Feather Duster Clusters in My Cualerpa !

aseidman00 · 09-01-2004, 08:06 AM

I just bought a load of cualerpa for my ecosystem refugium filter. An hour or so after I placed it in my flter I noticed that it is loaded with small (1-2 inches) feather dusters. They are quite cute and I am hoping that they survive the curing of my live rock.

That said, I keep the light on my refugium on 24 hours a day. Do I need to remove these dusters and get them into the tank ? Do I take then with the cualerpa ? Can I use my bare hands to remove them ?

And Finally... how do I get them to anchor onto something and not float around the tank or get pulled into a powerhead ???

Thanks,
Allen

Malachi · 09-01-2004, 08:50 AM

I just took down my hang on refugium which was full (at least 40 ) feather dusters in my cualerpa. Light was on 24/7, so this is not a problem. Be very carefully moving them as they are fragile (squishy). I would try to place them in sand or slots on your live room on the main tank. Not sure about survivng the cycle as my tank was already established when i added my ref.

aseidman00 · 09-01-2004, 11:19 AM

"took down your hang-on refugium" ? Did it not do the job ? what did you move to ? A protein skimmer ? Bigger refuium ?

Malachi · 09-01-2004, 11:48 PM

I have pics in the genral catagory. I put up a 20 gallon sump/ref. 2 reasons, my tank is tall and cornered so it was to hard to work on anything in the back. 2nd reason was just to clean it up, i put in a SWCD instead of the three power heads and put the heater also in the sump. I have no complaints with the HBO Ref, just could not get to it or see it.

Malachi · 09-01-2004, 11:50 PM

also keep your cualerpa trimed, if it takes up the entire chamber in the ref it will bonk. Make your tank really cloudy and you will need to replace it, this happen to me.

aseidman00 · 09-02-2004, 07:08 AM

If I look at my chamber now, its about 35% cualerpa the rest water. How compact can the cuarlerpa growth get before its an issue ?