refugium pics
- Thread starter nm reef
- Start date
bob the builder
Member
Originally posted by cmpowell:
<strong>since this wonderful hobby is all new to me i'll ask.what is the green stuff and what is it for?
</strong><hr></blockquote>
The gren stuff is calepra algea, it is used for a food source and NM reef is growing it cuase it cant be in his tank for whatever reason.
<strong>since this wonderful hobby is all new to me i'll ask.what is the green stuff and what is it for?
</strong><hr></blockquote>The gren stuff is calepra algea, it is used for a food source and NM reef is growing it cuase it cant be in his tank for whatever reason.
nm reef
Active Member
The caulpera algae is grown to effectively remove excess nutrients that nuscience(sic) algaes need to survive....plus the caulperas help my system maintain zero nitrates(nitrates being a primary source of nutrition for caulperas). I either remove some and toss it...bag it up and return it to my favorite LFS for purchase credit...or feed some of it to my yellow tang/coral beauty/pygmy angel....it is in my opinon an outstanding filtering mechanism...low cost/low maintenance...and extremely effective!
The pickling lime is my kalkwasser mix...same stuff the major vendors sell but that container in the pic is nearly a years supply and cost me $1.49!!! I mix 1/2 teaspoon with 1 gal ro/di water and drip it nightly.
Thought some of ya'all would like the refugium pics and lay-out.....In my opinion a well set-up/maintained/functioning refugium is one of the basic foundations for a well developed reef.
The pickling lime is my kalkwasser mix...same stuff the major vendors sell but that container in the pic is nearly a years supply and cost me $1.49!!! I mix 1/2 teaspoon with 1 gal ro/di water and drip it nightly.
Thought some of ya'all would like the refugium pics and lay-out.....In my opinion a well set-up/maintained/functioning refugium is one of the basic foundations for a well developed reef.
reeflooker
Member
Do you ever have problems with the caulpera clogging the outflow drain from the refugium??
nm reef
Active Member
Nope...its not been an issue. For one the flow rate has always been relatively low(approx 75-100 GPH) and the low flow prevents much getting into the returns...plus I've always made sure to manually remove any near the returns. Now that the flow rate is about double it may become more of an issue ... but I'll just insure its pulled back from the over flow returns and deal with it if it becomes a major issue...but my flow rate is still rather low(about 150-175 GPH) so I don't anticipate much of a problem.What has concerned me is the scum from the surface that would return to the display...thats one reason for adding the second stage to the refugium...eventually the majority of my macro algaes will be cultivated in the first stage....with much less in the second stage which returns to the display. My hope is to insure that the return water is much more free of un-wanted returns.