Refugium Assistance

[Hardy_Reef]

I'm having some difficulties maintaining macroalgae growth in my refugium on a system that has been set up for over a year. I'm using the built in refugium section of a Red Sea Reefer 350 v3 with a Zetlight E200S light set on a reverse 14 hour photo-period at 100% intensity. The chaeto has been slowly deteriorating and turning white in some smaller sections. My parameters are as follows:

Temp: 78.8F
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 25ppm
Phosphate: 0.52ppm
Salinity: 1.025sg
Alk: 7.8 dKH
Ca: 450ppm
Mg: 1400ppm

Any help or insight would be appreciated. Photos will be uploaded if necessary.

Happy Reefing all.

 

[Hemmdog]

Parameters look good. How often do you do water changes? Iron supplements are sometimes helpful with struggling chaeto if you don’t do frequent water changes.

 

[Hardy_Reef]

Parameters look good. How often do you do water changes? Iron supplements are sometimes helpful with struggling chaeto if you don’t do frequent water changes.

Thank you, I conduct a 10-15% water change every Friday.

 

[Hemmdog]

Thank you, I conduct a 10-15% water change every Friday.

Any time.
I see.
Have you dosed Vibrant or any “tank cleaner” type product in the past few months?

 

[Hardy_Reef]

Any time.
I see.
Have you dosed Vibrant or any “tank cleaner” type product in the past few months?

I had to dose chemi-clean for a cyano outbreak a few weeks ago unfortunately, but I was noticing the decline prior to that.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

We would love to help find a solution for this with you! As previously posted iron can be an issue, however so can things like imbalances in nitrate and phosphate which have a chance of being a problem. even if your numbers are reasonable, they could be slightly too high or slightly out of balance and cause this kind of deterioration. Also, what kind of lighting are you using? Every little detail really can help, so don't leave anything out that you have used, dosed, done etc in the last few months minimum!

 

[Hardy_Reef]

We would love to help find a solution for this with you! As previously posted iron can be an issue, however so can things like imbalances in nitrate and phosphate which have a chance of being a problem. even if your numbers are reasonable, they could be slightly too high or slightly out of balance and cause this kind of deterioration. Also, what kind of lighting are you using? Every little detail really can help, so don't leave anything out that you have used, dosed, done etc in the last few months minimum!

The refugium lighting I have is the Zetlight E200S. As for iron, the last ICP test indicated a concentration of 0.001ppm. I've been cautious to add any other supplement to the tank containing anything I don't regularly test for.

I dosed chemi-clean a few weeks ago as previously stated and regularly dose Brightwell's aminos and MicroBacter7 but haven't operated outside of my normal maintenance cycle for the last several months. Water changes, skimmer maintenance, filter sock and carbon replacements have all been carried out on schedule.

Do you have any thoughts on Brightwell's ChaetoGro supplement? I read that it does not contain nitrate or phosphate but haven't really heard of results or benefits from using it.

 

[KleineVampir]

The refugium lighting I have is the Zetlight E200S. As for iron, the last ICP test indicated a concentration of 0.001ppm. I've been cautious to add any other supplement to the tank containing anything I don't regularly test for.

I dosed chemi-clean a few weeks ago as previously stated and regularly dose Brightwell's aminos and MicroBacter7 but haven't operated outside of my normal maintenance cycle for the last several months. Water changes, skimmer maintenance, filter sock and carbon replacements have all been carried out on schedule.

Do you have any thoughts on Brightwell's ChaetoGro supplement? I read that it does not contain nitrate or phosphate but haven't really heard of results or benefits from using it.

ChaetoGro is pretty good if you're having trouble with your chaeto...I see it like some basic nutrients that are good to have but won't make your chaeto take off or anything. Brightwell also makes ferrion which is an iron supplement. Some people have reported success with that. For me I'm not so sure since I think I have other problems, but...iron is a way to make it grow faster to my understanding. If I were you I'd get cheatogrow and ferrion, try the chaeto grow first and then phase into the ferrion. Also I'd make sure it has some kind of flow over it. I think that's one of my problems. I don't think chaeto can grow if it doesn't have flow. It's not like it can move to get nutrients.

 

[Hardy_Reef]

ChaetoGro is pretty good if you're having trouble with your chaeto...I see it like some basic nutrients that are good to have but won't make your chaeto take off or anything. Brightwell also makes ferrion which is an iron supplement. Some people have reported success with that. For me I'm not so sure since I think I have other problems, but...iron is a way to make it grow faster to my understanding. If I were you I'd get cheatogrow and ferrion, try the chaeto grow first and then phase into the ferrion. Also I'd make sure it has some kind of flow over it. I think that's one of my problems. I don't think chaeto can grow if it doesn't have flow. It's not like it can move to get nutrients.

I'm going to try the flow option first. I have a spare maxi-jet pump set up now that tumbles the chaeto a little more. I think I'll let that run for a week and compare results before and after while I wait for a bottle of ChaetoGro to come in.

 

[KleineVampir]

I'm going to try the flow option first. I have a spare maxi-jet pump set up now that tumbles the chaeto a little more. I think I'll let that run for a week and compare results before and after while I wait for a bottle of ChaetoGro to come in.

I'm guessing the combination of both will give you the best results. If you have a high nutrient system then the flow is better. If you have a low nutrient system then the chaeto gro is probably better.

 

[Hardy_Reef]

Just as an update/conclusion, more flow in the refugium didn't seem to help with any growth, in fact it seemed to have the opposite affect. With that, a twice weekly dose of ChaetoGro has allowed the chaeto to nearly triple in size and regain it's dark green color. It has nearly out-competed the rest of the algae growth in the refugium with the help of a newly added CUC. Nitrate and phosphates are steadily decreasing to a much better level.

Thank you everyone for your input. This has saved me from shutting down the fuge.