In tank refugium

rostalee · Apr 29, 2023

I don’t have space in my sump for a refugium. I’ve been looking at in tank options. It is mostly for copepod protection for my dragonet and sand sitting goby. But I’m trying to work out if rather than a box could I just slide (and secure) a long piece of Perspex with lots of holes in it to allow flow down the side of my tank and then put some rubble and chaeto in there?

Subsea · Apr 29, 2023

I have seeded rubble in a media bag and placed it behind rock scape in a display tank. I also use HOB filters as gravity feed refugiums.

rostalee · Apr 29, 2023

Subsea said:
I have seeded rubble in a media bag and placed it behind rock scape in a display tank. I also use HOB filters as gravity feed refugiums.

Yes I’ve thought about a rubble habitat in the back but I’m hoping to out some chaeto in there as well. I’d love to out a macroalgae like dragons breath in but doesn’t seem to be available in Australia

Subsea · Apr 29, 2023

rostalee said:
Yes I’ve thought about a rubble habitat in the back but I’m hoping to out some chaeto in there as well. I’d love to out a macroalgae like dragons breath in but doesn’t seem to be available in Australia.

Macro algae is not necessary for a pod habitat. A cryptic sump will grow pods.

GARRIGA · Apr 29, 2023

I’ve thought about doing a tank divider with holes but astheticslly speaking an external HOB solution provides additional water dilution and cleaner look. If latter not an option then tank divider makes sense. Assuming it can get lit and some flow can be diverted through it.

Subsea · Apr 29, 2023

rostalee said:
Yes I’ve thought about a rubble habitat in the back but I’m hoping to out some chaeto in there as well. I’d love to out a macroalgae like dragons breath in but doesn’t seem to be available in Australia

[Gorgonian ID I ordered 4 photosynthetic Gorgonian. They are a bit hard to come by here (Australia). The top one looks pretty sad…..is it salvageable? Are they all photosynthetic? I want to make sure I put them in the right place in the tank. These are my first corals I’m planing a seahorse tank.]

The yellow Gorgonion looks like a Sea Fan which is a NPS filter feeder.

Have you kept seahorses before? They are messy eaters and a handful of Chaeto will not do much for nutrient management.

rostalee · Apr 29, 2023

Subsea said:
[Gorgonian ID I ordered 4 photosynthetic Gorgonian. They are a bit hard to come by here (Australia). The top one looks pretty sad…..is it salvageable? Are they all photosynthetic? I want to make sure I put them in the right place in the tank. These are my first corals I’m planing a seahorse tank.]

The yellow Gorgonion looks like a Sea Fan which is a NPS filter feeder.

Have you kept seahorses before? They are messy eaters and a handful of Chaeto will not do much for nutrient management.

The sea fan (I agree) arrived in a terrible state and I could never salvage it. The purple Gorgonian grew so that I needed to frag it into 2. I haven’t kept seahorses before. I’m going pretty slow with it all. I’m not likely to get horses until I can increase the size of my tank and then add in an algae reactor and full refugium. Currently love looking at the softies in there and working on getting a good feel for nutrients in and out etc. I do pretty decent water changes every week currently which helps.