How do I set up a refugium the right way?

[WhitePanther93]

So even during the planing phases of my aquarium I knew I wanted a refugium. But when I got my tank up and running, I would place some chaeto in the refugium section of my sump and it would just melt and grow algae. As of late I’ve got my algae problem almost under control. My nitrates generals read about 20. I was hoping a properly set up refugium would help me get it lower, (and also help feed my mandarin.)

my sump is an eshopps cube medium with an 11.5" x 7.5" x16” refugium area. My first attempt at making a refugium was dropping some marine pure plates in there dropping some chaeto in and turning on my kessil h80 tuna flora.( I ran the light after the display tank lights went out.).

what am I doing wrong? What should I do to get this refugium going? Any assistance would be appreciated.

 

[maleks.reef]

You can start by keeping the fuge light on for 247 until the chaeto is "dominating" after it has made it through a couple of weeks of growth, you can start tuning it to your desire, just make sure your no3 and po4 dont zero out. You might want to look into Chaeto Gro by brightwell. Never used it but apparently it helps. You can also try using a diff type of macro algae? Or a mixture of chaeto and something else. Also, i don't know if you've done it already, but if possible make the light's channels blue and red only (purple-pink color) to maximize growth, BRS has a video about all that so check it out.