Fuge Question

[Aquadan88]

Trying to get my pod population up in my fuge so I can supply a mandarin with lovely food. Was wondering if I should use a small powerhead to disturb the surface a bit. I've got my return pump running and my tank draining into the fuge, but the surface is not disturbed at all.

Also, how long do you think it should take to get a decent enough population of pods growing to supply a mandarin?

 

[bill120mph]

How does the water supply enter the fuge? can you raise it to give you what you want... I think a power head might me a bit much.

 

[macangelo]

What i have been doing is using half of the bottle in the tanks and the rest in the fuge... Plus i als ohand feed my mandarin frozen shrimp... It will take some time for the little guy to get used to but sometimes it just takes a few tries...

 

[Aquadan88]

The drain pipe is completely submersed in the water, so it doesn't help disturb the surface. The powerhead I'm going to use is a Rio 180 (small fountain pump).

How often do you go through the bottle? Do you do that once a week, once a month?

 

[JayM]

if the mandarin doesn't eat frozen before you buy it, you may not have enough water volume to sustain one on pods alone. $20 bottles of pods get expensive very quickly, and a nano may not be the place for a mandarin.

When I got my mandarin, it lived alone in my 40g fuge until it fattened up, and now it lives in my 72, which even through moves is still a few years old. When I shine my flashlight in a corner of that tank at 2AM, even with the mandarin in there, there are a lot of pods swimming around. They're incredibly beautiful fish, but not easy to keep without a steady food supply.....

 

[Aquadan88]

I am aware of their dietary needs, and they have been kept in nano tanks before, but perhaps you may be right. For now at least. Just sucks though, because they are such a beautiful fish.

 

[afboundguy]

Def be 100% sure it eats frozen before you attempt it in such a small tank. IMO my 55 wasn't big enough for mine and it ate frozen...

 

[jbishop]

Being able to eat frozen is something great to have in a mandarin but if you dont have the pod population in tank they will eventually die. I would go the powerhead route, it will just chop pods. IMO the tank is just too small to fit the needs of a mandarin.

 

[Aquadan88]

Well, I've decided to hold off on the mandarin for now. At least until i get a bigger tank. Thanks for all your help guys.

 

[stingythingy45]

Well, I've decided to hold off on the mandarin for now. At least until i get a bigger tank. Thanks for all your help guys.

That a good decision.
I have a large tank sump and....well.....you know the refugium.
But I wont attempt a mandarin yet.I've heard lots of stories on many different boards about them starving.And that all familiar frantic typing about how to save it.Most hobbyest that have success with them have pretty aged tanks with lots of L.R. and a refugium filled with pods.

 

[Aquadan88]

Well, I think I'm still going to try and build up my pod population in my refugium. I'm sure my other fish won't mind!

 

[Aquadan88]

So, onto my next question. Trying to set up CHEAP lighting for my fuge. I have a small unit made for a 2 1/2 gallon tank which I gutted and replaced with cold cathode tubes (like the ones that computer geeks put in their towers to illuminate them). I'm not sure what the wattage output is, but they shine pretty bright.

Do you think something like this would work well enough for fuge lighting? or should I just go get an 18" strip light?

 

[afboundguy]

I just purchased a CF flood bulb from Lowes, 6500K 15W but puts out like 75W worth of light. I had an extra clip on fixture (new one woulda been $7-$8) and the bulb was $7-$8 so I have one for $14-$16... I will set it up just like on here http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html

 

[jbishop]

I just purchased a CF flood bulb from Lowes, 6500K 15W but puts out like 75W worth of light. I had an extra clip on fixture (new one woulda been $7-$8) and the bulb was $7-$8 so I have one for $14-$16... I will set it up just like on here http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html

Pretty much the same setup I have.

 

[Aquadan88]

That's not a bad idea. Now, next question. Deep sand bed for fuge or no? I'm kind of nervous about doing it, but at the same time, I've heard that you can benefit from it quite abit.

 

[jbishop]

Hold off and add it later if you want. I have one in mine.

 

[Aquadan88]

Well, do you think that using a deep sand bed versus a regular sand bed in a smaller sized tank would give much benefit?

 

[THE ROOK]

I'd guess that water volume would be more important, so I'd go bare-bottom refuge w/ a few pcs of rubble piled up for the pods.

 

[Aquadan88]

You could be right. I've got the rubble rock down there, and I'm picking up some chaeto tomorrow.