How long should i wait to add starfish to my refugium?

[dmc888]

Well i finally got my refugium running.
I wanted to know how long should i wait to add a refugium kit.
The kit will have pods, mysis shrimp,brittle stars, ast stars, worms,ls,and macro.
I know starfish are the most delicate.
I see alot of 6 month wait for new tanks.
But i would think sharing water flow with the main tank should age it alot faster.
My 55 has been setup 3 years and the 10g fuge has only 70gph flow from the main tank.
I posted pics in the equipment section
The fuge was cycled for one month with a shrimp.
Also would it be safe to have a ph in there?
I don't want to kill anything in my kit.

 

[swnewb]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but a fuge doesn't need to be cycled since it is using water from your main tank which is already been cycled. So unless you are adding uncured LR, there would be no need to cycle. If that were the case, simply cure the LR in a seperate container before adding to the fuge. I guess a good question would be, would you add these critters to your main tank? If you answer yes, then you would be alright to add them to your fuge since it is all the same system.

 

[dmc888]

Not sure either.
I cycled it for the sand mostly. It was dead sand.
I wanted to make sure it had enough bacteria.
And the rocks are base rock.
I don't really want the worms in the main tank.
If they get their my ss star will eat them.
I just don't want to get stabbed by one of them.
Decided the ph is a bad idea.

 

[ophiura]

The microbrittlestars and asterina seastars commonly sold in these kits are hardier than other types and can go in a younger tank...if you have LR, you probably already have them. Even if many die, those left will reproduce well to make up the difference.
If they are sending larger brittlestars or seastars, that is a different story.

 

[snipe]

brittle stars arent that delicate one of the most hardy stars available. If you can put it in your main tank then you can add them to your fuge.