High Tide Aquatics

Anyone run a Cryptic Fuge?

HiFidelity

HiFidelity

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Hi folks,

Not exactly a common means of filtration but definitely a tested one and many different opinions on the effectiveness, etc. If you had/have one I'd love to hear all about it and if you don't, well it's a dark refugium, no light at all containing LR rubble and they're suppose to grow sponges, bivalves, sea squirts and other filter feeders.

I've noticed now for well over 6 months that sponges grow quite well in my tank and rapidly in shaded areas of my rock work, I've read a couple of articles focusing on sponges being beneficial to corals and some even providing them with food. As soon as I realized that folks are running this type of fuge I thought it might be perfect for my tank and it would give my sponges a place to thrive, they don't seem to do ok against flow and I'm looking to increase flow in my DT in the coming weeks.

So anyone with any experience here?
 
Well, I tried that ... because I tend to tinker and try most anything for fun.
Basically - it turned into a detritus trap.
I even built a little stand with egg-crate and pvc, to get the rubble off the bottom, and put in a powerhead.
Still trapped gunk everywhere. And with the rubble, hard to siphon out.
It did grow a few boring white sponges, but mostly just lots of tube worms.
So not something I would really recommend.
Although if you deliberately add more sponges/bivalves/crabs/snails, it might work a lot better.
 
Yeah unfortunately I haven't had a chance to give it a go yet, the only non obtrusive way for me to experiment with this is by using a canister filter, well the problem there is my sump is lower than the top of the canister filter so it's hard for it to get started, I thought about feeding it directly from the tank then dump into the sump but that's a major spill risk. The other night I though hmmmm what if I feed it from the overflow, if sump shuts off or flow stops the overflow will drain and break siphon & pump in canister dies (worst case) but I'm more worried about finding the time to do my water change on time this week haha so it's on the backburner. Once I do get it going I will surely update this thread with feedback...
 
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