Sump creatures

[jnmarshall]

My first time with a sump. I'm just curious to know what, if any, kind of live stock could or should be placed in there. Like snails, crabs, etc...

 

[zed102]

I have some big mexican turbos in there. They seem to be large enough that they don't clog everything.

 

[Ashlar]

The actual sump itself, or do you mean the refugium chamber where you plan to grow macroalgae or have a small DSB? If you're talking about a refugium chamber, then it depends on what purpose you want the refugium to serve.

If your refugium's main purpose is to grow algae for export, then obviously herbivores are out. If your refugium is mainly to grow micro- and meiofauna to feed the tank, then carnivores are out.

The only time anything intentionally gets placed in my sump, it's because I don't know what it is and I want to isolate it until I'm sure, or it's definitely something bad in the main tank, but couldn't harm anything living in the sump. I know others who treat their sump like jail for those critters who behave badly.

 

[ntl555]

I just have snails and rocks in my fuge area. Rocks to contain some copepods and snails to clean up the excess algea on the acrylic.

 

[jvswan]

@Ashlar wrote:

+1

I've used it mostly as a penalty box for my tank. Snails are hard to keep in there because they invariably get into the pumps and stuff. You can use egg crate to block things off, but they always seem to find a way. Personally, I wouldn't worry about keeping critters in the fuge unless you are worried about tank stuff settling in there. If that is the case, I'd stick some hermits in there and call it good.

 

[SushiGirl]

We have macro algae, a bunch of mini and micro brittle stars, a ton of stomatella snails (they get eaten in the display), various pods, and a tiger tail cucumber for the sand. Oh, and a recovering frag.