Refugium and Algae

[gfish]

Hello,
I have a question maybe people have had some experiences or tell me what I'm doing wrong but I've attempted to start a refugium in my sump and ended up getting overrun by Algae instead. My sump, skimmer, return pump etc is just coated in Algae. I've tried turning the light down to less time and I've got it as directed as I can get it without literally putting the light in the water.. but just doesn't seem to help at all. The Chaeto Algae hasn't died but it hasn't grown at all either. I've decided to quit with the refugium and clean up my sump and regroup at a later date and either try again or go a different route. I have 40G triton platinum sump that h as a "supposedly" designated refugium chamber.. Tank is a Prostar 200.

Anyone else have issues with refugium just growing algae instead ?? Green hair algae is what I'm dealing with. Anyhow.. If there are alternatives to refugium I may go that way after my failure with it.

Thanks for any help!

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Green hair algae is an excellent algae for nutrient export. If you can maintain a fuge full of GHA, it will likely be better than chaeto for reducing nutrients and keeping algae from growing in your display tank.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

What are your nutrient levels now? Do you have a lot of algae in your display? I agree that algae growing in the entire sump (on the skimmer, return pump, etc) is not desirable, but it sounds like you have the potential to enjoy the benefits of an algae scrubber without the extra equipment ;)

 

[Lavey29]

When I first started my fuge other algae formed around the chaeto. I put some trochus snails in there to clean it up. Now my chaeto dominates the fuge and no nuisance algae really. Sounds like you are getting light spill though. I highly recommend the neptune gro light.

 

[Dan_P]

Hello,
I have a question maybe people have had some experiences or tell me what I'm doing wrong but I've attempted to start a refugium in my sump and ended up getting overrun by Algae instead. My sump, skimmer, return pump etc is just coated in Algae. I've tried turning the light down to less time and I've got it as directed as I can get it without literally putting the light in the water.. but just doesn't seem to help at all. The Chaeto Algae hasn't died but it hasn't grown at all either. I've decided to quit with the refugium and clean up my sump and regroup at a later date and either try again or go a different route. I have 40G triton platinum sump that h as a "supposedly" designated refugium chamber.. Tank is a Prostar 200.

Anyone else have issues with refugium just growing algae instead ?? Green hair algae is what I'm dealing with. Anyhow.. If there are alternatives to refugium I may go that way after my failure with it.

Thanks for any help!

Seems perfectly normal. Shine a bright light on a submerged surface and algae will grow, or am I missing something?

 

[The Farmer]

I used a turbo snail in my fuge to maintain the hair algea my cheato and grape calurpa are doing good now

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I used a turbo snail in my fuge to maintain the hair algea my cheato and grape calurpa are doing good now

Not criticizing, just curious... Since most keep macros like chaeto and caulerpa for the express purpose of taking up nutrients so that other algae is starved out, why would you bother to remove a different kind of macro (gha) that's growing better?

 

[Lavey29]

Not criticizing, just curious... Since most keep macros like chaeto and caulerpa for the express purpose of taking up nutrients so that other algae is starved out, why would you bother to remove a different kind of macro (gha) that's growing better?

If it could be controlled to grow in a specific section it would be fine but nuisance algae seems to spread all around. The big chaeto ball is easy to trim and keep nice.

 

[The Farmer]

Exactly what you said!

If it could be controlled to grow in a specific section it would be fine but nuisance algae seems to spread all around. The big chaeto ball is easy to trim and keep nice.

 

[Spare time]

When I first started my fuge other algae formed around the chaeto. I put some trochus snails in there to clean it up. Now my chaeto dominates the fuge and no nuisance algae really. Sounds like you are getting light spill though. I highly recommend the neptune gro light.

I keep a turbo snail down their to eat the algae that would grow on the sides

 

[gfish]

Thank you for all the replies. I have some turbo snails in the display I could try to put one down there and see how well he cleans. I still have algae in my display tank as well so I’m not sure it’s really helping me much.

 

[Calebd91]

I to have the same issue, I’ve come to accept that I just have to clean the fuge more often to get the hair algae out. Atleast it’s keeping it out the display tank

 

[ecreef0258]

It would help if you tried putting an urchin in the refugium without the chaeto for now, and then wait for the urchin to finish snacking on the hair algae. And then put the chaeto in the fuge.

Another way is to srape of all the hair algae.

Hope this post helps a little