refugium advise

[kgstei]

Hi I'm currently running a very, very basic sump, essentially an undivided 40G breeder with a return pump sitting in a Tupperware bucket. the 65G display tank empties onto a filter pad and carbon housed in a little lee's breeder box. the sump contains live rock and a reef octopus bh2000 skimmer. Some day when I bump up in tank size I may look into a more advanced design but for now its crude but seems to be getting the job done. I would like to take it up a notch by adding some chaeto running counter to display lighting. Can I just add the chaeto and light it up and be good or do I have to worry about chaeto working its way into my display or clogging my return pump? Any imput would be great. thanks Kurt

 

[143MPCo]

Kurt, the only issue I see with the set up like that is that the cheato might accidentally get sucked up by the return pump, clog the pump, fouls up the impeller, or chunks of it might make its way into your display tank... outside of that I don't see any reason why you couldn't do it you just have to figure out a way to keep it in place... some folks, have made a sandwich out of cheato and light diffuser (eggcrate) panel which seems to work fairly well and keeps the cheato in a nice confined space.


This is @Rjramos pictures of how he did it...

Text to speech on a iPhone for forum posting sucks!

 

[kgstei]

hey thanks for the help. I may use the light diffuser sandweech. Is chaeto typically a sinker or a floater? BTW do you know H.Smith from the 143rd?

 

[143MPCo]

hey thanks for the help. I may use the light diffuser sandweech. Is chaeto typically a sinker or a floater? BTW do you know H.Smith from the 143rd?

it will sink, been out since 96 but the name doesn't ring a bell.

 

[BfishLpond78]

I've done some similar to what 143MPCo has displayed for a few friends. But instead of adding on the top piece and having to shave I basically made a basket that would contain the algae....either way works fine.

 

[Chris Aldrich]

Depending on how you have your sump laid out, you could always use the live rock to build a pseudo-divider to keep the chaeto away from your skimmer pump. Then you can feel free to tumble it on that side of the sump with a powerhead and light it with your desired solution.

 

[kgstei]

Depending on how you have your sump laid out, you could always use the live rock to build a pseudo-divider to keep the chaeto away from your skimmer pump. Then you can feel free to tumble it on that side of the sump with a powerhead and light it with your desired solution.

Thanks Chris That was my initial idea I have some sps skels kicking around that I would use on the top I just found a plastic strainer tray in the basement that might also work. Thanks guys for all the help

 

[Chris Aldrich]

No problem, glad to help! Sounds like you have some great ideas kicking around already. Good luck!