Couple of Fuge Questions

[drew2005]

Im setting up my fuge this week. Its going to be a 10 gallon fuge on a 46 gallon main tank. Im completely changing from my wet/dry to the fuge. I have about a 3"-4" sand bed in my main tank. How deep of a bed should i put in the fuge? Actual fuge area is 10" x 11" long. Should i use live sand?mud? Cost is not an issue so im up for any suggestions.

 

[lion_crazz]

I would just use regular aragonite sand and do a 4" bed. If you have live rock and live sand in your display, the sand in your refuge will be live in no time.

 

[drew2005]

I have around 80 lbs of LR in the main display. I dont plan on putting any rock in the fuge though. Just sand, chaeto or caluerpa. Whichever i can find locally. Should i put some a small cleanup crew in there? Maybe a couple snails and hermits.

 

[lion_crazz]

Yeah, a small clean-up crew is not a bad idea just to keep detritus under control. 80 lbs. of live rock in your display is plenty. The aragonite sand in your fuge will be live in no time.
You do not need live rock in your refuge. You have more than enough in the display tank.
I would strongly recommend going with chaeto. While caulerpa grows a little faster, you need to make sure you cut back the caulerpa often so that it does not go sexual and relase everything back in your tank. You do not have this worry with chaeto.

 

[drew2005]

Just realized the walls for the fuge area are 4 inches high. Would i have any problems going with less? Maybe 2"-3".

 

[lion_crazz]

No, that would be fine, as long as you put a few small hermits in there to keep the sand clean. You do not need a deep sand bed in the refuge, being you have one in the display. You could even do a shallow bed (1-2") in the fuge, just to allow you a little more room.

 

[drew2005]

Thanks for the help. Hopefully i can find chaeto locally. I hear its hard to come by these days.

 

[lion_crazz]

Eh, I always have it in stock at my store. You should not have too much of a problem finding it. Plus, there are people selling it on this site in the Classifieds all the time. On this site, people sell it for $8 bucks, plus a few dollars for shipping.