Throwing all that skimmer waste into the fuge

Skimmer collection

I just added a 30g fuge to my 75g w/ an Aqua Remora hanging off the side of the fuge which is sitting below my main in a cabinet. The problem and I considered this before placing the main back on top of the stand is I cannot physically remove the discharge from the skimmer collection cup, so I thought (knowing I would not be able to physically remove the collection cup) I would drain the discharge back into the fuge with a small siphon tube. What I understand from this post it's not a good idea so I am seeking a solution for my collection cup dilemma. I just started/installed the fuge on 8/8/10 with nothing but live rock and a clown in the main tank and would like to get this right.

 

Never!!

 

You are really not getting this are you? We have a glass box stuffed with fish with a very small amount of water. In nature, the oceans break down all waste.... Now look at out planet.... 70% water... yet most of it is barren. Now take all the world oceans, and fill it with a pound per gallon of live rock, stuff an inch per gallon of fish in it.... and watch it all die in it's own waste csess pool.

We have not even a tiny fraction of the oceans waste reducing capacity. We have to remove waste manually. Reef waters are some of the most nutrient deprived areas on the planet... yet life thrives.

There is no theoretical positive to this line of thinking.... if you wonder why... then just go back to the 70s when undergravel filters were used.... 50% water changes and yet most things still died. This hobby has been furthered in part by better filtration and skimmer technology..... not because we have been on a quest to "keep everything put in the tank in the tank".

 

Same idea of installing a tube and draining it, but drain it in to a "remote" cup or bucket or drain or anything else you can easily remove and clean.

 

No, that isn't what happens in a fuge. A fuge is a refuge to grow pods free from predation so they feed the system. They need to be fed, so they get raw tank water.

It is also a good place to grow macro algae with the proper light instead of growing it in the main tank. Macro algae take up NO3 and PO4 that has already been broken down by bacteria. NO3 and PO4 will not be broken down further, and high levels in the water column will only fuel micro algae in the main tank. Micro algae on it's own is not a bad thing.... after all it takes up NO3 and PO4.... but micro algae out competes coral for light and will choke them out.

We can pour our skimmate back in to the tank and have one hell of a micro algae farm..... but every coral you put in will soon die. So it isn't that you can't pour skimmate back into the system, it's just you need to figure out if you want a micro algae farm or a reef tank.

 

Just about every organism only processes 20% of the nutrient content in the food it consumes. So the other 80% is something else's dinner. Fish poop still has a lot of nutrient content and pods and plankton will eat it. Corals too for that matter.

 

+1

This thread is definitely a blast from the past.

 

Doh!

 

If you were looking to feed your fuge more fish waste than it currently gets, rather than using the skimmate and goo, why not take a turkey baster and suck up some of the detritus and waste from the bottom of the sump and squirt it back into the fuge? I know my corals respond very well when I add a shot to the tank every few days.

 

Dontcha just hate it when that happens?