New 10 gal Refugium up and running!

[LuisPerez711]

What's up everyone!

Just wanted to share my humble 10 gallon refugium. Just received my order from Algae Barn and was very pleased with what I received.

I am keeping just the basics for now. This is my first go at a refugium so I'm using this to get my feet wet. The main goal is nutrient reduction which I am sure the ulva will take care of in a couple weeks.

It's being lit by a Kessil H160 running on a bluish/grow setting. I believe the knob is at about 60%? Not too sure but hopefully that will be enough light to get them growing.

Very excited to see how this all plays out. Thanks for looking! And any suggestions and constructive criticism is always appreciated.

 

[Spare time]

Kessil recommends the grow setting for refugiums. You can turn the intensity to 100% if you haven't.

You will be suprised at how fast sea lettuce grows. It is insane.

I am a huge advocate for refugiums. I also have never had a bad experience with algaebarn. They always seem very helpful and I appreciate clean macroalgae (just wish they would restock on blue hypnea

 

[Tclason1]

Sea lettuce ftw!

 

[Spare time]

Sea lettuce ftw!

I swear its so fast that if you blink you will have to trim it

 

[LuisPerez711]

Kessil recommends the grow setting for refugiums. You can turn the intensity to 100% if you haven't.

You will be suprised at how fast sea lettuce grows. It is insane.

I am a huge advocate for refugiums. I also have never had a bad experience with algaebarn. They always seem very helpful and I appreciate clean macroalgae (just wish they would restock on blue hypnea

Thanks! Just turned up the light. I'll keep an eye on everything and see how it goes.

And all I've read about sea lettuce is what you mentioned above. I'll be on high alert to not reduce nutrients too much. Thanks for the heads up.

Sea lettuce ftw!

Nice! Do you dose anything for the growth? I tend to over feed my fish and am hoping that the nutrients in the mysis and brine will keep the PO4 and NO3 levels elevated.

 

[Tclason1]

Thanks! Just turned up the light. I'll keep an eye on everything and see how it goes.

And all I've read about sea lettuce is what you mentioned above. I'll be on high alert to not reduce nutrients too much. Thanks for the heads up.



Nice! Do you dose anything for the growth? I tend to over feed my fish and am hoping that the nutrients in the mysis and brine will keep the PO4 and NO3 levels elevated.

I’m running all for reef and I feed heavy. Have a large bio load for my tank and the sea lettuce loves it! I get small bits of competing algae on the glass and pvc pipe but the sea lettuce eventually covers it and wins every time.

 

[LuisPerez711]

Just posting an update. A little over 2 weeks now.

Lost the ogo due to light intensity. There were some pieces under the sea lettuce that I managed to put together. Hopefully that'll grow back.

The rest of it seems to be fine but I do have a lot of slime algae building up. I put in a couple hermits, a cerith snail, and a trochus snail to help with that. Any other critter recommendations? Or should I wait for the macros to out compete the nuisance algae?

Haven't seen a drop in NO3 and PO4 yet.

 

[LuisPerez711]

So it has been over a month and I haven't seen a drop in my nitrates or phosphates. I've been feeding the same amount that I was feeding before the fuge addition.

The macros are growing but I'm guessing not fast enough. I would have expected the ulva to take over by now but it hasn't. Am I just being impatient? Or is something wrong?

Also, is slime algae normal in a refugium? It is growing all over the macro and sand. I would have thought that the macro would out compete it, but it just keeps coming back.

 

[reddevilant]

In my experience with the macros in my display whenever they were just healthy but not really growing was when they didn't get enough water flow. Idk what equipment you have on there but a small, cheap powerhead should help, even with the slime by not letting it settle. I tend to get slime issues as well and it's usually when my nitrates pass ~15 ppm. If the powerhead helps the macro grow then it should take care of the slime especially if you try to manually remove the really dense bits. My only other bit of advise I can think of are your phosphate levels. If they're REALLY low you might want to consider dosing for it a little as macros need phosphates to process nitrates and vice versa.

 

[LuisPerez711]

In my experience with the macros in my display whenever they were just healthy but not really growing was when they didn't get enough water flow. Idk what equipment you have on there but a small, cheap powerhead should help, even with the slime by not letting it settle. I tend to get slime issues as well and it's usually when my nitrates pass ~15 ppm. If the powerhead helps the macro grow then it should take care of the slime especially if you try to manually remove the really dense bits. My only other bit of advise I can think of are your phosphate levels. If they're REALLY low you might want to consider dosing for it a little as macros need phosphates to process nitrates and vice versa.

Thanks for the info.

I will try and add a little more flow and see if that helps. My NO3 and PO4 are high; 40ppm and 0.18. They've been holding there but it doesnt seem to be dropping.

 

[reddevilant]

Yeah once the macros really get going it'll help a lot although I would try a water change or two to lower NO3 sooner and help the macro out compete the slime. The sweet spot for me seems to be around 10 ppm for nitrates. Keeps the macros well fed without also sustaining nuisance algaes.