Chaeto in RSM 250

Matt27

New Member
Has anybody with a gen 1 RSM 250 put chaeto below one of the pumps? That's the only spot in this tank you can put it without a sump or refugium (I have neither.) I plan on getting a dragonet in the near future and am hoping to use chaeto for the pods to reproduce. The only two issues with this idea is how I'm gonna have to pull it out and cut it in half every once in a while, which isn't a big deal, otherwise I risk it overtaking and potentially damaging the pump. And the lighting, or lack there of. Which now that I'm typing this I just thought of the fact that I can maybe put a small flat led light over that chamber. I'm thinking the small pump chamber would be better seeing as how theirs much more room and less chance of the pods getting wrecked going through the pump.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
The amount of pod production your going to be able to get out of the small amount of chaeto in the RSM 250 is going to be very limited. In other words, what you plan to do is more of a "feel good" thinkg to do, rather than something that will do any real good.

That being said, you don't need this at all. The RSM 250 holds about 66 gal of water. That is more than enough to support a dragonet all by itself. About the only thing you need to worry about is to not include other fish that will compete for pods.

Another plus is that many dragonets can be trained to eat frozen bloodworms, live blackworms, and live white worms. If you can do that, you don't need much in the way of pods.
 

Matt27

New Member
The amount of pod production your going to be able to get out of the small amount of chaeto in the RSM 250 is going to be very limited. In other words, what you plan to do is more of a "feel good" thinkg to do, rather than something that will do any real good.

That being said, you don't need this at all. The RSM 250 holds about 66 gal of water. That is more than enough to support a dragonet all by itself. About the only thing you need to worry about is to not include other fish that will compete for pods.

Another plus is that many dragonets can be trained to eat frozen bloodworms, live blackworms, and live white worms. If you can do that, you don't need much in the way of pods.

Pretty much everything in the tank will snack on them, I just want to make sure there's enough for the dragonet as his primary food source so he can graze as he pleases. I was also thinking of stuffing a little more chaeto under the media rack, that would also help with reducing nitrates a littlle. I only have about 50lbs of live rock in my tank but most of it is really porous so I'm sure that'll help with pod growth but I definitely don't want to risk running out of food for the dragonet,
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
What other fish do you have in the tank, or plan to add to it?

Many fish will wat pods if it's an easy meal for them, but the fish that will actively hunt pods, like most of the wrasses are the ones you can't have with a dragonet.

As for nitrate reduction, like pods, your never going to be able to grow enough chateo in such small spaces to get much of a result. To give you some idea, to get something out of a refugium for pod production or nitrate removal you want to be thinking in terms of a refugium that is about 1/5 to 1/3 the size of the main tank. In other words somethign 10 gal to about 20 gal would be about right. Of course, you can go larger if you want. Going a lot smaller is mostly a waste of time and effort. It's kind of like putting a very small filter on a very large tank. It might run, but it will not do much.

One additional thing you could consider for nitrate reduction is algae scrubbing. In this case you grow algae very densely on a screen, so you can get a lot more out of a smaller area or volume of water.
 

Matt27

New Member
What other fish do you have in the tank, or plan to add to it?

Many fish will wat pods if it's an easy meal for them, but the fish that will actively hunt pods, like most of the wrasses are the ones you can't have with a dragonet.

As for nitrate reduction, like pods, your never going to be able to grow enough chateo in such small spaces to get much of a result. To give you some idea, to get something out of a refugium for pod production or nitrate removal you want to be thinking in terms of a refugium that is about 1/5 to 1/3 the size of the main tank. In other words somethign 10 gal to about 20 gal would be about right. Of course, you can go larger if you want. Going a lot smaller is mostly a waste of time and effort. It's kind of like putting a very small filter on a very large tank. It might run, but it will not do much.

One additional thing you could consider for nitrate reduction is algae scrubbing. In this case you grow algae very densely on a screen, so you can get a lot more out of a smaller area or volume of water.

I'll have my two clowns, my two damsels, a gold headed sleeper goby, a yellow tang, and I was kinda hoping for two frostbite clowns. And my cleaner shrimp, two fire shrimp, starfish, my urchin and an assortment of cleanup crew.
 
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