Help with chaeto fuge, Po4 creeping up

[tacosricos]

I have been running chaeto in my tank for about 7 months now. At the beginning it was doing alright, but recently it seems like its being out-competed by nuisance algae, and my phosphates have begun to creep up.

System Notes:
It's a 60 gallon display, with about 15 gallons in the sump. The refugium is lit by a 2xt5 fixture with daylight bulbs. It is illuminated for 6.5 hours each night. I have been running a variation of the triton method for about 5 months and tank parameters stay pretty stable. I use the Triton Core7 supplements (other methods). Over the past twenty days or so my Po4 has begun to steadily climb, and is at 0.08 now. I never have issues with No3.

Sal. 1.025
Alk 7.5 dKH (hanna)
Cal 470 (hanna)
Mag 1200 (nyos)
No3 1 ppm (nyos)
Po4 currently 0.08, normally around 0.03 (hanna ulr)
Ph 8.15-8.2

Other than the chaeto I use about a cup of activated carbon in a reactor, and that's it.

I suspect that maybe I'm not giving the chaeto enough flow and or/ light. Any suggestions on how to grow better chaeto would be appreciated, thanks.





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[CMO]

I'm running Triton and have the same issues with slightly elevated PO4, but zero N03 absent dosing. I keep my PO4 in check by mixing a small amount of AL99 or GFO in my with carbon since the fuge on it's own isn't fully controlling PO4 like it does NO3.

I'm dosing Full Triton Core 7 with a smaller than suggested fuge (5-6% of DT) and still having Iron and Iodine completely depleted absent supplemental dosing. So, given that you're running other methods on a newer tank (lower dosing than mature tank) my guess would be low Iodine, Iron, Manganese, or Molybdenum which are known to support chaeto. Do your ICP results show any of these low or zero?

When my chaeto died off I found the culprit to be very low near zero NO3 and 0 Iodine and 0 Manganese. Resolving these started my chaeto growing good again.

 

[tacosricos]

Thanks for the advice! I haven't sent in an ICP test, but I think that is what I will do.

 

[Tim2@Triton]

The strip light looks a bit anemic, I would increase the amount of light. Also the flow into the refugium is the PE line near the baffle? water will always take the path of least resistance so you are likely not getting flow through the algae bed with that setup, I would move the source of water to the left side of the refugium.

 

[tacosricos]

The strip light looks a bit anemic, I would increase the amount of light. Also the flow into the refugium is the PE line near the baffle? water will always take the path of least resistance so you are likely not getting flow through the algae bed with that setup, I would move the source of water to the left side of the refugium.

The main current is actually going left to right through the fuge, that tube near the baffle is just the outflow of the reactor. Even so I think I probably need more flow, and as you said more light.

 

[Land Shark]

Use Triton Core7, not other methods. Core7 is designed for what you are doing.

Cheato pulls out nutrients much faster with lots of flow. My cheato has so much flow that it spins inside the refugium. The spin really makes a difference because all of the cheato gets optimal flow and even lighting, meaning no dark shadow areas.

 

[TexasTodd]

Looks like you need to harvest some and stretch what's left out / spread it. Too thick makes under / middle not get enough light.

 

[tacosricos]

I need more flow, more light, an ICP test and the other triton Core7 supplement... I think I might just replace the chaeto with a skimmer. It seems like it will be less expensive than a fuge overhaul. Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[Tim2@Triton]

Tacosricos, a skimmer and an algae refugium are not mutually exclusive.

You do not need to throw out C7 other methods for C7 base elements, next time you restock, simply pick base elements.

Regarding an ICP test, most Triton users test 3-4 times a year. this will let you know if the trace element blend is out of norms, for example, your iodine could be low, which will definitely cause macroalgae growth to slow/stop allowing nuisance algae to compete with it.

 

[tacosricos]

Tacosricos, a skimmer and an algae refugium are not mutually exclusive.

You do not need to throw out C7 other methods for C7 base elements, next time you restock, simply pick base elements.

Regarding an ICP test, most Triton users test 3-4 times a year. this will let you know if the trace element blend is out of norms, for example, your iodine could be low, which will definitely cause macroalgae growth to slow/stop allowing nuisance algae to compete with it.

thanks for the tips! I've been meaning to send a test in for a while, I'm just lazy. It certainly would be nice to see a bigger picture of the tanks parameters.

I was thinking about upgrading to a larger return pump, but a macro algae reactor might solve both the problems of flow and light coverage. It would also give me some space for a skimmer...

 

[Holy_makerel]

I started adding one drop of lugols iodine a week and saw my macro algae explode with growth. I'm also carbon dosing on top of that and have recently had to start feeding more since my po4 took a nosedive to zero over the last 2 weeks with no3 hovering at about 10ppm. I also started back up with reef nutrition 2 part dosing to make sure my corals aren't starving