reply to https://www.reefs.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=801145#

[Anonymous]

salttank

you might want to consider an in tank refug and closed loop type filtration. that would keep things quiet, prevent flooding, cost much less, and still balance out the system with plant life.

 

[Anonymous]

Bob,
Just put an in tank fuge together...it has cheato in it. So far trates and phates are getting lower. Attached is the pic of it...jfyi.
The return from the canister blows through it nicely...just enough to have a little flow but not too strong. Already I see lots of pods in there, and as a bonus a bristle worm came mixed up in the cheato. I put one small snail in there as well to help with any detrius.

 

[SnowManSnow]

I know it will help in minute levels... but will that little amount of algae really make a visible differance in your display tank??

 

[Anonymous]

Note that you really cant see much of i from above, or when veiwing into the tank though...not llike yours lol...but so far I like it and it seems to be working.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh hell, here is rest of tank.Havent posted any in a while anyway. This is from a couple of nights ago. I am bad at taking pics, so many things arent showing up like the shrooms and yellow polyps etc...but this is what I got so far...

 

[Anonymous]

Bob,
Just put an in tank fuge together...it has cheato in it. So far trates and phates are getting lower. Attached is the pic of it...jfyi.
The return from the canister blows through it nicely...just enough to have a little flow but not too strong. Already I see lots of pods in there, and as a bonus a bristle worm came mixed up in the cheato. I put one small snail in there as well to help with any detrius.

Nice tank and refug.

Glad it's working.

I get similiar feedback all the time. but thanks for taking the time.

Bob

 

[Anonymous]

I know it will help in minute levels... but will that little amount of algae really make a visible differance in your display tank??

I think it is making a diff.-how much I cant tell yet.
Trates were always 20-30 in my tank, now it is 10-20, phosphates were usually around .2, it is at .1 to undetectable now.

Nothing else changed in the tank, although chemically it is more stable...alk-calc-ph and magnesium are all at perfect levels which I didint have before as perfect as it is now. So it could be a little cheato, a little of the tank becoming stable...i figure every little thing helps.
And yes, it looks like a small fuge, but it is actually around 8"w x 8"h x 4deep or so...and stuffed full of cheato and flow from canister goes right through it.

 

[Anonymous]

I have no doubt it is the chaeto. too many people report exactly the same results.

One local added a refug in a 10g that was only the size of a shoe box. Trates went to 0 (from 10-15) in a week.

You also may notice some cyano as trates go below 10ppm. Simply because the chaeto has become nitrate limited and the growth has slowed down. At that point it is best to harvest 1/2 the chaeto to get them growing again.

the local harvests about 3/4 his chaeto each week and by the next week it has filled the shoe box again.

Again thanks for the feedback and keep us posted.

Bob

 

[Anonymous]

When harvesting the cheato, can you add some directly to the show tank? Will the tang eat it?

 

[Anonymous]

My tangs and foxface love Chaeto. The primary reason I grow it is for food for them.

 

[Anonymous]

Same here.

 

[Anonymous]

Cool! When i do that this weekend, ill add it to the tank...just some of it at a time. thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

Hard to judge sizes but that tang would probably go through that much Chaeto in about a week.

As an example...I have a 10 gal. fuge filled with Chaeto. I pull out about half that ball every two weeks to feed my lineatus tang and foxface rabbitfish. Both are probably about 5-6" long. I also feed them a sheet of nori every day. So they eat A LOT.

 

[Anonymous]

How do you make your chaeto grow moderately Matt? I have a make shift TetraTec Fuge on the back of my mantis tank..I have two 7w PC lights really close to the the surface 3" max and the Chaeto is at the surface and at times above the water..I never have to trim it..I would love for it to grow faster to use as food though....

 

[Ben1]

Bob future entrys to the photo contest need to be a max of 640 pixels on either side. Otherwise they dont follow the rules and won't be considered.

I am more aiming my tank at extremely low nutrients through daily removal of detritus from the BB, and cleaning the skimmer, and think in my situation a in tank fuge would be counterproductive. So far so good tanks been up 6 weeks now and is starting to explode with coralline.

 

[Anonymous]

Bob future entrys to the photo contest need to be a max of 640 pixels on either side. Otherwise they dont follow the rules and won't be considered.

thanks Ben. I did get other feedback. Aww it was my first entry.

I am more aiming my tank at extremely low nutrients through daily removal of detritus from the BB, and cleaning the skimmer, and think in my situation a in tank fuge would be counterproductive. So far so good tanks been up 6 weeks now and is starting to explode with coralline.

Glad it's working for ya. To me any detritus removal let alone daily, cleaning skimmers, water changes, Ro/di, low bioload, are counter productive to my in tank refug. I also have unmeasureable levels of ammonia, nitrItes and nitrates, slow corraline and halimeda growth. Just a different way of getting the same thing.

 

[Bojangles]

My tangs and foxface love Chaeto. The primary reason I grow it is for food for them.

OMG I wish mine were eating it!! I just throw it out when I get too much. Glad its working for some of you. I would need a hella big box to make any kind of difference in my 200g and that would take space I'm not willing to give.

I'll stick with the 60g refug outside.

 

[Anonymous]

How do you make your chaeto grow moderately Matt? I have a make shift TetraTec Fuge on the back of my mantis tank..I have two 7w PC lights really close to the the surface 3" max and the Chaeto is at the surface and at times above the water..I never have to trim it..I would love for it to grow faster to use as food though....

I think light is the biggest factor. I noticed when I had a behind the tank fuge that was getting hit by the MH it grew like gangbusters. It's under a 96W PC now...similar conditions but grows a little slower. So maybe try upping the wattage?