Refugium Cleaning?

cham · 08/07/2006, 06:02 PM

My fuge has a TON of sediment (I think you guys call it detrius). Everytime I get in there or flip my cheato it stirs up a dust storm. Should I take out my cheato and vacuum the substrate (agri alive)?

Good idea, bad idea?

Thanks

Edit: 200th post

druce · 08/07/2006, 06:05 PM

I was just thinking the same thing. My sumps prolly got about a years worth of "crud" in it.

yes, crud really is a technical term

MSAreef · 08/07/2006, 06:33 PM

I never clean my refugiium. I just prune the macro algae. If you clean the stuff out of the bottom, you will suck up the pods.

YoungReefer06 · 08/07/2006, 06:57 PM

I have been thinking the same thing, my fuge had like an inch of tan colored detrius on top of the black colored mircale mud in my fuge.

I think i an going to clean it out, just like people clean out their sumps every once in a while.

The fuges act like a settling chamber for detrius.

Cleaning out the fuge will not get rid of the pods because most of them hang out IN the macro algae and not on the substrate.

That is what I think, and what i am going to do.

Kyle

YoungReefer06 · 08/07/2006, 06:58 PM

bump

druce · 08/07/2006, 06:59 PM

lol.. i think I may do the same - my pod population is really low at the moment in my fuge since my macro algae all died off

YoungReefer06 · 08/07/2006, 07:02 PM

please post any thoughts on this you have

cham · 08/07/2006, 07:14 PM

I think I am going to vacuum mine out too. I have tons of pods in my display and fuge.

If I loose a few, meh. They will rebound. I dose live phyto anyway.

My substrate is agri alive. Pretty coarse rought stuff like shells and such, below that is the miracle mud layer.

ek9vboi · 08/07/2006, 07:20 PM

Yeah, I've noticed my sump area has a lot of detrius build up. When doing water changes I try to stir it up and siphon it out... not a good idea. I need to find an easier way to do this.

ejaustin · 08/07/2006, 07:26 PM

Maybe a snail or two?

poppin_fresh · 08/07/2006, 07:34 PM

I am going to replumb my system so it direct feeds my skimmer first. Right now my overflow is split 50/50 'fuge/skimmer. I also get a lot of detritus in my refugium, which I feel is a bad thing. I do vacuum it from time to time, but it builds up a lot. I dont think having that stuff in the tank is good at all.

druce · 08/07/2006, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cham
I think I am going to vacuum mine out too. I have tons of pods in my display and fuge.

If I loose a few, meh. They will rebound. I dose live phyto anyway.

My substrate is agri alive. Pretty coarse rought stuff like shells and such, below that is the miracle mud layer.

how's that mircale mud stuff work? any good?

my LFS has some, and I might just suck out the sand in my fuge, clean it and then put the mud in followed by the sand...

sound like a decent idea?

cham · 08/07/2006, 07:40 PM

My tank is doing great but I dunno how much of that can be contributed to miracle mud.

Some reefers swear by it, some dont like it. Like any product in this hobby. I have it cause my dealer gave me a free tub of it.

In theory it should do well because it wont allow the "crushed coral effect" in your fuge.

Maybe I'm just full of it.

YoungReefer06 · 08/07/2006, 08:13 PM

i am thinking i am going to just replace the substrate rather then try to clean it....

Kyle

YoungReefer06 · 08/07/2006, 08:15 PM

i have stromatella (or however you spell it) snails that reproduce in my fuge but they just eat algae.

Kyle

outy · 08/07/2006, 08:18 PM

i just put 80% new substrate in my display and i dont have much LR put back in but in a week oh ya im cleaning out my fuge/sump big time its a mess.

allot of people run BB in the sump and fuge so they can vucume out the mess regularly

druce · 08/08/2006, 02:37 PM

I just pulled all the sand and water out of my fuge, and then sifted the sand and put it back today, I reused about half the water and then half fresh clean water, careful to filter what sediment I could out

i got allot of "mud" for lack of a better way to describe it, out as well as 4 gallons of very black water.

