refugium

Andre

k well i got a 45 gal tank under my 150 and put 30 lbs of the best live rock i could get down there. I really want to know what the best substrate is for growing macro algae. Also what inverts and such should go down there, how many snails, hermits, any kind of fish good to have down there. also what are your feelings on macro algae, what is the best ones and what else should i grow down there. Just looking to be pointed in the right direction.

caferacermike

Macro algae does not need a substrate. It is not a plant. It is a group of similar cells that grow together in a mass. There are little holders but no roots. It'll cling to anything. The 2 used for cleaning tanks are Cheatomorpha and Caulerpa. The pros say to stick with only Cheato as it causes less troubles. Caulerpa grows ultra fast, which is good in a fuge as you can harvest it more often, but tends to release a bad chemical when you prune it back. Cheato grows into a ball that resembles a green version of a ball of steel wool. Caulerpa can also melt down every few months releasing nutrients into the water. It's a form of aesexual reproduction. To combat this leave your lights on 24 hours over the fuge. It won't signal to reproduce that way. Another side note, either leave your fuge light on 24 hours or set your timer so that it comes on 1 hour before your main lights go out and stays on 1 hour after your main lights come on. This prevents a build up of CO2 in the tank that will make your PH crash out. When the algae stops respiring when the lights go out all that CO2 that they sit around and convert into O2 will just sit around and pile up. By keeping a reverse schedule, your corals and algae in the display use the CO2 by day and yoru fuge uses it at night.

Andre

so that is why people use co2, i was wondering why the heck people did that. Thanks for all the info, so my substrate question is still really not answered but what i take from it is live sand would work fine since they are not planted.

caferacermike

CO2 in a planted tank makes plants grow faster.

CO2 for Salt is to react with the water and make an acid that dissolves Aragonite into a liquid calcium and ALK mix that can be dripped back into a tank via a Calcium reactor.


Most everyone I know runs a few inches of live sand. I've never met anyone that buys the Fiji Mud or anything like that. It'd be your call if you wanted to experiment.

Andre

k sounds good to me. thanks for all the help.