with a hose attached to blow behind the rocks before a water change.

You can get the small size nassarius.

 

[Bifferwine]

Not all crabs are evil, but skip the arrow crab. It will decimate the bristleworm population in your tank. Which will lead to more clean up problems.

 

[hotimportknight]

I was just down at the LFS today, they got the motherload of all shipments today! like 20 times what they normally get. They finally got my small sea hare in stock! I requested he get one like a month or so ago, finally, he got like 3 ugly pink turd ones, and a few small tiger tails, i picked up one of the tiger tails, acclimating now. He also got in an imperator angel... wow thats a beautiful fish, so i got it! its in my tank now swimming around!








































NOTT! god doc and biff were already pissed before they scrolled down. But seriously though, its a juvenile and they are BEAUTIFUL fish. Someday....

 

[NewPortRichey]

Lol!!!

 

[Bifferwine]

NOTT! god doc and biff were already pissed before they scrolled down. But seriously though, its a juvenile and they are BEAUTIFUL fish. Someday....

Hahaha! You SO have me pegged! Am I really that predictable?!?! I guess so.

 

[yote]

Hahaha! You SO have me pegged! Am I really that predictable?!?! I guess so.

See Biff.We even knew you'd answer your own question there.:mrgreen: