Fuge question..?

jaket

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Alright so I made a stand alone fuge. Pulls water from filter sock area. Runs through and back into skimmer section. It’s about 12 gallons. Has 20 lb live rock and had cheato in it. Had it originally to have cheato in to keep out of sump and adjust water flow

I had a phosphate problem from moving the tank. And ran gfo in a reactor to get my phosphates down as my cheato wasn’t doing much for growth or removal and was having an algae breakout. Hair algae, cyano. The whole bit

Anyway added this tank I had on the side and let it rip. My phosphates are .03 now. Nitrates are under 10.

Cheato is gone. Went to mush.

My question, is this slime algae. A touch of cyano, and I believe that’s from a lower flow through this section but it already had 1/2 overflow in it and it’s as fast as I can make it. May change it if need to. But my question is, is this algae and slime in the fuge a problem? My display is 100x Better than it was before. And Levels are steady now. Should I clean it? Let it be. Keep it growing. Remove what I can out of the screen as it grows, or is this all wrong lol

Lighting is on reverse 12 hours from display also

Any help or input is helpful. Let me know what a good thing to do is

Thank you
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Doctorgori

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algae is algae and you can use a few kinds...the issue is management and handling. Chaeto is easy to remove and manage, IMO ulva is even easier, cleaner and doesn’t melt.
I’d add a macro just because it’s a cleaner manage. I also removed my LR from the sump. You. might find a clean sump = a clean tank. Anymore I run a more or less spotless sump with mix of ulva and red ogo
How much light is that fixture producing?
 

Auquanut

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Nice setup. I agree with @Doctorgori. When I was initially having trouble keeping chaeto alive in the fuge, I was using a Kessil H80 fuge light in my 12x14 fuge. My macro failed and slime algae just kind of took over.
I added a cheap 6500k compact florescent light to the Kessil and put a small power head in the fuge. That made all the difference. The chaeto took off! Pest algae was no longer a problem.
While I'm sure the added light helped quite a bit, I'm convinced that the added flow IN the fuge (not necessarily THROUGH the fuge) was the deciding factor.
One thing to consider. Algae likes light with more of a red/green spectrum, and lots of it.
Just food for thought.
 
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jaket

jaket

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algae is algae and you can use a few kinds...the issue is management and handling. Chaeto is easy to remove and manage, IMO ulva is even easier, cleaner and doesn’t melt.
I’d add a macro just because it’s a cleaner manage. I also removed my LR from the sump. You. might find a clean sump = a clean tank. Anymore I run a more or less spotless sump with mix of ulva and red ogo
How much light is that fixture producing?

This is a par 38 grow light with selectable spectrum. Ref green blue green white
 
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jaket

jaket

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Nice setup. I agree with @Doctorgori. When I was initially having trouble keeping chaeto alive in the fuge, I was using a Kessil H80 fuge light in my 12x14 fuge. My macro failed and slime algae just kind of took over.
I added a cheap 6500k compact florescent light to the Kessil and put a small power head in the fuge. That made all the difference. The chaeto took off! Pest algae was no longer a problem.
While I'm sure the added light helped quite a bit, I'm convinced that the added flow IN the fuge (not necessarily THROUGH the fuge) was the deciding factor.
One thing to consider. Algae likes light with more of a red/green spectrum, and lots of it.
Just food for thought.

I didn’t have the funds at the time to add a 2-300$ light to my Fuge. So this has a par 38 light with selectable spectrum. That chip on cheap light was in there when I needed to sump a fish for a couple days. Then it became. A Fuge and don’t use it.

I’ve thought I may need to add a small power head inside the fuge for movement and I’m sure that would help the cyano for sure

I’m just wondering if this set up with GFO running when I need will be any worthwhile. Or if it’s not making a difference just growing crap algae in the system somewhere. I would like to be able to grow cheato and I know I don’t have the best setup being a smal tank
 

Doctorgori

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there are a few kinds of macros suitable for the display; maybe try halmedia and or red grape or any one of the ogo’s. Turbos might prevent establishment of ogo, and halmedia can be finicky. A large softy helps and yes, second on the lower kelvins for the fuge, shoot for 4000k (cool white) thru maybe 6500k (“daylight”) ...cheapo algae waterproof led’s from Amazon work. I use them already knowing I’m gonna replace a 30 buck fixture sooner than later.
 
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