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Think there's anyway....

I just worry about aluminum leaching. But I guess if I just use rowaphos all the time it don’t be so issue.

Not seeing this as an issue, though I have heard the hypothesis. From my tank journal:
Screen Shot 2020-04-16 at 9.57.17 PM.png


Al is actually trending up and the cubes have been in the fuge since the start.

One note about this: I had these cubes in a canister filter cycling my rock in a vat for 2 months prior to the tank's launch.
 
I just worry about aluminum leaching. But I guess if I just use rowaphos all the time it don’t be so issue.

Not seeing this as an issue, though I have heard the hypothesis. From my tank journal:View attachment 15107

Al is actually trending up and the cubes have been in the fuge since the start.

One note about this: I had these cubes in a canister filter cycling my rock in a vat for 2 months prior to the tank's launch.

meh. i've had the same 8x8x1" plate in my sump that's gone uncleaned for 4 years. Marine Pure can't be all that bad right? ;)
 
I currently have four 8X8X4 Marine Pure blocks in the sump. I have also used Marine Pure on literally every tank I've ever set up and never had a leeching issue. I guess I'll just go with a rubble zone and maybe block it off a bit with the big marine pure blocks I currently have in there. I'll drop some hotels in there as well.
 
I just worry about aluminum leaching. But I guess if I just use rowaphos all the time it don’t be so issue.
It will not be sustainable. Cause while rowphse is so effective in removing al, it's also as effective and fast in removing po4. So eventually you run in to tanking your po4 for the sake of removing al..
 
Except that there's almost assuredly no issue with al leeching anyway.
Am not talking about it leeching al, though I disagree with ur statement. Am talking about the general rational of ignoring something that leech al by using rowphse as a work around..
Rowphse is very effective with po4 and overusing it can tank po4..that's all..
 
Regarding the questions about Miracle Mud, I used it in my oversized fuge years ago and for several years, as an alternative to deep sand bed in the display. Back when DSB was cool, but I never like the look of it. I had 4 plastic trays with the mud so that I could change half easily every year.

I really don‘t think it helped, but I don’t think it caused any problems either. Kinda expensive. Definitely nothing to do with having a nice pod habitat since they don’t live in the mud.

Anyway, I eventually just stopped using the mud and didn’t see any difference for better or worse. Other than one fewer maintenance chore and less cost. I wouldn’t recommend it.
 
Regarding the questions about refugium with macroalgae and algae scrubber in the same system- You probably wouldn’t be able to grow any macroalgae in the refugium. Alternating photoperiods won’t help much, since the problem is nutrient stripping. You’d have to lower your scrubber photoperiod so much that it wasn’t doing it’s job properly, and at that point why even have it?

If the point of the refugium is a home for pods and other microfauna, then I agree that you don’t need macroalgae or lighting- just crevices. Under my macroalgae, I have reef rubble in my large refugium exactly for that reason. You just need something with a wide variety of sizes and shapes of hiding spots, rubble is great for that. The pod hotels look cool, but I don’t see them being any better than a handful of rocks personally. There is the potential advantage of being able to shake or squirt the pods out into your display for a feeding frenzy. But I don’t get why you’d want to do that, they will make it into the display in a slow trickle day/night anyway, and pod hunters like to graze throughout the day.
 
I’m using 45 MarinePure biocubes in a converted ATO tank. I seeded it with Algae Barn pods. They show up time to time in my scope. I've been warned I’ve built a detritus trap. Not concerned yet. it’s a relatively new tank and I'm still trying to get N and P up. One day I'll deconstruct it photograph what's found.

Here are some pics using a USB magnifying scope. It's quite a cavernous environment, from this perspective.

View attachment 15104
View attachment 15103

View attachment 15102

View attachment 15105

I ran the numbers and these 45 cubes have the surface area of two ice hockey rinks. Pretty incredible!

Proof:
Total cubes: 45
Single 2” Marine Pure ceramic cube has 720 sq ft surface area.
45 cubes x 720 ft2 = 32,400 sq ft of surface area.
The total area of a NHL ice hockey rink is 16,327 sq ft.
I like those microscope pics!
 
I like those microscope pics!

$20 on Amazon and screen capture to take a pic. An unexpected perspective of what else is going on in the tank. Fun stuff.

 
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$20 on Amazon and screen capture to take a pic. An unexpected perspective of what else is going on in the tank. Fun stuff.

I have the same one by chance, my wife gave it to me (she knows me) a while ago. I should play with it more.
 
I’m in agreement with @JVU. Both have a similar purpose and so I think one will always suffer maybe both. I have never run an ats and it seems like it might be easier to get results but if you want the pods to be able to propagate in the chaeto then why not just run a fuge instead. Like others have mentioned though, you don’t need a ball of chaeto to propagate pods.
 
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