IPSF Stuff

[manny]

When I "re-setup" my tank I want to get some Bristtleworms and other wormy things to churn up my sandbed and I'm also gonna be setting up a refugium. So I'm lookin at ordering from IPSF. Will what I have work?

http://www.ipsf.com/
For the tank:
Live Sand Acivator Plus
Reef Worms Diversity Package

For the fuge:
Hawaiian Macroalgae 6-Pack
Reef Amphipods Breeding Kit

What do you guys think? Is this too much or is there anything I'm missing to get a good sandbed goin? I wanna have a diversity of stuff in my sandbed and fuge but wanna make sure the stuff I'm gettin will actually be worth it. Also wanna make sure my fish won't eat what I'm orderin and have an expensive meal.

[alexwolf]

hey if you order, i want 3 things

[matt]

What kind of fish do you have?

[scuba_steveo]

i want an order from them too, let me know before you order

[manny]

I'll let you guys know when I order.

Matt, I just have 2 clowns, a mother sailfin dragonet, and a fourstripe damsel. Also have a big ole serpent star, a big ole brittle star, one litttle bitty baby harlequin, and a bunch of what seem to look like baby serpent stars that reach out from under the rocks.

[alexwolf]

know what man, i wanted the pod breeding kit, and u want the same, so no can do on one order, maybe we can do 2?

[manny]

or maybe do the 9 for 99 and a seperate pod breeding kit?

[alexwolf]

i think its like $39.99 seperate thought isnt it?

[manny]

yeah, this has to be the most unorganized site in the world! Hard to find what your looking for and which way to buy is cheaper. We might just have to do what you said before. Just do 2 orders. I still need to make sure that what I have listed willl work though

[DeletedAccount]

What you have listed is great. BUT I would go for the 9 for 99 deal. No shipping, and great variety. You only need a little to seed the tank. Are you gonig to be running this for a while before you put in the inhabitants? I found that buying these and adding them to the stocked tank is almost a waste of money. The critters need a safe place to get a good enough population going so that they can deal with the predation... The thing you have listed are good to seed your tank. Or, you could save your money for something else and get live sand from a few people in the group and get a handful of chaetamorpha from someone. (I have both if you need some. Just bring an equal amount of unseeded sand to replace the hole in the tank.) The chaet is a great breeding ground for the pods and will have a good population of them in it already. And the sand will have everything that the live sand activator has. The only thing you may not get from the group members is all of the different macros. I ordered a pack but two of the algaes were more aggressive and over took the others very quickly.

[manny]

Misti, I wasn't plannin on waiting very long before putting in the stuff from IPSF. I was hoping to put the fish and everything in at the same time since I'll be having everything in buckets when I move em. Not a good idea? Since my tank has already been up and running for about six months you think just adding the sand from what I have now and some other sand from your tank would be good enough? Maybe just get some bristtleworms and split the 9 for 99 with some other people? I think I'll be takin you up on your offer and get some chaetamorpha from ya. Anybody have any other ideas of what I should be needing?

[manny]

Oh yeah, I'll probly be using some "dead" southdown also

[Henry]

Manny everything you have listed looks great. But if you are going to add it and the fish at the same time, its best to provide a mini fuge in the tank. What I mean is get some rubble and pile it in a corner and add the stuff under or behind it so the fish can't get to everything and eat it first.

[manny]

Good idea. I can try that also

[Jenn]

I would like to go in on one of these orders - need 2 orders of tang heaven, 1 red and 1 yellow. Just let me know when/if it happens. Thanks.

[matt]

Between the stars and the dragonet, you'll probably just be adding some expensive food if you add the amphipods. I suggest you find another home for the serpent star, maybe set up a 10 gallon or something with a powerhead and some liverock. I'm not realy familiar with the sailfin dragonet; maybe someone else here is. But for sure your inverts are eating any small sand critters they can get their "hands" on. Probably the damsel is a pretty opportunistic feeder as well.

Best case is to remove the predators, add the sand critters, let them populate the sand bed for several months, then reintroduce the fishes. I know that's probably not practical. I'd also do some research on the stars; in particular, search Ron Shimek's author forum or check out "sand bed secrets." If you can post a photo of your star on his forum on reefcentral, he'll easily tell you whether or not that species will decimate a sand bed. It's the large sifting stars that he has called "sand bed destroyers."