My macro all died recently and I had no micro fauna so there was no fear of killing anything.

sad thing is that now everything is put back and the water cleared up, I have another layer of detrius over everything in the fuge, it doesn't even look like I cleaned it!!

dime079 · 08/08/2006, 03:32 PM

I do this in my HOB fuge, every week during the water change i turn the pump off, trim the macro, vacuum the substrate in there and let it settle for about 5 min and vacuum again. it keeps it decently clean but it does build up in there quite a bit. I have 2 cerith snails in there but they stick to the algae growing on the walls of the fuge. as for the pod population. i only have a 10g and i cant look ANYWHERE in my tank and not see pods so im not particularly worried about that. just my 2 cents.

druce · 08/08/2006, 03:36 PM

I'm thinking of buying about 3-5 hermits, and some nassrious snails (5 or so) for my fuge. It's barren right now. Before I moved it was teeming with pods, macro algae, mysis shrimp, etc...

then it crashed hard after I moved. Between misc ich meds and the move I wiped out my fuge *sigh*

It's on the fast road to recovery, I'm glad I cleaned it, someone from here is sending me a bag of his macro algae and pods to help me get going again.

08/07/2006, 06:02 PM	#1
cham Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Winter Garden, FL Posts: 3,632	Refugium Cleaning? My fuge has a TON of sediment (I think you guys call it detrius). Everytime I get in there or flip my cheato it stirs up a dust storm. Should I take out my cheato and vacuum the substrate (agri alive)? Good idea, bad idea? Thanks Edit: 200th post

08/07/2006, 06:05 PM	#2
druce Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: North Liberty, IA Posts: 1,349	I was just thinking the same thing. My sumps prolly got about a years worth of "crud" in it. yes, crud really is a technical term __________________ Click the red house to see tank pics and my blog and to get the link for my RC tank thread! Current Tank Info: 90 gal AGA RR, 55 gal long for sump, 17g Aquafuge pro as refugium - 2x 150w MH, 2x 96w Actinic

08/07/2006, 06:59 PM	#6
druce Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: North Liberty, IA Posts: 1,349	lol.. i think I may do the same - my pod population is really low at the moment in my fuge since my macro algae all died off __________________ Click the red house to see tank pics and my blog and to get the link for my RC tank thread! Current Tank Info: 90 gal AGA RR, 55 gal long for sump, 17g Aquafuge pro as refugium - 2x 150w MH, 2x 96w Actinic

08/07/2006, 07:34 PM	#11
poppin_fresh Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Vermont Posts: 1,982	I am going to replumb my system so it direct feeds my skimmer first. Right now my overflow is split 50/50 'fuge/skimmer. I also get a lot of detritus in my refugium, which I feel is a bad thing. I do vacuum it from time to time, but it builds up a lot. I dont think having that stuff in the tank is good at all. __________________ PBITAWA! Current Tank Info: None now. Past- 180g w/ 100g basement sump and 20g 'fuge. H & S skimmer, T'5s & Tunze

08/08/2006, 02:37 PM	#17
druce Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: North Liberty, IA Posts: 1,349	I just pulled all the sand and water out of my fuge, and then sifted the sand and put it back today, I reused about half the water and then half fresh clean water, careful to filter what sediment I could out i got allot of "mud" for lack of a better way to describe it, out as well as 4 gallons of very black water. My macro all died recently and I had no micro fauna so there was no fear of killing anything. sad thing is that now everything is put back and the water cleared up, I have another layer of detrius over everything in the fuge, it doesn't even look like I cleaned it!! __________________ Click the red house to see tank pics and my blog and to get the link for my RC tank thread! Current Tank Info: 90 gal AGA RR, 55 gal long for sump, 17g Aquafuge pro as refugium - 2x 150w MH, 2x 96w Actinic

08/07/2006, 06:33 PM	#3
MSAreef Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Bay Area Posts: 176	I never clean my refugiium. I just prune the macro algae. If you clean the stuff out of the bottom, you will suck up the pods.

