Refugium advice needed

[tclipse]

So, long story short I was wondering why the filter sleeve on my DIY Aquaclear refugium was taking forever to get dirty, and I found a nice tear in the back. That made me check inside the fuge, and the chaeto has all sorts of debris/detritus/fish logs stuck in it. Tons.

Ammonia nitrite and nitrate are all zeroed out... so my question is-

Should I wash out the chaeto and lose half of my refugium critters in the process or just throw a new sleeve on, hope it doesn't start pumping out nitrates, and let it break itself down over time?

I'm thinking my tank may be keeping up, it's probably been a good few weeks since the rip happened.. I was pretty slow to notice and then question the lack of buildup on the sleeve.. but if it will prevent some dormant pest problem from flaring up (I've already seen a few flatworms that I didn't see before, so either they were introduced on my new corals or my ammnitnits are only at zero because populations of both good & bad critters are blowing up to keep it that way).... What do?

 

[Aquaph8]

For your fuge to be doing you any good you should be harvesting it as it grows anyways. I would just throw on a new sleeve and harvest a little. Havest, grow, harvest grow etc..........

 

[Acronymous]

Just shake the the stuff off in ur old water after a water change and trim it. pods will grow back. as long as you have strong flow and a strong skimmer your tank will be fine. just monitor ur phosphates every now and then if you see ur colors looking slightly less vibrant

 

[Jeepguy242]

detrious will build up over time as your reef matures, just shake out the detrious in your old water like acronymous said, when mine gets bad, i just shut off all the pumps, and use a maxijet to drain the fuge while keeping the detriuos mixed up in the water, after a few water changes its clean again.

also, some type of clean up crew in the fuge will help, snils, crabs, etc..

 

[fsu1dolfan]

So, long story short I was wondering why the filter sleeve on my DIY Aquaclear refugium was taking forever to get dirty, and I found a nice tear in the back. That made me check inside the fuge, and the chaeto has all sorts of debris/detritus/fish logs stuck in it. Tons.

Ammonia nitrite and nitrate are all zeroed out... so my question is-

Should I wash out the chaeto and lose half of my refugium critters in the process or just throw a new sleeve on, hope it doesn't start pumping out nitrates, and let it break itself down over time?

I'm thinking my tank may be keeping up, it's probably been a good few weeks since the rip happened.. I was pretty slow to notice and then question the lack of buildup on the sleeve.. but if it will prevent some dormant pest problem from flaring up (I've already seen a few flatworms that I didn't see before, so either they were introduced on my new corals or my ammnitnits are only at zero because populations of both good & bad critters are blowing up to keep it that way).... What do?

I would replace with a new sleeve and leave the chaeto alone....the reef critters with eat up any of the stuff on it....thats what they are there for!

 

[xmetalfan99]

1. I would take the cheato out.
2. Cut it 25%-30% off of the clump.
3. Put a new filter sleeve in.
4. Put the left over cheato back in

You want to harvest your cheato often anyway to actually remove the nitrates from the system.

 

[tclipse]

Thanks for the help, I assumed that the chaeto was processing a majority of the nitrates and didn't actually retain any of it. Good to know.

 

[Tabasco1]

1. I would take the cheato out.
2. Cut it 25%-30% off of the clump.
3. Put a new filter sleeve in.
4. Put the left over cheato back in

You want to harvest your cheato often anyway to actually remove the nitrates from the system.

I would do all that and give what is left over a little shake in your water change take out to get rid of the real loose stuff. If there is too much detritus on your chaeto it might not be getting enough light or flow to grow.