Sorry....

[manny]

Yeah, I know which stars your talking about matt. I used to have a sandsifter but got rid of it. As for the serpents, they are more of detritus eaters and won't do much to the sand bed. I've read some of Shimek's stuff on reefcentral. You think the pods will be ok since I'm gonna have a refugium. That's the main reason I'm adding the fuge is to get my pod population up to help give my dragonet some more natural food. He's pretty much like a mandarin which I know eat mainly pods but Richard at CB Pets had it eating frozen blood worms and it even eats some mysis. I just have to turn off my poweheads and let everything settle at the bottom for awhile. Also, matt my refugium/sump is built almost exactly like yours but smaller. I was wonderin how you plumbed your drain to your fuge and skimmer. I have a couple ideas but would like to know exactly how you did yours.

[alexwolf]

Hey Matt, what out of this list will be depleting my pod pop?
3-green chromis
2 yellow tang
1 scopas tang
1 bicolor blenny
2 neon gobies
2 engineer gobies
1 flame hawk
1 blue tang

Just curious, cause i cant find ANY pods in my system

[matt]

I'm not really sure; maybe MikeP would know; he seems to know alot more about fish than I do. But, if I were to guess, I'd say the gobies were prime suspects. If you have hermits, they'll eat the ones they catch and compete with the rest for food/habitat.

[matt]

Manny; If you're putting the stuff into a fuge, and you've determined your stars are not wreaking havoc, you'll probably be fine. But, you have a REALLY small tank for your dragonet, if it has the same diet as a mandarin. If it were a mandarin, I think it's likely that you'd never be able to keep a pod population in the main tank. Now, I had a mandarin for a long time in my 10 gal, but it ate primarily frozen bloodworms. I'd feed your dragonet heavily, to get it used to eating frozen food.

As far as the way my fuge is plumbed, I have a rectangular sump divided into three sections. The small section on the right is the drain area; there is an eggcrate shelf for live rock rubble/filter media, and the water passes over a series of bubble traps from this section to the center section. My skimmer is plumbed to the drain section; both the pump bulkhead and the drain. This way I'm taking and returning water to the same sump area, and it does not affect the flow or level in my sump. The center section, which is fairly sizable, is the return area; my return pump bulkhead is in this section, and I put my heater and top off stuff in here. The left section is the refugium; water gets here from the tank by a tee in my tank drain. That way it bypasses the skimmer. The fuge drains into the center section near the return pump bulkhead; that way any larvae from the fuge doesn't get skimmed.

Okay, the way I have the plumbing is simple. The bulkhead is in the front of the sump, attached to an elbow, then PVC which goes to the left of the sump, another elbow, and the return pump sits right there. Another option, if you have an acrylic sump, is to drill a hole in the bottom of the divider between the fuge and the center section. Then drill another one in the end of the sump, exactly across from the first one. You can then use a PVC tube to connect those holes, meaning you can drain to the center section, but have that water exit the sump on the left end, which is more convenient for most people. If I had thought of this when I was setting up my system, I would have done it; it really minimizes external plumbing. Next sump/refugium I make, this is how I'm going to do it. I guess this thread has morphed....

[manny]

yeah, it has morphed into about 3 or 4 different things...
By plumbing, the main thing i was wondering was how you seperated the skimmer and the refugium section coming from the drain bulkhead and you just use a simple tee. I was thinkin of somethin else a little more complicated involving a 45 degree, and a tee but I guess I should just stick to the notion of K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Stupid). I'm not quite sure what you are talking about with the plumbing to exit the sump on the left end but maybe I can get you to help me out with that one cause my sump/fuge is exaclty like what you've described yours as and I haven't drilled it yet to put the bulkhead in or anything. I'll send you a pm

[matt]

No, I didn't just use a simple tee. It's actually a little complicated, mostly due to the stand space confines. What happens is this; out of the tank drain bulkhead there's PVC that drops straight down, then a 45o bend to get over the sump, then another 45o elbow to resume straight down, then a 90o elbow with 1/2" threaded side outlet, which points to the fuge, there's a ball valve and a hose barb connected to the side outlet. That sends whatever I want to the fuge, the rest goes through the 90o elbow to another 90o to send it back straight down vertical into the sump.

If you want you can come over some time and have a look.

Matt