aquaclear refugium??

[michelle]

so during my last hospital stay my husband bought me 2 "surprises" for when i came home. A mandarin (who is eating frozen mysis) and a coral banded shrimp:S
So, my coral banded is chasing any fish that goes close to him, and my mandarin IS eating shrimp, but ONLY if it floats right infront of his face, which my other fish don't allow to happen often. It was suggested I just fasion a small refugium out of an empty aquaclear filter I have. Its for 110 gallon tank, so it is a larger one. I was told to put some rubble in there and keep it running to give the pods a chance to grow and breed. Have any of you tried this? I am going to invest in an actual refugium soon (i hope) but don't have the funds to spare just yet)

Thanks:)

 

[daugherty]

my old tank sits under my dt and has over 100 pounds of rock in there and the pods are breeding like crazy

 

[michelle]

my old tank sits under my dt and has over 100 pounds of rock in there and the pods are breeding like crazy

wish you could ship me some:)

 

[michelle]

http://www.coralforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24042
the link i was using as a reference...

 

[Oscarsdad608]

I did the same thing you are suggesting. Just turn it down so the water flow isn't crazy.

 

[yote]

I did that with an emperor 400 HOB filter that I ran on my 30gal.That thing stayed full of pods all the time.

 

[michelle]

really? so it will work? AWSOME, I really want my mandarin to thrive

 

[yote]

Worked like a charm.Another little trick is to use some live rock rubble and make a couple of small,tight piles behind your rocks.That will give a couple more safe places inside the tank.

 

[reeffreak]

I've read quite a few threads of modifying HOB filters into refugium.Anything you do to help sustain a pod polulation is only going to help the mandarin in the long run.

Go for it!

 

[Bifferwine]

Good to hear you got a fat, happy mandarin! The coral banded shrimp has been known to catch and kill other fish and inverts though, so keep an eye on that guy.

 

[michelle]

Good to hear you got a fat, happy mandarin! The coral banded shrimp has been known to catch and kill other fish and inverts though, so keep an eye on that guy.

yeah, my copperband butterfly fell prey o him last night!!! ...snif. i loved that fish. DAMN SHRIMP!

 

[yote]

Now that the coral banded has a taste of fish flesh,he wont stop untill he's tasted all your fish.

 

[ab420]

I madea little "pod pile" in my 38 gallon; I went to fish stores and asked to buy the larger bits of rubble from the bottom of their live rock bins, most sold it at a highly reduced rate too, since they saw it as my cleaning the bottom scraps out of their bins. I just grabbed anything from gumball size up to golf ball size, and then piled them all up in the corner of the tank, and then stacked larger rocks on top of that. No larger creatures could get in there, so the pods just flourished in time, until you could see thousands of them all over the little "pod pile"

 

[Bifferwine]

yeah, my copperband butterfly fell prey o him last night!!! ...snif. i loved that fish. DAMN SHRIMP!

Wow that sucks!! I really don't like coral banded shrimp.

 

[WannaRace]

Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but I thought I might try this now... :)

I have a few questions though...Is there a reason to create a baffle with a filter pad in front of it? Or is that just because those are nano tanks with limited filtration?

Since I have a skimmer already, I just planned on putting a grate in front of the outlet of my AC300, dump in some LR rubble and some chaeto. Will that work fine or do I need to create the baffle/filter?

 

[yote]

The rubble and chaeto will do fine.You really dont need to do the baffle unless you just want too.

 

[WannaRace]

Thanks Yote! Any other tips on this thing or is it really that simple? :)

 

[WannaRace]

I will be using a clip-on lamp, do I just get any 40W or 60W incandescent bulb and slap it on there? Or do I need a specific type?

 

[BigH55]

Get the CFL bulb. The twisty ones.