coral beauty in refugium, will it eat copepods?

[NikeLV]

I need to place a coral beauty angel in the refugium, will he eat copepods? I need the copepods for my mandarinfish. Can a fish live in the refugium with chaeto,LR,miracle mud, and 24/7 lighting?

and please, someone who has had experience with miracle mud, does it replenish iodine so I don't need to dose it myself???

[leebca]

Thanks for posting.

I don't know why it was important to move your CB into the refugium, however to answer your specific questions:

1. The CB will eat whatever pods it can easily find. If the refugium is pretty well crowded (like many of them are) with chaeto and other algae, the CB will find it hard to get at the pods. The CB, unlike many of the Butterflyfishes, for instance, are not well equipped (long snout) for picking out pods from around plants and rocks. The CB will be fine in the refugium, except for the 24/7 lighting. If the lighting is very intense, this can be a problem. My lighting was very intense, so it depends. However, why are you lighting the refugium for 24/7? That used to be one way of running a refugium, but studies have shown it best to have a 'rest period' without intense lighting. Mine is lit 20 hours/day and it goes off during the time when the intense lights come on in my DT.

2. I have used the Mud process for several of my aquarium setups. It will supply some mico elements back into the water system over a period of time. However, with regards to iodine, it is not very good in this area. For instance, I kept pulsating xenia in my refugium at the outset and things were fine for a few weeks, but then they began to stop pulsating. I added iodine to the water, and they 'came back' in full force. I tested the water for iodine and found, that despite the Mud, iodine was lacking. I wish to caution you however: You should never add anything to the water that you haven't tested for and found that the water needs. I do add a shot of micro elements to my system on a regular basis because of it being heavily stocked, but in the case of iodine, I only add it when the test comes back showing it to be low. Get an iodine test kit and use it to decide on what additions (if any) you should be making.

Hope the above helps.