# Refugium Cleanup Crew



## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

Having installed refugiums on my tanks a couple months ago, I am noticing more than ever algae accumulating in there blocking the light for the cheato. There is also a fair amount of detritus in the hang-on-back refugium.

One of the tanks is an IM Nuvo 20, and the refugium is built into the back of the tank where the return is. The cheato is in a filter media to prevent it from moving to the display. With the back of the tank lit, the refugium covers in algae quickly, and the return has very slowly grown quite a bit of it on the walls. This is causing algae accumulation on the glass, as the water coming out of my return faces the front of the tank.

The other tank (nano) has a hang-on-back refugium and doesn't seem to accumulate algae in the same way, but has a fair amount of detritus below the cheato.

Few questions:
- Can I keep a CUC in both these refugiums?
- Can I keep cleaners in my return chamber?
- If so, what should I keep?

I don't think any of my intakes are big enough to suck up a medium sized snail, but a small hermit could be an issue.

Thanks!


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

get one small gfo reactor and trow these in garbage bins

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## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

sig said:


> get one small gfo reactor and trow these in garbage bins


Not sure why I would do that. I have a reactor and do not run GFO, I don't have any phosphate issues. It is for zooplankton reproduction and water clarity.


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## Bullet (Apr 19, 2014)

The purpose of a refugium is a "refuge" for copepods, macro algae etc to live and grow without fear of being eaten so to cultivate these important "critters" I would never consider crabs, shrimps etc as they will threaten the small animals that you are offering refuge for 
Snails ok as long as they are detritus or algae eating


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## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

Bullet said:


> The purpose of a refugium is a "refuge" for copepods, macro algae etc to live and grow without fear of being eaten so to cultivate these important "critters" I would never consider crabs, shrimps etc as they will threaten the small animals that you are offering refuge for
> Snails ok as long as they are detritus or algae eating


Thanks, I think I will pick up some Ceriths then.

In my IM tank they will probably crawl around the baffles in the return and keep the back clean. I will pull out the return pump, reactor, and UV pump to make sure the intakes are too small for them to enter.


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## kwsjimmy (Jan 5, 2015)

*I'm nuvo 20*

Your algae problem is probably from a build of of detrius in the sump area, esp under chamber 1-2 . if you look into it with a flash light it probably has a mass of build up, I have to clean my sump once a month, then I put some floss where chamber 2 flows into the sump and it gets dirty so I change it daily, u run 2 reactors, 1 purigen, 1 gfo carbon, and a skimmer . algea build up is usually from excess nutrients in the water column, that consitng of excess food , detrius.. Etc..
Which media caddy's are you using? I've noticed a big flaw in the innovative marine caddies that I use. Ideally the in tank media caddies are much better.


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## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

kwsjimmy said:


> Your algae problem is probably from a build of of detrius in the sump area, esp under chamber 1-2 . if you look into it with a flash light it probably has a mass of build up, I have to clean my sump once a month, then I put some floss where chamber 2 flows into the sump and it gets dirty so I change it daily, u run 2 reactors, 1 purigen, 1 gfo carbon, and a skimmer . algea build up is usually from excess nutrients in the water column, that consitng of excess food , detrius.. Etc..
> Which media caddy's are you using? I've noticed a big flaw in the innovative marine caddies that I use. Ideally the in tank media caddies are much better.


That's exactly why I'm asking, after looking in with a flashlight and seeing the build-up, I scraped it, causing a lot of algae to move around. I am only running one of my reactors (carbon), and have the im ghost skimmer in the other compartment. I am using 2 custom caddies, but am finding it only mediocre as a refugium.

I guess I could always put some detritus eaters in there. Whose big enough to stay out of the pumps?


