refugium?????

[scubataibi]

im thinkin of changin my 29g freshwater into a reef, im making a list of items, and then i come across the fuge, how do i light it? its demensions are 13.25"x4.5".12". it doesnt say how many gallons there are, how much lr/ls shold go in, and wat type of plants? plz help :help:

 

[fishamajig]

you can go with a small power compact setup, probabley only with daylights (cheaper) then you want to go with some fuge mud for a substrate, you can put in some lr, tou can use the rubble rock you get at the lfs (cheaper) and you might want to grow cheato or caulerpa these will grow fast and as you trim them you can feed it to your fish. people have used mangroves in a fuge but i have not seen t his done, plus mangroves grow slower than caulerpa and cheato and they probabley cost more.

 

[jer4916]

not trying to be rude and all...but why are you going to put a fuge on a 29 gallon tank?...thats how big most of our fuge's are....
~chris

 

[hurt]

I'd rather have a fuge on any size tank than not, no matter what the size. It will increase your total water volume, making the tank parameters more stable and easier to maintain, but more importantly it will give you cleaner water, which means less maintanence. I wouldn't go with miracle mud for a substrate, I'd go with LS. And I wouldn't use caulerpa personally, it can go sexual and release phosphates and nitrates back into your water-not a good thing. I'd personally go with Chateomorpha, it won't go sexual, and you don't have to run your fuge light 24/7 with it- as opposed to Caulerpa.

 

[jer4916]

Originally Posted by Hurt
I'd rather have a fuge on any size tank than not, no matter what the size. It will increase your total water volume, making the tank parameters more stable and easier to maintain, but more importantly it will give you cleaner water, which means less maintanence. I wouldn't go with miracle mud for a substrate, I'd go with LS. And I wouldn't use caulerpa personally, it can go sexual and release all the toxins and nitrates back into your water-not a good thing. I'd personally go with Chateomorpha, it won't go sexual, and you don't have to run your fuge light 24/7 with it- as opposed to Caulerpa.

I run my fuge with miracle mud and calerpa, both are amazing, i never dose my tank for anything, the mud is expensive and over rated i believe but it works. I dont use a skimmer. also you do not want to run your lights 24/7 its actully bad on the plants...simply because they have no rest time...they grow less and are more likely to die, Biology 101. Secondly odds of your caulerpa going A-sexual is second to none. Live sand is good, but if you run Miracle Mud ...you dont even have to have sand in the tank...i have it simply because i like a sand bottom.
Make sure when you get advice that you look into every possible thing. No ones word on this site or anywhere is as good as gold. Not even mine..haha
~chris

 

[hurt]

I had no idea you would take this post that serious

. To each his own, obviously you are a marine biologist. Don't take advice from me then, do a search for miracle mud and caulerpa and see what other members have to say. From what I have read, miracle mud is extremely overrated and nothing more than silt from the ocean with little beneficial results. I have only heard people running their lights 24/7 with caulerpa in order to "TRY" to keep it from going sexual. There are a number of posts on here from members who have had their caulerpa go sexual. So don't believe me, believe the majority of other members who have had problems with it

. I was merely conveying the consensus from other members

https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/172676/miracle-mud-totally-worth-the-buy
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/175228/miracle-mud
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/130460/what-are-youre-thoughts-on-miracle-mud
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/143447/caulerpa-care
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/125540/caulerpa-chaetomorpha-question
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/115077/plants-going-sexual-got-to-keep-them-separated

 

[scubataibi]

soooo....
what should I use?
There are ppl saying i should use this, shouldnt use that, and its getting confusing.
so miracle mud or live sand? which plant? and when i asked how to light the fuge, I was also askin how to get the light over the fuge w/out it falling?
AND WHY IS MIRACLE MUD AND CAULOPHIORIA IN BOLD RED IN ALL THOSE POSTS?!?!?!