08/07/2006, 06:57 PM	#4
YoungReefer06 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Eastern Shore Posts: 285	I have been thinking the same thing, my fuge had like an inch of tan colored detrius on top of the black colored mircale mud in my fuge. I think i an going to clean it out, just like people clean out their sumps every once in a while. The fuges act like a settling chamber for detrius. Cleaning out the fuge will not get rid of the pods because most of them hang out IN the macro algae and not on the substrate. That is what I think, and what i am going to do. Kyle

08/07/2006, 06:58 PM	#5
YoungReefer06 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Eastern Shore Posts: 285	bump

08/07/2006, 07:02 PM	#7
YoungReefer06 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Eastern Shore Posts: 285	please post any thoughts on this you have

08/07/2006, 07:14 PM	#8
cham Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Winter Garden, FL Posts: 3,632	I think I am going to vacuum mine out too. I have tons of pods in my display and fuge. If I loose a few, meh. They will rebound. I dose live phyto anyway. My substrate is agri alive. Pretty coarse rought stuff like shells and such, below that is the miracle mud layer.

08/07/2006, 07:20 PM	#9
ek9vboi Registered Member. Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: South FL Posts: 3,027	Yeah, I've noticed my sump area has a lot of detrius build up. When doing water changes I try to stir it up and siphon it out... not a good idea. I need to find an easier way to do this.

08/07/2006, 07:26 PM	#10
ejaustin Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 30	Maybe a snail or two?

08/07/2006, 07:40 PM	#13
cham Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Winter Garden, FL Posts: 3,632	My tank is doing great but I dunno how much of that can be contributed to miracle mud. Some reefers swear by it, some dont like it. Like any product in this hobby. I have it cause my dealer gave me a free tub of it. In theory it should do well because it wont allow the "crushed coral effect" in your fuge. Maybe I'm just full of it.

08/07/2006, 08:13 PM	#14
YoungReefer06 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Eastern Shore Posts: 285	i am thinking i am going to just replace the substrate rather then try to clean it.... Kyle

08/07/2006, 08:15 PM	#15
YoungReefer06 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Eastern Shore Posts: 285	i have stromatella (or however you spell it) snails that reproduce in my fuge but they just eat algae. Kyle

08/07/2006, 08:18 PM	#16
outy Moved On Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: auburn CA Posts: 4,021	i just put 80% new substrate in my display and i dont have much LR put back in but in a week oh ya im cleaning out my fuge/sump big time its a mess. allot of people run BB in the sump and fuge so they can vucume out the mess regularly

08/08/2006, 03:32 PM	#18
dime079 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Plano, TX Posts: 236	I do this in my HOB fuge, every week during the water change i turn the pump off, trim the macro, vacuum the substrate in there and let it settle for about 5 min and vacuum again. it keeps it decently clean but it does build up in there quite a bit. I have 2 cerith snails in there but they stick to the algae growing on the walls of the fuge. as for the pod population. i only have a 10g and i cant look ANYWHERE in my tank and not see pods so im not particularly worried about that. just my 2 cents. __________________ i only wanted a nano tank, what do you mean 500$ start-up costs?!?!?! all my money, damn fishes Current Tank Info: 10g nano reef, 55 reef in planning

08/08/2006, 03:36 PM	#19
druce Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: North Liberty, IA Posts: 1,349	I'm thinking of buying about 3-5 hermits, and some nassrious snails (5 or so) for my fuge. It's barren right now. Before I moved it was teeming with pods, macro algae, mysis shrimp, etc... then it crashed hard after I moved. Between misc ich meds and the move I wiped out my fuge sigh It's on the fast road to recovery, I'm glad I cleaned it, someone from here is sending me a bag of his macro algae and pods to help me get going again. __________________ Click the red house to see tank pics and my blog and to get the link for my RC tank thread! Current Tank Info: 90 gal AGA RR, 55 gal long for sump, 17g Aquafuge pro as refugium - 2x 150w MH, 2x 96w Actinic