refugium additions "good plant" or a "bad plant"

[slb11106]

this weekend i took the bioballs out of my sump, replaced the "blue filter" tray with a sock, added my refugium , a 25 gal with 3" of live sand and mud(made for a refugium) mix and a piece of liverock with live kelp, a couple very small assorted plants. now my question is does anyone have a good place to order some plants for a good price ?

also i live close to the gulf of mexico so would it be good to havest my own plants, if so does it matter what i get ? i would not know what i would be pulling out of the sea floor and what it would do to my tank ?

what determines a "good plant" or a "bad plant"?

is standard sea grass good ?

please, any advice is good advice

 

[Woodstock]

IMO, a good algae is non-evassive and can be cultivated/pruned easily. Chaetomorpha and ulva algae are my favorites!

Congrats on removing the bioballs!

 

[slb11106]

thanks, i do have a small spike in nitrite and nitrates but i assume that is due to all of the changes i made to the system, would you agree ?

should i put some additional "live rock" in the sump where the bio balls were or just leave it empty...

do you think it would be a bad idea to harvest my own vegitation ?

 

[junnie]

Foster and smith is a good web site to go to. I have had good luck with them. This link should bring you to there marin plants.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=490

 

[Woodstock]

If you removed the bioballs all at once (not recommended) then the tank would have experienced a small cycle which should only last a few days. Stop feeding until the ammonia and nitrItes are zero.

Extra rock in the sump would be fine; it is just not necessary.

 

[mattie]

an idea for you
what i have done
is i use no light refugiums.
just pack the fuge with LR almost as much as you can fit.
and you'll be happy you get all the benfits with no worries of the algae blomming in your system becouse calurpa and cheato can go sexual in the tank and spawn
in a no light refugium you get more micro fuana to clean the water
such as sponges and feather dusters
and you get all the denitafication from the deeper or fine grain sand bed
i have had very good luck with this
and i have switch all my systems to this style becouse one time the calurpa exploded in the main system and i vowed never again
just an idea for ya

 

[slb11106]

i have not heard of just live rock in the refugium.....is this a standard being used or ????

i am all for less work

 

[Woodstock]

Just be sure to keep that sump/refugium clean. Remove the rocks monthly and swish them around in a bucket of salt water after a water change. If you do not use a micron sock on the incoming water, you will need to remove the diterus from the top part of the sand too. The diterus that accumulates in my sump/ref is shocking~

 

[mattie]

it is not a standard...it is something different
i started doing about a year ago
and recently i have read about others following this idea
there is antricale about it in the current marine fish and reef mag
but there are limtiation to going this route....
limited PO4 uptake.
if you are having problems with phosphates growing algae for removal helps with this.
but i would sudgest if you wanted an illuminated refugium try a little brighter light and grow xenia it absorbs more nutrients than most algaes