20G Fuge Log - blide version

B

blide

Well after seeing all these great fuge threads I finally bit the bullet and built one myself. I used a 20g tank that is drilled in the upper right and is fed off the main return pump of my display. During the initial setup I was using a Home Depot light to keep the cheato alive and as of today I upgraded to 130w PC fixture that really gives the tank a nice look and the extra wattage for growth.

So, before I post pics I want to thank everyone for the hardware, macro, and advice on setting this up... :D

Day 1 - (Sand & Home Depot Light)
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(Short Durso)
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Day 2 - (Added Macro - 3 Cheato Balls (Donna) and 1 Cheato Ball (Kevin)
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Day 5 - (Added 130w Coralife Fixture)
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Cool! Glad to see others are letting their fuge's come outta the closet! There's so much life in there, I've always thought it such a shame that they're generally hidden away outta sight...

If ya' need any more macro, lemme know, my big fuge already needs to be pruned again since the pruning I did last week!

As always, I won't claim to be an expert, but I've at least been there, done that, if you've got any questions ask away!
 
Thanks guys... :D

One thing I noticed about the macro is the cheato I got from Kevin is thin and grows extremley fast (doubled) and the cheato I got from Donna is dense and grows a little slower. Are there different types of cheato?

(Front - Donna Cheato / Rear - Kevin Cheato)
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Bill, I noticed the same thing.. I have some from Serk that's thinner, and lighter in color, and some that I got from Alan that's _thick_. I wonder if it's a species thing, or maybe even a geography (fiji vs red sea, or something like that.)
 
While I have no doubt there are multiple different genetic varieties of Cheatomorph, I suspect the system it came from has something to do with it as well...

Many people keep only Cheato in their refuguims, and thus it's gonna get all the nutrients it wants, whereas others keep many differnet types of macro algaes, so it's gonna hafta compete a little harder to get what it needs, and thus might end up being thinner...

Just a thought, I'm no biologist...
 
A cursory scan of the internet reveals

3 from Hawaii:
Chaetomorpha antennina
C. aerea
C. capillaris

Kobe, Japan
Chaetomorpha spiralis Okamura

Rhode Island
Chaetomorpha linum

This hobby can be overwhelming.
 
So what do you guys think about fuge lighting schedules? I have a 65w 10K and 65w Actinic in the setup and I was thinking about this:

24hr - Actinic
13hr - 10K & Actinic

It would be nice to run the actinics at night to cut down on the light in the room and give my display some darkness, but I don't know if macro algae will grow with actinic lighting only? :?
 
IMHO, as far as the lighting, I'd keep it all 10k or below, wouldn't even mess with Actinics...

Schedule wise, try to make sure your fuge is always lit when the main tank isn't, beyond that is preference. I keep mine lit 18 hours a day, basically the fuge is dark for the first 6 hours that the display's lights are on... But, if you get too much light from your fuge into your display I can understand how that might be an issue. I personally just think of it as extra moon-light for my display...
 
My fuge lights come on at the same time as mu supplemental lighting in the tank (7am) and goes out 4 hours after my supplemental light goes out (11pm), so it's running 16 hours.

I'm still considering getting some coroplast or a curtain to block out the light so that I can run it an additional 2-3 hours without affecting the main tank.
 
Hey Scott,

You may want to consider a reverse daylight schedule. Some tanks will fluctuate pH from day to night. If you pH drops (becoming more acidic) it will inhibit the precipitation of calcium carbonate by your corals impairing their growth. The CO2 in the aquarium will become hydrated; in turn it will become Carbonic acid thus lowering the pH. A reverse daylight schedule will boost the oxygen levels at night while your plants consume free CO2 dissolved in the water. Reverse daylight photosynthesis helps balance the effects of CO2 and pH.

Blide,

This is a cool neat looking set up. I agree with Serk that there is really no benefit to running the Actinics, unless you are going for refugium esthetics :lol: . I wonder if you can get some Gracillaria growing in there?
 
Not trying to "tell you how it should be done" :wink: I assumed that you knew better, but you know about assuming.....


Hopefully, it may help others browsing along.

You could always ghetto configure your light dampening by using cardboard until you get something more permanent. Have you considered coroplast? It is cheap and looks slick. It will black out your light.
 
*nod* That's the only hard part about a display refugium. It's easy to run a reverse photoperiod when it's under your stand.
 
Day 10

Well I noticed that detirius has been building up because of the low flow, so I decided to add a MJ900 to the fuge today. The macro has been growing fine, but I don't want a bunch of crap on the sand so I thought the added flow was necessary.

Pic: (As you can tell I must of had some phospates in my tank :) )
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VS

5 Days Before:
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Naaah, prolly no phosphates, it's just fluffing up from the flow! (J/K)

When my fuge went live, it looked like what you'd imagine a PetCo Reef Tank would look for the first couple weeks, lots of detritus, cyano, uglyness everywhere... I for the most part just let it age at it's own pace and that seemed to work for me, going on the theory that some detritus collecting on the sand would help feed the DSB and help it become active quicker...

(It's amazing the long, crazy explanations I can come up with to explain away being lazy, ain't it? :oops: )

Looking good to me!
 
Well I must of missed the party late last night because when I came home for lunch there were pods everywhere! Small ones all over the glass and it seems my mysis have started breeding in there as well.

My mandarin and 6-line are looking through the glass thinking all of there dreams are about to come true! :D

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Nice, Bill. Do you have any snails or other cleanup critters in there?

If you ever get any macro from Serk, it'll definitely be chock full of those little IPSF strombus grazers. I've noticed a lot less detrius buildup since I added some from his 'fuge.
 
Yeah, those lil' IPSF Strombus Grazers are GREAT! There are literally 100's of 'em all over my fuge now...
 
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