boboyo
Active Member
Hi all, I've been looking into growing some pods for my mandarin (I do have enough in my tank and I bought some live ones just in case but I want a steady supply so Kim the mandarin can have infinite food).
I have no sump so when I was setting up I bought an aquaclear hob filter (sponge + carbon + biomax) I was advised to not use the biomax so I never used it and some people also told me to ditch the sponge too which I still keep but rinse out in saltwater twice a week) I have a hob skimmer too.
I spent way more money on this hobby than I imagined so my main option is to have a diy copepod production in a big jar and fill it in the tank every now and then but then I was reading on the benefits of refugiums (I do have high trates from my turbo cycle and still do water changes twice a week to make it go down but like even 20% wcs wont do too much (its 4 20% wc to drop trates by half assuming 0 new trates are produced).
At this point its either buying a refugium or buying a yellow tang which I've always wanted or both but thats a slippery slope to bankruptcy lol. I'm very handy so I was looking into modding my hob 70gallon aquaclear filter which doesnt look hard to do at all. Has anyone on here ever done this? Back when I had diatoms, they would grow on my carbon pouch inside my filter even with the hob filter cover on (the cover is grey and kinda see through) so if i end up making it a fuge, I dont think i need extra light, especially with the filter cover off.
My main question is : if I remove the filter sponge and only keep the carbon at the bottom of the filter, will it be ok to have the top layer serve as a mini refugium? If it's safe I could figure out the rest on my own (please comment on here if youve ever turned your aquaclear hob into a refugium in case I have some quick questions in the future).
Thank you all - this is by far the greatest place for questions
I have no sump so when I was setting up I bought an aquaclear hob filter (sponge + carbon + biomax) I was advised to not use the biomax so I never used it and some people also told me to ditch the sponge too which I still keep but rinse out in saltwater twice a week) I have a hob skimmer too.
I spent way more money on this hobby than I imagined so my main option is to have a diy copepod production in a big jar and fill it in the tank every now and then but then I was reading on the benefits of refugiums (I do have high trates from my turbo cycle and still do water changes twice a week to make it go down but like even 20% wcs wont do too much (its 4 20% wc to drop trates by half assuming 0 new trates are produced).
At this point its either buying a refugium or buying a yellow tang which I've always wanted or both but thats a slippery slope to bankruptcy lol. I'm very handy so I was looking into modding my hob 70gallon aquaclear filter which doesnt look hard to do at all. Has anyone on here ever done this? Back when I had diatoms, they would grow on my carbon pouch inside my filter even with the hob filter cover on (the cover is grey and kinda see through) so if i end up making it a fuge, I dont think i need extra light, especially with the filter cover off.
My main question is : if I remove the filter sponge and only keep the carbon at the bottom of the filter, will it be ok to have the top layer serve as a mini refugium? If it's safe I could figure out the rest on my own (please comment on here if youve ever turned your aquaclear hob into a refugium in case I have some quick questions in the future).
Thank you all - this is by far the greatest place for questions
