Need refugium help

[T Haynes]

Have a 65 gallon dt setup. Have a flame angel, 2 perculas, diamond goby, herms and some bumble bee snails, and a gbta. Had to take my sea serpent out and put him in qt because he's lost one leg and another lost the tip. I'm thinking he may not have been getting enough food. Tank is around 6 months old. I started reading the refugium page on wiki as it sounds like this would be a good way to get more food in the tank if I can return the sea serpent. My question is how do I go about getting this setup and get it producing food. Any suggestions on how to get this going would be appreciated. I read that reef snow is basically bottled detritus which I actually have already. Any other way to supplement food for him?

[ericarenee]

Do you have a sump?

If so how big.. ?
Do you have room in the sump for fuge?
Do you have room for another tank under your Display tank ?

[T Haynes]

I have a 150 g/hr hob filter. No sump. Could probably set up a 10 gallon ref in the stand. Have no idea how to setup the plumbing and all and got extremely confused reading wiki. I'm a visual and hands on learner

[hotelbravo]

You can buy an overflow box to hang on the back and run a line to the 10 gallon then run a return pump back up but a 10 gallon is pretty small for a sump not much room in that

[T Haynes]

Read a good ratio for ref is 1:10 which would only be 6 gallons for my tank. Still kinda confused about setting all that up. May just have to YouTube it

[hotelbravo]

The larger the better im using a 30 gallon for my 90 display and im finding it cramped. Im about to move to a 40 gallon

[CStrickland]

Originally Posted by T Haynes

Had to take my sea serpent out and put him in qt because he's lost one leg and another lost the tip. I'm thinking he may not have been getting enough food.

Serpent starfish eat meaty food like leftover pellets, and chunks of clam. Just put something like that in front of his face an hour after lights out and leave him alone with it. If he's hungry he'll eat it, but he might also be sick from other things like aggression or water quality.

[T Haynes]

Originally Posted by CStrickland

Serpent starfish eat meaty food like leftover pellets, and chunks of clam. Just put something like that in front of his face an hour after lights out and leave him alone with it. If he's hungry he'll eat it, but he might also be sick from other things like aggression or water quality.

I need to get better tests for sure. I've been using api and I'm just not satisfied with the ammonia results. I've also been over feeding pellets to have them laying in the bed for the goby and starfish. I may just need to buy a kit is team of diy.

[CStrickland]

Any ammonia in a 6 month old, stocked tank is a serious problem. That'd make the star sick for sure, and it's really bad for the rest of the animals. API ammonia kits can show false-positives, maybe your fish store could double check for you if you brought a sample to them. You shouldn't have food lying around on the ground, over feeding like that will cause other probs like algae etc. I don't think growing pods in a fuge is going to help you much. Make sure when you are reading about his needs you are looking at stuff for serpents and brittles. They are different from other kinds of starfish.

If I were you I'd set aside the plumbing project for a bit and get on top of your water quality. Good tests for ammo, nitrate, alkalinity; pure water changed regularly and a clean tank will probably make all your pets feel better. Once he's stronger he'll be able to dodge anybody that's picking on him when you aren't looking too.

Good luck!

[T Haynes]

Originally Posted by CStrickland

Any ammonia in a 6 month old, stocked tank is a serious problem. That'd make the star sick for sure, and it's really bad for the rest of the animals. API ammonia kits can show false-positives, maybe your fish store could double check for you if you brought a sample to them. You shouldn't have food lying around on the ground, over feeding like that will cause other probs like algae etc. I don't think growing pods in a fuge is going to help you much. Make sure when you are reading about his needs you are looking at stuff for serpents and brittles. They are different from other kinds of starfish.

If I were you I'd set aside the plumbing project for a bit and get on top of your water quality. Good tests for ammo, nitrate, alkalinity; pure water changed regularly and a clean tank will probably make all your pets feel better. Once he's stronger he'll be able to dodge anybody that's picking on him when you aren't looking too.

Good luck!

Lfs uses the api test as well. Any recommendations for tests? I use distilled water for water changes

[T Haynes]

All the pellets get eaten up with in a day or two. Haven't had any algae issues yet

[CStrickland]

Originally Posted by T Haynes

Lfs uses the api test as well. Any recommendations for tests? I use distilled water for water changes

Idk, there's a bunch of threads on it. API works fine for me, but a lot of others see ammonia that isn't really there. Usually it says there's .25 ppm when it's actually zero.

What numbers do your tests show for ammonia, nitrate, and alkalinity?
How often do you change the water and how many gallons do you replace?
Are you cleaning the water between changes with anything besides the hob, like a skimmer or reactors?

Those answers will tell us whether the waste you remove from the tank is as much as the food (or the poop it turns into) you are adding to it. That's basically what clean water means, balancing the in with the out.

[T Haynes]

Originally Posted by CStrickland

Idk, there's a bunch of threads on it. API works fine for me, but a lot of others see ammonia that isn't really there. Usually it says there's .25 ppm when it's actually zero.

What numbers do your tests show for ammonia, nitrate, and alkalinity?
How often do you change the water and how many gallons do you replace?
Are you cleaning the water between changes with anything besides the hob, like a skimmer or reactors?

Those answers will tell us whether the waste you remove from the tank is as much as the food (or the poop it turns into) you are adding to it. That's basically what clean water means, balancing the in with the out.

I do 8 gallons per change. Gonna start doing it weekly I think. Last test showed .25 ammonia, which is why I don't believe it. Nitrates were also 5 ppm. Have not tested for alkalinity. Going to buy all my test stuff soon, when I know which brands are reliable. Just roughly 20 pounds of live rock and a marine land emperor 300 hob.

[CStrickland]

That's not a lot of rock for 65 gallons. Im not a starfish expert, but he might like some PVC pipe elbows to hide in and feel safe or something.

[T Haynes]

Originally Posted by CStrickland

That's not a lot of rock for 65 gallons. Im not a starfish expert, but he might like some PVC pipe elbows to hide in and feel safe or something.

He's in the qt now. Less competition for food. Just read about some tests and gonna be picking up an instant ocean test for alk and salifert for ammonia. Also gonna buy a pH probe likely

[T Haynes]

Gonna keep adding live rock as well. 70 pounds is a bunch to buy at once