Cryptic Fuge

[jlinzmaier]

I ran a cryptic fuge for a little over 2.5 years. I took about a year before I noticed much benefit. I had a 40 gallon breeder that had black vinyl on three sides and some black coroplast on the front viewing panel. I only ran about 150 gph through it. It gravity fed to my display and provided a constant supply of tiny copepods. I had two air stones, one in each front corner, to help keep area from becoming stagnant. I had about a half dozen types of sponges, all kinds of pods, some giant bristle worms and a bunch of yellow nudibranchs which I assume fed on the yellow sponges. Enjoy.

Cryptic fuge is on the top.

It was really neat for a while but over time I lost interest and sold it off as a whole. I sometimes think about setting another one up but I don't have the space anymore.

Very nice!! I just finished reading the Environmental Gradient book by Steve Tyree which illustrates his detailed experimentation with sponge filtration and provides great instruction for setting up a cryptic zone.

It looks like you had a great deal of diversity in sponges. Did you seed your cryptic zone with any sponges, tunicates, or uncured live rock??

Was the front pane always open or was that covered also??

Jeremy

 

[hollback]

Jeremy,

I kept the front covered along with the top of the tank to keep it as black as possible. The light that is on was only for viewing. It was really cool to turn on the light just as I opened the front panel and see all kinds of strange creatures go scattering.

The live rock was originally from a 40 gallon pipefish cube I had set up. I did get some nice chunks of live rock from my friend GEO that he had growing in his unlit sump. Everything else, including inverts were on the rock. If I could do it again, I would order Tampa Bay Saltwater rock since it's harvested and shipped wet. I would think I would get so much more diverse life that could live in a cryptic fuge that usually dies off under intense reef lighting.

 

[jlinzmaier]

You did a great job. It's great to hear there was that much diversity without acutally buying and adding cryptic sponges. I just recently learned there was deep water LR sold from Florida. That's really good for a few reasons 1) it doesn't ship all the way from the south pacific 2) it's kept/harvested deep so there is a great deal of cryptic life already there and there is little algea growing on it which limits the die off/cycle time before you can get it into the cryptic area.

Thanks for posting the details of your set up.

Jeremy

 

[acronautical]

I run a version of one. The way I set up the sump below my 150, I place a large (25") CPR Aquafuge on a wood stand (to prevent torque upon the acrylic sump) in front of the sump. The Aquafuge is lit by a 36 watt pc. The back of the Aquafuge is blacked out, preventing most of the light from entering the sump (the pc is not elevated above the rim of the Aquafuge). I grow chaeto in the Aquafuge. I keep a jumble of medium-size pieces of live rock in the cryptic area of the sump, between the filter sock and the skimmer. There are sponges growing on and within these pieces.

 

[hollback]

No problem Jeremy,

I wish I had photos right before I sold it. The posted photos are about 8 months into setting it up. My favorite was a walking ball sponge. I got a "frag" from a friend with a cryptic tank.

I wouldn't worry about the deep water lr., especially if it cost more. The lr that they harvest shallow and ship wet will have MUCH more life/cryptic on it than anything you'll get from another hobbiest. The trick it keeping it alive. Even the rocks in the shallows will have cryptic life on the under side and inside it.

 

[Fishcrazy06]

Thanks for all the info. I too plan on setting up a 38 Gallon cryptic fuge. I have a ton of liverock now though so not sure If I will order any up or not. I do have some sponges growing now. Jeremy if you do decide to do an order though let me know. Being as I am only doing a 38 gallon I would only need a few pieces and that would work out awesome.

Gave me a lot of good ideas with the pictures you had though.

Eric

 

[hollback]

Something else to reiterate is that even though it's low flow you need to have some type of water movement or your water WILL go anaerobic. My friend had this happen and the bottom 2" of his tank went nasty. It actually started splitting like water and oil. That is why I kept air stones in the front corners. It keep the water circulating. I also ran the system bare bottom so I could siphon out detritus.

 

[Fishcrazy06]

I planned on going bare bottom as well. Wonder if one would be beneficial by putting just a small powerhead in there like a Koralia Nano. Any thoughts on this?

Eric

 

[hollback]

The powerhead would work but you would need to be careful. If you stir up detritus in the water column, it can "clog the pores" of the sponges. With an air stone the water is pushed from the bottom of the tank to towards the surface (like our skimmers). Therefore slowly circulating the tank and providing oxygen. it also made it easy to siphon out detritus as it accumulated all around the air stones. I kept 2/3 of the top covered to reduce not only light but salt creep from the airs tones.

 

[Fishcrazy06]

Good point. I suppose and Air pump is a lot cheaper to run too. LOL. I will definately be doing this. Need to get my 55 gallon fuge all up and running first and then tie this in. What way did you run your water? Did you have a normal fuge setup? IE drain to cryptic to fuge to tank. Drain to fuge to cryptic?

Eric

 

[hollback]

Everything was in my basement, display in the finished area, fish room behind the wall in the unfinished area. My entire system drained to a 100 gallon rubbermaid on the floor. I then used a Dart with a manifold to feed my reactors, display, frag tank and cryptic tank. My cryptic was as high as I could get it (sitting above the frag tank and higher than the top of my display in the other room). The cryptic tank then gravity fed to the display.


I used to have this huge worm that lived directly in the middle of my rock work. It would put out testicles that reached 8" down the rock work, 6" to the front pane of glass, and extend all the way to the corners on my 3' tank. It was eating copepods that were on the glass near the air stone bubble streams. I would guess that the testicles were about 3-4' each! When I would kick on the light it would retract really fast!

 

[Fishcrazy06]

LOL Do you mean tenticles?

 

[ReeferRob]

Everything was in my basement, display in the finished area, fish room behind the wall in the unfinished area. My entire system drained to a 100 gallon rubbermaid on the floor. I then used a Dart with a manifold to feed my reactors, display, frag tank and cryptic tank. My cryptic was as high as I could get it (sitting above the frag tank and higher than the top of my display in the other room). The cryptic tank then gravity fed to the display.


I used to have this huge worm that lived directly in the middle of my rock work. It would put out testicles that reached 8" down the rock work, 6" to the front pane of glass, and extend all the way to the corners on my 3' tank. It was eating copepods that were on the glass near the air stone bubble streams. I would guess that the testicles were about 3-4' each! When I would kick on the light it would retract really fast!

Hahaha, sorry but you had a worm with 8" testicles or tenticles? Freaky butt worm!

 

[w0r1d5m1n3]

BWAHAHAHAHAHA. That just made my morning.

 

[hollback]

Wow! Darn spell checker burned me!

 

[jlinzmaier]

info deleted

 

[NewMelee]

interesting reading, I'm learning alot just reading this thread.

 

[Fishcrazy06]

Thanks Jeremy. What size tank do you plan on using to do this? I am going to either use that 38 gallon or the 55 gallon tank I have here. If I use the 55 I need to see where I am going to implement it into the system. When I did this filtration area in the basement I thought I would have had plenty of room. But with doing a 55 traditional fuge and now implementing the cryptic fuge I just don't know. I built my frag tank stand higher than I think I should have though. The reason being is its just the right height to walk up and look and see everything.

Would I be better off with a 55 or a 38 gallon as the cryptic? System is going to entail the display tank (72 gallon bowfront), 90 gallon frag tank, 55 gallon sump, and a 55 gallon "traditional" fuge.

Eric

 

[nater]

here is how i have mine set up. it flows back into the display tank.
fuge2 picture by Shazeone - Photobucket
fuge picture by Shazeone - Photobucket

 

[nater]