Cryptic Fuge

jandlms · Jul 29, 2009

Eric,
Check with ***** in the club. He had one set up at the last meeting he hosted. I also recall seeing some cryptic "seed" packages for sale a few years back. GARF maybe?
jandlms

Fishcrazy06 · Jul 29, 2009

I thought he had more of a remote DSB setup? Or was I mistaken? Hmmmm I think as far as the rock rubble goes I am going to go to Reef's John got some pretty nice stuff by the sounds of it through them!

Would it be pointless do both a cryptic and a "normal" fuge??

Eric

customcolor · Jul 29, 2009

normal fuge pull out nitrates and phos....cryptic helps with polishing the water...since your doing mainly lps and will have lots of stuff floating around i would think a cryptic will thrive..i have be debaiting on setting one up too and i may after i do the 150

Fishcrazy06 · Jul 29, 2009

Ok so it would benefit to have both? Or would I be pulling out too much with the normal Fuge in order for the cryptic to thrive? Just curious. I think both would be pretty neat as I would have a lot of different Micro Fauna then. Or would it be pretty much the same except for the fact the cryptic would have the sponges in there?

customcolor · Jul 30, 2009

im waiting to see if some one chimes in too....

Fishcrazy06 · Jul 30, 2009

Whats that for Dave? to see if it would be a benefit to run both or just one? I think you would be able to run both as they both do something different by the sounds of it. one polishes the water and one helps suck up the nutrients. I am goign to do some more research on it though.

Eric

customcolor · Jul 30, 2009

i was thinking the same thing too but was waiting for some one that has both to chime in for a defined "yes they do great togeather"

jlinzmaier · Jul 31, 2009

info deleted

jlinzmaier · Jul 31, 2009

info deleted

customcolor · Jul 31, 2009

jlinzmaier · Aug 1, 2009

LOL!!! Thanks Dave.

Jeremy

Fishcrazy06 · Aug 2, 2009

Thanks for the long winded informative write up Jeremy. LOL. Basically what I want is a healthy, thiriving, diversive reef tank. With what I gathered reading your write up while eating breakfast then lunch. I would be able to run both and be able to have a nice diverse array of microfauna and sponges. Now here is the question to ponder. You thought it would be better to have a diverse mixture of mud, sand, and rubble and rock for the cryptic fuge but to keep the incoming water somewhat filtered. I was thinking the way to help accomplish this is if I run both the Lighted fuge and the cryptic fuge is too have my water run into the lighted fuge first and then into the cryptic as the lighted will help to eliminate some of the detrius and then run it through a sock before entering the cryptic. By doing this hopefully there wont be as much collecting into the sock.

Any thoughts or ideas? I like the idea of being able to see all the goodies on the behind the scenes of the beautiful display tank. In essence making my reef a little own Natural habitat. Maybe even down the road adding some Oh great now I forgot the name of them so I will skip what I was going to say!!!!! LOL The thingys that grow out of the water...Oh yeah mangroves. :D

Eric

oceanparadise1 · Aug 2, 2009

I have had the best luck with my current set up. From the drain it goes into a 60 gallon custom sump it flows thru two filter socks then next chamber is my skimmer third chamber is mangroves which then dumps water into my 100 gallon rubbermaid fuge with about 200 pounds of live rock and tone of macro algea. I run no carbon and my water is crystal clear and full of pods

jlinzmaier · Aug 2, 2009

info deleted

jlinzmaier · Aug 2, 2009

oceanparadise1 said:
I have had the best luck with my current set up. From the drain it goes into a 60 gallon custom sump it flows thru two filter socks then next chamber is my skimmer third chamber is mangroves which then dumps water into my 100 gallon rubbermaid fuge with about 200 pounds of live rock and tone of macro algea. I run no carbon and my water is crystal clear and full of pods

Sounds like a pretty good set up. How often do you change your filter socks? How fine are they? What are your nutrient levels? Any nuisance algea? What type of substrate do you have within the sump or fuge?

Jeremy

Fishcrazy06 · Aug 2, 2009

I have the sand ordered up for the tank and it should be here this week. I have 4 pieces of trim to hang in the living room and the wife says I have the go ahead for the water!!! :D I will keep you up to date. What I think I am going to use is a 50 gallon for the lighted Fuge and a 38 gallon for a cryptic. Just need to figure out the logistics of it!

Yellowtang · Aug 2, 2009

Not to barge in here but I have a question. How deep do you run the sand part of the cryptic fuge, are you runing it deep enough to be a RDSB for additional nitrate reduction?

JR,

jlinzmaier · Aug 3, 2009

Yellowtang said:
Not to barge in here but I have a question. How deep do you run the sand part of the cryptic fuge, are you runing it deep enough to be a RDSB for additional nitrate reduction?

JR,

I personally don't like the concept of a DSB unless it is it's own entity and connected remotely. I think 1 in of mud followed by 1/2 in of fine sand followed by 1/2 in of coarse crushed coral then something larger about the size of coarse calcium reactor media. IMO that's enough replication of an environment suitable for most any type of sand dwelling critter (in regards to microfauna). I would also have some areas with just mud and some areas with just find sand followed by some crushed coral. The largers peices of aragonite can be piled in different areas to give a large suface area for pods to live in/on.

Jeremy

Fishcrazy06 · Nov 5, 2009

Seeing how the forums are getting busy again I thought I would bump this thread up to see if anyone who runs a cryptic fuge would like to chime in!

Eric

hollback · Dec 1, 2009

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.