Anyone have any CUC in their refugium?

[fatoldsun]

I was starting to twitch - I guess too long without one of my ridiculous questions. I guess I also need to start building some posts. Seems like I picked the wrong 6 month window to be a newbie – you know what they say – if you put a penny in a jar every time you “posted” in the first year and then started taking one out for each post after the jar would outlive your marriage – oops, did I say marriage – I meant membership….
I digress...

I've seen that this question has been posed various times on various forums (and mentioned in the sticky'd "refugium" post but I’m getting a shipment today of a bunch of snails today and I'm thinking maybe the display could spare a few for the fuge - the order is a mix of 40-50 snails; Margaritas, Ceriths, Nassarius, Trochus and then also some hermits a pair of mithrax and a peppermint shrimp. There is a small CUC in the DT now maybe a total of 8-10 snails and 5 hermits and a brittle star so this should bolster that. Oh, display is 90g and the fuge is ~18+g, about half of the 40g sump

I thought I would put a few things in there to help with the algae - nothing too substantial. Maybe 2-3 Margaritas, and a Cerith or 2. I have some LR in there and about 3.5-4.5” of sand. I didn’t think that I’d want any hermits or other scavengers that might hunt for pods or disturb the bed but I was also wondering if the snails will go after anything down there that I don’t want disturbed. I guess I should add that I have a split drain setup with a feed going directly from the display to the fuge so a fair amount of detritus will find its way in there since there is no sock on that end. That was part of the plan b/c I wanted to pods, bristle worms, etc to have a source of food. I should also add that I intend to get some cheato but so far all I have is one string that somehow survived in a drum with my LR for 4 months with no sunlight. It’s tripled in size in 3 weeks but 3 times a mm is still small

Thanks as always
-Dave

 

[Tazmaniancowboy]

I have the same thought as you. I put one or two inverts in mine to eat some of the food that makes it's way to the fuge, but not too many that will eat up all the food needed for the little critters!

 

[TanksNStuff]

Dave, it's a good idea to put some snails in your fuge. It wouldn't hurt to put a fighting conch in there as well since you have a DSB if you can get one. Aquarium Center has them once in a while.

Hermits should be ok too. I don't think they eat anything "live" and prefer to snack on dead stuff. If you see them eating a snail out of a shell, it's likely already dead before they got to it and they are just scavenging. Like Don said, they will eat some of the fish food that made it's way through your overflow drains, which is a good thing. I'd add a few hermits in there too, but not too many.

Seems like you are ready for some chaeto. I promised you some a while back so it's time for me to pay up, lol. This is kind of a busy weekend for me, but maybe I can stop over on Mon. or Tues. after work with a nice big ball of chaeto for you? Let me know which day is better for you.

My chaeto is loaded with pods and bristle worms too, so it will help populate those for you too.

 

[falconut]

I always add a few snails and hermits to my 20 gal. refuge. I don't believe they'll hurt anything.

 

[fatoldsun]

Ok then it's settled
Fuge CUC:
3 Margaritas 2 Ceriths and 2 red leg hermits

George - Thanks!! - sent you a PM

 

[fatoldsun]

Well, wife just called, the box arrived - now how the hell do I sit here at work and wait until 5 to go home and get them in the tank. I feel a cough coming on - can anyone say "early dismissal"? in fairness my kids woke me up at 3:30 b/c of the storm that rolled through - they stayed up until 5:30 and needless to say at that point it was daylight so I just made the coffee and gave up on getting more sleep - now it feels like 4 in the afternoon and my patience to be at work is nil!

 

[TanksNStuff]

Dave, you might want to see if your wife can throw all the bags in the sump (leave them sealed) so that they can at least adjust to the correct temp.

Also, if you didn't already know, inverts need to be acclimated before you put them in your tank. The usual method is to open the bags they come in, and dump them all into a bucket. Then setup a drip line that siphons from your tank water and slowly adjusts their water to yours.

If you need any advice on doing this properly, just give me a call... I'm going to pm you my number.

 

[fatoldsun]

Dave, you might want to see if your wife can throw all the bags in the sump (leave them sealed) so that they can at least adjust to the correct temp.

Also, if you didn't already know, inverts need to be acclimated before you put them in your tank. The usual method is to open the bags they come in, and dump them all into a bucket. Then setup a drip line that siphons from your tank water and slowly adjusts their water to yours.

If you need any advice on doing this properly, just give me a call... I'm going to pm you my number.

GYPM George, thanks - I asked my wife to sign for the box and bring it in - she freaked out b/c of the shipping labels that read 'Live, keep warm" so I don't think she's be up for cutting it open - I think she's too afraid she'll screw something up and have to deal with a problem like a mithrax scurrying around the room being chased by one of the cats ;D