Is this normal? In a fuge?

[Kershaw]

Ok so I have a 125 gallon tank. 40 breeder sump. Reef octopus rated for 200 gallons. And I added a refugium compartment. In my fuge I just have cheato. And it's growing but slowly. And it's on opposite light cycle. My phosphates are kinda high. Last time I checked it was .08 so I started running phos guard. I'll be checking them soon. But I have no algae in display or sump just in here. So just wondering what thoughts are.

 

[Kershaw]

At .02 on phosphate

 

[reef lover]

Run a small powerhead in there it will help the chaeto to tumble and add water movement that should help with the algae.

 

[Lenny_S]

IME it's normal to have some cyano in a fuge. Me and a bunch of other reefers I know have it. As long as you get that phosphate under control it should stay isolated in the fuge. We figure that since most fuge lighting is very algae friendly it tends to grow there much more easily than in the DT. It could certainly spread, but for me it only shows up in my fuge.

 

[Wiz]

+1 on the pump. Chaeto will grow faster too. Win/win

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I agree on all of the points above. I had a little cyano in my refugium even though my phosphates were less than 0.04 ppm. I added a powerhead and it cleared up. The Chaetomorpha grows like a madman with a little more flow as well. Even found a bristleworm in my Chaetomorpha :)

 

[Kershaw]

Thanks. What about all the fur looking algae on left. It's pretty thick.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

If you get the nitrates down and keep them down, the algae goes away by itself ;)

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

You could also just mechanically remove the GHA.

 

[Kershaw]

Ok thanks. I have gotten a little behind on water changes. So that's probably contributing.