How do I design my refugium chamber to make the Chaeto tumble?

JonCherba

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I'm looking to make my chaeto tumble, preferably using flow alone. The chamber is about 12-15" wide, flow comes in through the bottom under filter socks, then flows over the top into the bubble trap. would this create the flow necessary to promote tumbling. I know I could go in and manually rotate the chaeto couples times a week but I would like to have it tumble on it's own...

Whats does everybody think between the AI Prime 16HA Fuge and the Tunze Eco Chic refugium light? I was originally planning to go with the AI Prime but I really like the mounting for the Tunze and the fact that it can be run under water. that would help keep it out of my way when I'm doing maintenance or whatever.
 

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I'm looking to make my chaeto tumble, preferably using flow alone. The chamber is about 12-15" wide, flow comes in through the bottom under filter socks, then flows over the top into the bubble trap. would this create the flow necessary to promote tumbling. I know I could go in and manually rotate the chaeto couples times a week but I would like to have it tumble on it's own...

Whats does everybody think between the AI Prime 16HA Fuge and the Tunze Eco Chic refugium light? I was originally planning to go with the AI Prime but I really like the mounting for the Tunze and the fact that it can be run under water. that would help keep it out of my way when I'm doing maintenance or whatever.
Are the socks in same chamber as chaeto will be or is there a smooth divider?

Just wanted to ask for clarity as if same chamber, the fuzziness of the socks likely will catch and break up the chaeto. I used window screening for short while trying to corral my macroalgae from escaping in where my pumps are located, and this broke it up when snagged on screen.

Try the flow and go from there... may be fine. Interestingly, my *angle* of flow changed when I cleaned my sump of a tiny bit of build up algae scum on the sump wall. Stopped auto turning... Eventually I neglected cleaning my sump's 1 chamber wall long enough that it turns again from the little outpush of water flowing over that wall's algae scum.

For lighting, I found a $3.50 LED 60w equivalent at 5000k based on this post thought I'd try it and LOVE IT... box of two for $7... picked up a shop light at same home improvement store. Cheapest thing ever for my setup, but works GREAT. Can't take credit. Research info was posted here and all I did was try:
 

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You may (or may not :) ) find this YT video helpful:



Good luck with your adventure!
 
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JonCherba

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Are the socks in same chamber as chaeto will be or is there a smooth divider?

Just wanted to ask for clarity as if same chamber, the fuzziness of the socks likely will catch and break up the chaeto. I used window screening for short while trying to corral my macroalgae from escaping in where my pumps are located, and this broke it up when snagged on screen.
the socks and fuge are separated by glass, the water flows through a one inch space below the glass into the fuge. I was going to go with a half inch gap but I wanted to ensure the flow was not obstructed. the fuge has glass on all sides, it shouldn't be able to grip onto anything to be honest.
 
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JonCherba

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You may (or may not :) ) find this YT video helpful:



Good luck with your adventure!

I have checked out this guys videos on his chaeto chamber and I love it, it's actually what made me really want to tumble the chaeto like this. I love how dense his chaeto is. Also made me look further into the Tunze light. He doesn't really explain how the flow goes as far as I have seen, unless I missed something...
 

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He says that he drilled a few holes along the bottom of the partition. This is the key with Chaeto, you get much better response from narrow concentrated flow rather than broad laminar flow. I personally use a maxijet 600 which is perfectly quiet and gives that extra push to keep the algae turning even when it is starting to fill out the chamber.
 

Peace River

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He says that he drilled a few holes along the bottom of the partition. This is the key with Chaeto, you get much better response from narrow concentrated flow rather than broad laminar flow. I personally use a maxijet 600 which is perfectly quiet and gives that extra push to keep the algae turning even when it is starting to fill out the chamber.

+1

In Jake's follow up video he talks about using passive flow, but also says that adding additional active flow is an option (start video at 5:00):

 

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It seems like it depends on what type of chaeto you have, I'm not an expert but I started off with the long strand type which tumbles pretty easily with no added push which then started dying and I bought a new clump from the LFS and it was darker green and more curly. I got nostalgic and I collected some caulerpa because the chaeto wasn't growing and the caulerpa took over until my fuge light failed and I lucked out on a Zetlight E200 off of ebay then all of the sudden the dark green chaeto came back with a vengeance never tumbles and grows like mad. Anyways there are some videos on YouTube that describe the diffences between long vs brillo chaeto.
 

seasand23

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I converted a sock chamber as a refugium. I use small pieces of flex tube to direct water a certain way into the chamber which helps it tumble. I get hair algae growing too but utterly a bit easier to remove it there than in the main display. Lol.
 

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hart24601

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I just want to add for those wanting to tumble that’s great, but not needed at all. I have a 150g Rubbermaid sump and keep chaeto in a laundry basket. I just restarted chaeto for fun. I started with a clump about 1/3 the palm of my hand. This is 1 week later.

9A86D8F8-78B7-439F-A973-B7048DB64E74.jpeg


So that was 1 week growth, no tumble. Here is this weeks growth, actually 1 day short, so 13 days growth from the tiny 1/3rd palm size in top left image.
77973BE6-EDAC-4B6E-9B7C-625BDAC6323E.jpeg


So while it can be fun to experiment and tumble, it grows crazy without!
 
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JonCherba

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I just want to add for those wanting to tumble that’s great, but not needed at all. I have a 150g Rubbermaid sump and keep chaeto in a laundry basket. I just restarted chaeto for fun. I started with a clump about 1/3 the palm of my hand. This is 1 week later.

9A86D8F8-78B7-439F-A973-B7048DB64E74.jpeg


So that was 1 week growth, no tumble. Here is this weeks growth, actually 1 day short, so 13 days growth from the tiny 1/3rd palm size in top left image.
77973BE6-EDAC-4B6E-9B7C-625BDAC6323E.jpeg


So while it can be fun to experiment and tumble, it grows crazy without!
Which light are you using?
 

Kris 2020

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Like others, my chaeto doesn’t tumble. It’s not for lack of trying, it just grows so fast that there’s not enough room in my fuge after a week of growth. Since it grows well, I don’t worry about it.
 

seasand23

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I just want to add for those wanting to tumble that’s great, but not needed at all. I have a 150g Rubbermaid sump and keep chaeto in a laundry basket. I just restarted chaeto for fun. I started with a clump about 1/3 the palm of my hand. This is 1 week later.

9A86D8F8-78B7-439F-A973-B7048DB64E74.jpeg


So that was 1 week growth, no tumble. Here is this weeks growth, actually 1 day short, so 13 days growth from the tiny 1/3rd palm size in top left image.
77973BE6-EDAC-4B6E-9B7C-625BDAC6323E.jpeg


So while it can be fun to experiment and tumble, it grows crazy without!

Wow. 1 week? What size tank and how long do you keep the lights on per day?
 

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