When to start using a...

[Acrop2]

Hello all! I'm going from a simple 6 yo 55g that I basically maintained through massive WCs to a 250g next year and I wanted to gather your thoughts on the need for and when to begin using the following:

 

Never had a fuge but apparently they're great, when should I start to grow chaeto? After cycling is done? Only after I have several fish in there? Never!?

 

UV sterilizer, after the cycle is done, do you guys run this all the time? I've read some folks just using it occasionally when certain issues like algae arise. Or run it from the start?

 

I was thinking of running some carbon 24/7 after cycling and have an extra reactor for GFO but only run it if I have phos problems.  Thanks!

 

 

Edited September 5, 2019 by Acrop2
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[epleeds]

I have a 300 gallon tank that is heavily stocked that I maintain by having a big skimmer, 10% water changes every two weeks, using good food not over feeding.  I don’t have a UV, use carbon or GFO, no fuge cause I could never grow cheato and run a calcium reactor for SPS. 

 

The tank has been up for 5+ years and is thriving. You don’t need all that stuff. 

[YHSublime]

Depends on what you're looking to solve. 

 

A refugium is designed to consume excess nutrients so they can be exported through harvesting. It can also be helpful to house pods! Personally, I've never been able to grow cheato, but I currently have a refugium that's doing an awesome job as acting as a giant turf scrubber. 

 

UV Sterilizer. Never used one, so I won't sling advice here.

 

I've used carbon on smaller tanks, and larger tanks. I've found it more of a pain to remember to replace then I've seen benefit. 

 

Similar to Epleeds, I feed well, skim heavy, do water changes, and address calcium and alkalinity consumption with a 2 part dosing system. My only advice with the KISS (keep it stupidly simple) is to cycle your tank for as long as possible (can you go 3 months?) before adding corals and live stock! 

[bues0022]

The people I’ve read about who seek to have the most problems - also have the most “stuff” and dose all kinds of things. I echo the others. Keep it simple, and don’t add stuff because people say you need it. Rather, start simple, and if you have issues, thoroughly research the root cause and potential fixes. THEN you will know what extra stuff you need. 

 

(Unlike the other two, I can grow a 5 gallon bucket of cheato every week, and my tank is only 30 gallons. Who knows?)

[YHSublime]

26 minutes ago, bues0022 said:

(Unlike the other two, I can grow a 5 gallon bucket of cheato every week, and my tank is only 30 gallons. Who knows?)

 

It grows, just really slowly, I can grow hair algae much faster  

Doesn't bother me any, so long as I can keep it growing in the sump, not the DT, like I mentioned, it's pretty much just a giant turf scrubber! When this tank get's moved, I'll clean it out and just put some marine pure blocks in there, I can't bring myself to spend $500 on a commercial scrubber, and I don't have the patience or time these days to DIY a more cost effective solution with so many other projects tabled. 

[lynn.reef.nerd]

I had issue growing macro too. Alan recommended supplementing with

Kent Marine Iron and Manganese Plant Supplement

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000255P94/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Works well for me.  I also noticed that using Vibrant stagnate and sometimes kill off all my macro. Not sure if this is common result of using it.

Edited September 5, 2019 by lynn.reef.nerd

[YHSublime]

32 minutes ago, lynn.reef.nerd said:

I had issue growing macro too. Alan recommended supplementing with

Kent Marine Iron and Manganese Plant Supplement

Works well for me.  I also noticed that using Vibrant stagnate and sometimes kill off all my macro. Not sure if this is common result of using it.

 

Are you running a low nutrient tank? Did you see any negative effects from all the macro dying? 

[lynn.reef.nerd]

55 minutes ago, YHSublime said:

 

Are you running a low nutrient tank? Did you see any negative effects from all the macro dying? 

 

My tank generally have higher nutrients (I feed 4x a day). I normally see an increase in algae in the main tank when my macro starts dying. They turn into mush.

So I stopped using vibrant and it seems to help. I dose Kent product that was recommended. I still have some algae (mainly from my feeding) but at least I can reduce the hair algae in the tank.

[zygote2k]

As a service professional, I have seen lots of trends come and go in the past 25 years.

Many of those trends are pure marketing at best.

The refugium was initially designed to be a completely separate tank placed in a way that the overflow leads to the display tank so that the food critters can reach the aquarium without going through the pump.

It was also 40-50% of the size of the display.

Now there are sumps built with a fuge and in my opinion are just a gimmick or a place to grow chaeto. Also there’s a greater chance of calcification occurring on pumps and other equipment in the sump now that there is added lighting.

UV sterilizers were all the rage in the 90’s and were used in fish farms. They’ve been scaled down to be used on home aquaria.

They are absolutely worthless unless the right amount of water passes through them. Too much or too little and they become ineffective.

No need for reactors,  carbon, or other media as long as you feed sparingly and keep your water parameters realistic.

Like others have mentioned, the K.I.S.S. system works best in the long run.

[madweazl]

Everything has a place but none of them are a silver bullet for success. I like running a refugium and do think they're beneficial provided they're large enough for what you're trying to accomplish. Over time, they turn into another entire ecosystem that is actually pretty cool to observe if you leave them alone (all kinds of critters down there) but I'm also not a fan of chaeto and use caulerpas instead (some beautiful varieties out there but ours is so packed in now you cant make heads or tales of what is down there). Our fox face loves to eat it (I tear some out of the refugium and toss it back in the display tank, ironic eh?) and the yellow tang will eat it as well (think he just does it because the fox face is).

 

We also have reactors (carbon and GFO/other) that I keep on hand in case things go willy nilly. Carbon is run 24/7 for water clarification and the other reactor is on standby. In the end, we're often our own worst enemy when it comes to the welfare of our tanks and cause problems that didn't exist in the first place. 

[DFR]

On 9/5/2019 at 3:44 PM, Acrop2 said:

Hello all! I'm going from a simple 6 yo 55g that I basically maintained through massive WCs to a 250g next year and I wanted to gather your thoughts on the need for and when to begin using the following:

 

Never had a fuge but apparently they're great, when should I start to grow chaeto? After cycling is done? Only after I have several fish in there? Never!?

 

UV sterilizer, after the cycle is done, do you guys run this all the time? I've read some folks just using it occasionally when certain issues like algae arise. Or run it from the start?

 

I was thinking of running some carbon 24/7 after cycling and have an extra reactor for GFO but only run it if I have phos problems.  Thanks!

 

 

Sounds like a pretty solid plan for your build.  The only thing I would change is to do away with the UV sterilizer, or if it is a must, only run when needed.  There’s no harm in running carbon 24/7 providing it is changed regularly (twice a month).  
As for the refugium, just know that it will collect all sorts of gunk and detritus, so if you have OCD it’ll drive you nuts. Otherwise I’d start it following the cycle.  I’d also go with a variety of algae’s as various chemical imbalances or deficiencies would cause melting of certain algae’s and not others.  So if this is your main form of nutrient export you can easily destabilize your entire system if something was to cause your chaeto to melt.  Plus I don’t know of any aquarium inhabitants that’ll consume chaeto.