First time doing Refugium - competing algae?

nfazio

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94Gal DT
Trigger 30 Sump
Tank is only a few months running
After tank cycled, I added 2 clowns. A few weeks later a few snails / hermit crabs.
Long term goal (1+ years) is to have a pair Mandarins to I wanted to set up refugium and start seeding with Pods.
Initially added MarinePure block & Fritz 900
1 Week later - added Chaeto and Pods from Algae Barn.
Have Kessil H80 Tuna Flora light (mounted low to minimize light bleed) - maybe too low?
Flow could probably be better, looks to mostly be surface flow. Going to play with that today.
Light on about 14hr (opposite of DT light).

I noticed yesterday that there is algae growing on all sides of refugium bay. Should I be concerned? Any recommended action items to take?

I’ve been doing a few water changes due to my clumsiness of dumping a ton of food pellets (like half bottle) into tank. I got most of it out but did experience a spike in Nitrites and have been dealing with high Nitrates. I thought it was under control but now seeing this growth in the refugium I wonder if related...

Clowns and Inverts seems to be doing okay.

2925BAC0-9B50-4723-BDA2-11722F0547B7.jpeg A3F1F540-5C84-4F93-9DEA-80A4839F140B.jpeg
 

JayinToronto

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I think perfect single species refugiums are a bit of a unicorn. Nutrients plus light = algae (micro and macro). It’s just a matter of which one competes the best against the others. To keep your glass clean you can through a couple snails in there. I have 3 large turbo snails that live in mine. Otherwise just commit yourself to scraping the glass as part of you maintenance routine. I’ve been in this for 10 years and have always had a refugium. Sometimes I can grow chaeto like a champion, sometimes it just gets covered in slime hair algae and dies. I’ve also had some good success with culerpa in the past. Currently I just grow hair algae over live rock in my refugium. Tons of pods present.

Good luck!
 

Apollo7235

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Hi there!

I am also a first-time 'fuger' and from my research, I seem to remember reading that phytoplankton are one of the (many) methods of nuisance algae control. I am currently dosing daily with OceanMagik from Algae Barn to feed my copepod population and I haven't seen any sign of any nuisance algae in my system, although my system is extremely young (1 week running, today).
 
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nfazio

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I think perfect single species refugiums are a bit of a unicorn. Nutrients plus light = algae (micro and macro). It’s just a matter of which one competes the best against the others. To keep your glass clean you can through a couple snails in there. I have 3 large turbo snails that live in mine. Otherwise just commit yourself to scraping the glass as part of you maintenance routine. I’ve been in this for 10 years and have always had a refugium. Sometimes I can grow chaeto like a champion, sometimes it just gets covered in slime hair algae and dies. I’ve also had some good success with culerpa in the past. Currently I just grow hair algae over live rock in my refugium. Tons of pods present.

Good luck!
When you put it that way it makes total sense. Never thought the obvious of “other” algae being normal based on environment. Thanks for the input... I’ll likely pick up a few snail for the refugium.


Hi there!

I am also a first-time 'fuger' and from my research, I seem to remember reading that phytoplankton are one of the (many) methods of nuisance algae control. I am currently dosing daily with OceanMagik from Algae Barn to feed my copepod population and I haven't seen any sign of any nuisance algae in my system, although my system is extremely young (1 week running, today).
I’m also using the OceanMagik. I’m about a week ahead of you so hopefully we’re on the right path! Thanks!
 

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