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## kwsjimmy (Jan 5, 2015)

*I'm nuvo 20*

I run the same setup, with 2 caddies, floss on top, then fuge in the other 2 slots in the media caddy. Then skimmer on one side and the 2 reactors on the other, my though was to keep the 3 rd sump area chamber as clean as possible for the return pump. I'm also running a maxi jet 1200, it powers the returns and 2 skimmers, super quiet. I'm in the middle of making a floss holder piece to filter the water before it goes into the return chamber. I think that would help a lot.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

kwsjimmy said:


> I run the same setup, with 2 caddies, floss on top, then fuge in the other 2 slots in the media caddy. Then skimmer on one side and the 2 reactors on the other, my though was to keep the 3 rd sump area chamber as clean as possible for the return pump. I'm also running a maxi jet 1200, it powers the returns and 2 skimmers, super quiet. I'm in the middle of making a floss holder piece to filter the water before it goes into the return chamber. I think that would help a lot.


he plans to have "zooplankton reproduction". After water going trough skimmer, floss, pumps, etc?

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## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

kwsjimmy said:


> I run the same setup, with 2 caddies, floss on top, then fuge in the other 2 slots in the media caddy. Then skimmer on one side and the 2 reactors on the other, my though was to keep the 3 rd sump area chamber as clean as possible for the return pump. I'm also running a maxi jet 1200, it powers the returns and 2 skimmers, super quiet. I'm in the middle of making a floss holder piece to filter the water before it goes into the return chamber. I think that would help a lot.


If possible, I would like the cleanup/maintenance of the refugium and return to be continuous without leaving it to build up for a month before cleaning, or having to put filter holders and mechanical filters all around the chambers of the return. So if possible I'd like to handle that with a cleanup crew.



sig said:


> he plans to have "zooplankton reproduction". After water going trough skimmer, floss, pumps, etc?


I don't really understand this comment. The refugium doesn't flow through the skimmer or any other filtration, it is returned to the display with a simple pump...

Even if your refugium water did go through all that, your Zooplankton would not be reproducing while free floating rapidly through your filtration, it is at that point that they are returned to the tank. The reproduction occurs in areas of lower flow like the refugium and the display. Also, skimmers, pumps, floss, ect after the refugium would only make a small dent in your zooplankton population. Most are too small to get stuck in mechanical filtration, and they are all far too small to be significantly damaged by pumps.

Either way, I culture my own zooplankton (rotifers; tisbe, cartia,parvocalanus, pseudodiaptomus and tigir copepods) seperately which stocks all my tanks refugiums. I keep pretty much all pod-eating fish including a dragonet. I do not need to feed packaged foods anymore, I chose to target feed some corals for growth, but it is not required.


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## Bullet (Apr 19, 2014)

goobafish;1006106
Either way said:


> This sounds like an ideal set up !


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## goobafish (Jan 27, 2015)

kwsjimmy said:


> Your algae problem is probably from a build of of detrius in the sump area, esp under chamber 1-2 . if you look into it with a flash light it probably has a mass of build up, I have to clean my sump once a month, then I put some floss where chamber 2 flows into the sump and it gets dirty so I change it daily, u run 2 reactors, 1 purigen, 1 gfo carbon, and a skimmer . algea build up is usually from excess nutrients in the water column, that consitng of excess food , detrius.. Etc..
> Which media caddy's are you using? I've noticed a big flaw in the innovative marine caddies that I use. Ideally the in tank media caddies are much better.


I cleaned out under the baskets this weekend, took the snails out and drained the back. My algae has practically disappeared from the display for now. I think since my ATO pump broke and i've been manually pouring water into it, the agitation caused a lot of algae to form in the tank. I am going to look into the In-Tank media baskets and see how much better they would be. I bought a pair of filter socks which are long enough and big enough to house the IM media baskets, which would effectively stop any detritus from entering the sump area, but I am worried about them becoming clogged.

In the hang-on refugium, ceriths are doing a great job at clearing the detritus.


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## Bullet (Apr 19, 2014)

Cerith snails are great cleaners


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