How many of you run a Rsb and cryptic rock areas
 

I am getting ready to start up a new tank and I am debating on putting a RSB along with a cryptic rock area. I have plenty of dead rock to use and space so it's no a big deal. I just would like to know if it's worth it and how many of you use them.

I am planning on doing a cryptic area in my sump. No light, no chaeto no sand bed. I will seed it with sponges and other things. I think it will be great for filtration. If for some reason my phosphates get to be too much i can always grow some chaeto in my overflow box. The biggest problem I read is, you need to keep the detritus to a minimum. Other wise it will smother the filter feeders. So it will be in my middle chamber after the socks and where the skimmer gets and returns water. It will be interesting to see what others have done.

My thoughts are more along the lines of a food safe drum like 30 or 55 gallons. Something where no light can penetrate for sponges , pods, and amphoids can thrive. It would be plumbed separately of my sumps after my skimmers. I'll still put in a fuge after my skimmer. My reasoning is with a 400 gallon display I want to keep water changes to a minimum.
I have 2 90 gallon sumps, 1 100, and a 40 gallon I plan on plumbing into the system.

Hey fishguy, I run a crypt zone, it's a 25-gallon brute trashcan with a pile of base rock in a 5gallon bucket for ease of cleaning detritus, it is primarily used as a settling tank to reduce micro-bubbles. It has been growing tons of sponges and pods.

We run a 90 gallon cryptic fuge, only rock. We lined the tank with black acrylic to ensure it’s all dark with no light coming in. It’s fulllllll of pods and sponges. Is it worth it? Not sure I can answer that because we haven’t ran without it - would I do it again? Absolutely.


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Do you guys find a lot of detritus in your cryptic zones? I was thinking that by running filter socks and having it further down stream it would minimize the detritus.How long have you been running them? From what I understand it should help keep n & p lower. What are your levels running at?

We used to run a filter sock before the water entered the cryptic fuge, stopped that about a month ago. I don’t see a lot of detritus. This fuge has been sunning about 2-2.5 years.

I don’t test often for n & p - bad reefer, I know. So I can’t help you there


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Bump

In my settling tank, I collect all the systems detritus and about six months to a year I clean it out. I take the approach of nature knows best, I test for nitrates and phosphates and as long as those aren't too far out of wack I leave things alone. If you notice there are a lot of folks having to dose nitrates as these systems are to clean, this takes care of that problem. :) Also the amount of build up is about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch which seems to keep all of my SPS pretty happy, especially my milleporas. I also gain a large population of pods which love the detritus which in turn keeps the anthias happy :) Circle of life.

This is what my method produces :) , the tank ran for seven years till we bought a new house and had to break her down.

Brainchild thanks for the response. Your settling tank is it just that? An empty tank before the skimmer to let all your detritus to settle in with no rock?

Hi Fishguy, is also has a five-gallon bucket filled with base rock to provide homes for the pods and sponges. I used my 5inch holesaw bit and made the bucket into more of a basket to allow water to flow through unobstructed and it allow me to remove all the rocks so I can clean the settling tank. Will try to upload a picture of the bucket later tonight.

Brainchild, sorry I just noticed you posted earlier and I see what you are talking about. I just recently acquired about 200 lbs of dead Fiji rock I'm looking to nuke and seed over the next few months. I like the idea of the baskets to remove the rock to remove the detritus. I might have to play around with stacking some eggcrate for maintenance.

How do you feed water to yours? I was thinking of piping the feed water to the bottom side and come out towards the top side.
Do you run a fuge in your tank as well. I just want to be able to feed heavy and have the system take the load.

I have a RDSB/cryptic zone on my system. Cannot say in isolation how much it contribute to the success of the tank ...... but I like it! I feed it from my manifold pump, so flow is relatively slow, with modest detritus accumulation. I don't worry about detritus buildup anywhere in my system, other than if it becomes an aesthetic eyesore. I find it to be an excellent medium for micro fauna and it is mostly mineralized by that point anyhow. I do periodically 'replenish' the cryptic tank with a cup of crap from the bottom of my LFS live rock bin.

I run a Cryptic Fuge consisting of a 30g stock tank with a remote algae barrel instead of a deep and bed. [emoji106]

No to hi-jack the thread, but where do you buy sponges, ect that are beneficial to the cryptic fuge?

No idea, I just have clear/white ones that showed up on their own.

My plan was to go to a lfs and look at their rock to see if I can find some with different sponges on it.

I also used kz sponge power which helped out my sponge population. I would think it should help out in a cryptic zone.

Fishguy checkout this link to my photo album of my rebuild... I plumbed it from the top to have the entering water pour over the rock stack.

https://goo.gl/photos/euixz9NQ5Vp1qZ7BA

Shaginwagon, I usually get my sponges from seeded live rock and keep my tank feed with plankton...

We run a 30 gallon cryptic refugium plumbed into our 2x60g displays and sump w/chaeto. We have approx. 50#s of rock in it and we have 2 - 14 inch brittle stars in there along with a ton of pods and sponges. We placed the cryptic higher than the display tanks and we use an old Fluval canister filter to supply water to it. The Fluval (without filter medium) draws water out of the display and pumps it up to the cryptic. We drilled the cryptic near the top and added a bulkhead and plumbing so it overflows back into the DT. With the overflow method the pods dont go through an impeller before coming into the DT. We run a small powerhead in the cryptic and once a week or so I use it to blow off the rocks and bottom and all the crap goes out the overflow and into the DT to feed the corals.
Cheers! Mark

Thanks!

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

I have a cryptic fuge with about 50-55 pounds of rock in it and it is bare bottom. It's almost been a year since it was installed and there all sort of sponges, few crabs, limpets, and stuff. I have/want to believe it is affective and helping out. In any event though, it's pretty neat to see stuff moving about when you do put a light on it.

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