refugium discussion

[grobert3]

what is your preference? mixed algae , chaeto only, heavy substrate (live rock or porous media)?

lately i have been trying to maximize the my fuge area to get the most growth possible and was wondering what has worked for everyone...right now i have a seperate 10g tank with 13" dedicated to chaeto only right before my return to my 40b...in my new plans to move over to a 65g i have a 20g i am going to use for the same thing...however i have been contimplateing diversifying the macro i grow...the main concern however is that i have found what works best for me (& chaeto ) is to have the chaeto grow to the full volume of fuge area then harvest, so essentially when the chaeto pushes all sides of the fuge i cut it back a couple inches. the way i am cultivating now there would really be no room (available light) for other types of algae ...where if i did decide to diversify i would probably want to put a baffle to seperate the types, i.e., chaeto and caulerpa.

the goal here is to really get nutient export and better biological water quality and not just a simple pod fuge

 

[Joeganja]

Myself and many would agree with the just chaeto and skipping on any substrate or live rock because detritus can build up and you would think its good but it can also be a negative effect. Just on how you want to look at it