Starting Refugium w/ DSB

[M-pire]

I am going to be starting a refugium for my tank and I have a few questions...

First, setting up the DSB:
I will be adding sand from HD for a majority of the DSB. In about a month I will be adding sone live sand from TBS (taking a road trip down to visit my brother who is at the University of Tampa)

Should I seed the DSB w/ sand from my tank or wait the month for the TBS live sand?
What critters or anything else I need to add to the DSB to keep it opperating properly?


Second, adding macro algaeL:
I was thinking of filling it with macro algae to help combat my hair algae problem

Is this a good idea?
If So:
What are the best macros?
How many watts does the macro algae need?

[mogurnda]

Using HD sand sounds good. For seeding it, try a detritivore kit from IPSF (http://www.ipsf.com) or Inland Aquatics (http://www.inlandaquatics.com). That will add a little diversity.

I have tried gracilaria, ulva and chaetomorpha macroalgae in my fuge, and have found the chaetomorpha to be the best grower. The number of watts depends on the size of your fuge. I use a 13W PC light for my little 12" Aquafuge, and it's plenty.

[M-pire]

Thanks! I'll be checking out those kits. When I seed the sand bed do I just lay the live sand on top of the HD sand or mix it around?

Should I go ahead and put the HD sand in and seed it w/ my tank sand while waiting on a kit, or just wait and do it all at once?



Edit: I hit submit before I was close to done

[mogurnda]

Should I go ahead and put the HD sand in and seed it w/ my tank sand while waiting on a kit, or just wait and do it all at once? I'd go ahead and do it, spreading the old sand on top.

[M-pire]

Is there any sense in me buying some LS? I have sand from my tank allready to seed it, and I can buy a detritivore kit that you mentioned?

[M-pire]

Also, I have a bunch of pods running around my main tank, should I still go with a full kit for the refugium, or should I just get some worms and such?

[mogurnda]

I'd seed from the main tank. It seems like you can't beat the variety you get from one of those kits, so I'd vote for a kit rather than individual items.

[M-pire]

Guess I'll go for a kit! Thanks for the help!

[M-pire]

Yet another question :D

Should I wait a while before getting the detritivour kit to let stuff build up or go ahead now?

[mogurnda]

Because it's going in a fuge, you have some flexibility. If it was going in the main tank, the usual recommendation seems to be to get the detritivores in and hidden before fish and other predators go in. For afuge, you can wait a while for it to get established, then add them.