 

[nitram]

Well personal I used live sand and Chateomorpha algae. I leave my lights on the refuge 24/7 and it has grown unbelievable with no die off. I have had it set up this way for 9 months. The Chateomorpha has filled my whole refuge, I have to trim it and give it to my tangs to eat. But to each his own. I have heard a lot off good things about the miracle mud and did a lot of research when sitting mine up. It does have a lot of minerals and things in it. I chose to go with the live sand because of all the live organisms in it. I find all kinds of strange looking creatures all the time and they do a wonderful job of keeping it clean. I do also have a protein skimmer in my refuge to grab all the nasty stuff.

 

[hurt]

scubataibi,
I am assuming you mean when your mouse pointer is over them they go red. Those are links I posted so you could read and form your own opinion as to what to use in your fuge. Just click on each thread and soak it all up-osmosis. Without offending anyone, I run LS and Chaetomorpha in my fuge. My fuge light is on a reverse daylight photosynthesis for 14 hours each day(8P.M. to 10A.M). I use simple peices of wood,(not sure the exact sizes) layed across the top of my fuge, then I put my 65w pc light on top of the wood-so it won't fall in. All of the above is IMHO

. Here is pic so you can the pieces of wood used to support my light.

 

[scubataibi]

ooo...
okay then. that pretty much answers all my questions but one, would anyone know how much gallons is in a fuge thats 13.25"x4.5"x12"

 

[hot883]

When you do a search, all the threads with the "key words" of your search will show up bold. Here is my $.02 Take it for what it is worth!!
If you want to see how much water something will hold: WxDXH=....divided by 231=gallons. Example 48x12x20=11,520 divided by 231=49.87 or 50 gallons. Any fuge is better than none thats a true fact. If you have live plants in your tank with LR and LS then a fuge is not neccesary by the views of many. I know plenty ppl on here that their fuge' are 55-120 gallon. IMO(in my opinion) a hob(hang on back) fuge that is 3 gal. will not help much considering the whole thing will not be full. Those calculations that I gave you only work if you fill it up. Generally fuge' don't get filled to the top. Fuge in general are beneficial for housing PODS that some fish need. It will give them a safe place to grow and reproduce. They will also help take out bad things from the water, but again if you have live plants in the tank, same thing. There are special made lights for small fuge' that clip ontop. See the famous auction site for those. Generally fuge lights are on 24/7 OR turn them on when the tank lights go off. HTH Good Luck.
Remember, you need to get all the info. and resources that you can and then make an informed decision on your own.(that's what you are doing here)

 

[scubataibi]

WHOA!!!!!
thats real smarts right there, except for the fact that i got 30g, which cant be right, i musta screwed when multiplyin or somethin, ill look over it, heres a list of all equippment for the reef, no livestock yet
29g reef-
130w coral life 50/50 canopy/light w/ timer- 144.90
Aqua Clear Power Head 30, 174 GPH- 15.99
SeaTesT Hydrometer- 7.99
29 lb. Premium Fiji Cured Live Rock- 130.50
CPR Bak-Pak 2R+ Reef Ready Protein Skimmer- 127.95
AFSM CPR AquaFuge Refugium Small- 89.00
CaribSea Arag-Alive Bahama Oolite Sand 20 Lb- 32.95
30g saltwater- 60.00
12" Satellite 1x18W SunPaq w/Lunar fuge Light – 42.99
that good? if i need more lr ill add it later

 

[scubataibi]

as for additives, my 2.5 month old nano's doin well, i didnt add any additives, i got packaged seawater in 5g bags, and that had everythin needed, so thats wat im usin in this, the rule for fish is 1 per 3g right?

 

[wax32]

Move the decimal... thats about 3 gallons.

 

[wax32]

The so-called rule usually goes 1 inch of adult fish per 5 gallons. But that rule is silly, you have fat fish and skinny fish... all of which produce variable amounts of waste. I'd say 2-4 "average" reef type fish is ok in a 29 gallom. No tangs or other big type fish. Stick to fish that are 2-3" adult size.

 

[scubataibi]

anything im missing equipment-wise?