Refugium questions/help

[Beano1169]

I have a small 2.7 gallon pico, its been going strong for like 25 days now. Diatom bloom is in full spread but the Cuc take care of that. My issue is I am recieving some frags today and will be cleaning my filter out abit before they show up. I am curious if I take out my "feather caulerpa"(which shouldnt be there anyways was told it was macro algae) will I have any spiking in the tank seeing as how they are a nitrite and nitrate soak?

The filter is a Aquaclear 30 fuge mod, with ac foam, 100ml purigen bag, LR chunks not really rubble, and that feather nonsense. I'm worried if I remove the caulerpa my tank will spike and murder my frags

[gobytron]

Caulerpa is a macro algae.
With a system this small, anything can cause a wipe out.
Taking out the caulerpa could cause a spike but it's unlikely.

[Beano1169]

gah ok well maybe Ill wait it out untill I get a less invasive type of macro algae. I just dont wanna cause that wipe out you speak of. :( Could cleaning the filter cause that? I doubt it but likeliness? by cleaning the filter I mean just dumping it out reconfiguring the fuge lay out and replacing the foam

[Snaz]

If the filter media contains a significant portion of your de-nitrifying bacteria then removing it could cause a crash. If your frags arrive today I would advise not to clean it. If they are coming in a few days then do it now.

[Beano1169]

they do come today, when do you think would be a good time to clean it ? cause to be honest it has been on there since start up, well the bio junk has been it was prob 2 weeks got purigen and new foam went in.

[Snaz]

they do come today, when do you think would be a good time to clean it ? cause to be honest it has been on there since start up, well the bio junk has been it was prob 2 weeks got purigen and new foam went in.

Wait a few days until after the frags have settled before making any changes I wound advise.

[Beano1169]

thank you very very much!!! and if anyone was following my old thread my nem is doing much better and since its getting colder out there the temp has stabilized as well!!!

[hillegom]

You should be cleaning your filter out every 3 days or so. To keep detritus in there for long only allows it to degrade into nitrate. you want to get rid of the stuff before it decays.
Do not wash the filter in fresh water. This would kill all the bacteria in it. Wash it with water taken from your tank. Then replace that water with new saltwater.
Mini water change.

[reefwars]

i have some macro thats not invasive and very slow growing its a display macro and not very good for nutrients. i also have several oter types of sump macro which is good for export but you dont want it in your display. if you want some of either send me a pm and ill cut you some:)

[reefwars]

very unlikely that feather caulerpa will hold enough nutrients to crash your tank, you cant be possibly running all that much in a hob filter. if its in your display tank your screwed feather caulerpa is very invasive and hard to get rid of in small tanks.

swapping out mature cheato with your caulerpa would be ok.

[Beano1169]

hahah thank goodness the feather isnt in the display, I only put it in the hob fuge just to help cycle and get rid of pesky nitrite and nitrate. its starting to send roots through my grate though :O so hopefully i can keep trimming those before the fall off into the tank :P thanks for the advice on cleaning the filter. every three days is that necessary?? I do weekly 25% water change out and I ato with fresh when I can, waiting for the float valvue to get here to make my ATO system.

[reefwars]

hahah thank goodness the feather isnt in the display, I only put it in the hob fuge just to help cycle and get rid of pesky nitrite and nitrate. its starting to send roots through my grate though :O so hopefully i can keep trimming those before the fall off into the tank :P thanks for the advice on cleaning the filter. every three days is that necessary?? I do weekly 25% water change out and I ato with fresh when I can, waiting for the float valvue to get here to make my ATO system.


if your just having live rock rubble and macro then cleaning every 3 days is a bit much , when i use to run hob's as a refugium i didnt clean it at all just blow a turkey baster in there or suck some crud out with a baster.

pods will love the dirtyness of your filter.

in a tank as small as yours you will not have any nutrient issues or parameter isuuse if you just do water changes.

rinsing your frozen food will help with phosphates if you dont plan on running a reactor.

[Beano1169]

Brilliant! thank again Denny! right now for frozen food Im feeding just prosalt - mysis shrimp not cube but flat pack and I usually desolve it in salt water before feeding

[reefwars]

Brilliant! thank again Denny! right now for frozen food Im feeding just prosalt - mysis shrimp not cube but flat pack and I usually desolve it in salt water before feeding


still rinse as it contains phosphates, fill a coffe mug with the shrimp and some cold freshwater(doesnt need to be salt) wait for it to defrost, pour out the juices and refill the cup with more water. keep straining out the juices and adding new water untill the water stays crystal clear.
putting the mysis on papertowel and blotching off the juices helps alot too.

if you defrost the shrimp in some water youll notice how murky the water is, you dont want that stuff in your tank its a common problem for new reefers:) cheers

[hillegom]

you stated you have the foam block in your HOB. This is the filter that you should squeeze, rinse clean in used tank water. You want to keep the bacteria in it but not the detritus. That will only decay more and release nitrate back into the water

[Beano1169]

haha crazyness never would have thought. I dont feed large quantities of mysis as this is the only tank at the moment. Any concept on how to shrink this for a smaller size portion? haha like 5ml worth not even haha