Refugium help.

[Aaron88]

Hello I have a 40g AIO tank. I’ve added a small refugium in the section after the skimmer as it’s my only choice. The area is about 1.5g so not very big. I have a Auqa Gadget Chaeto Max 2 in 1 refugium LED on the glass. I’ve had the refugium going now for about a month and I haven’t noticed any real growth in the Chaeto. Is there something I’m doing wrong? How can I make this small refugium more productive. I do have some bio pellets under the Chaeto.

My tanks water parameters are as followed
pH 8.1
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
dkH 8.5
Nitrate 2
Temp 77.5
Salinity 1.023

 

[DirtMcGurt]

Where are your phosphate levels at? I've always had trouble growing chaeto and my tank also seems to just suck up any P04 in my tank. So I have to dose it. I'm wondering if you're having the same issues as I am. All other parameters look pretty good to me.

 

[splitting_lanes]

Looks like your refugium is keeping nitrate low, so it’s doing it’s job.

i bet you’ll notice growth after another month.

 

[Aaron88]

Where are your phosphate levels at? I've always had trouble growing chaeto and my tank also seems to just suck up any P04 in my tank. So I have to dose it. I'm wondering if you're having the same issues as I am. All other parameters look pretty good to me.

My P04 has never been above 0. I was wondering if I needed to add another stronger light. I have a HD Prime for fresh water that I’m not using. It’s meant to grow plants in a FW tank. I wonder if it would help.

 

[Mr Fishface]

Could be too low of phosphate then.

FWIW - i never ever could get chaeto to grow. Switched to a caulerpa, prolifera to be exact, bing bang boom now i have growth.

 

[DirtMcGurt]

I think you want some measurable phosphate in your tank. Mr Fishface makes another good point... try a different algae if the chaeto wont grow. I was able to grow caulpera but never chaeto.

 

[Aaron88]

Could be too low of phosphate then.

FWIW - i never ever could get chaeto to grow. Switched to a caulerpa, prolifera to be exact, bing bang boom now i have growth.

I’m not sure if I could grow that in my small area.

 

[Aaron88]

So I guess the question is how important is growth if everything is normal? Is it still doing it’s job?

 

[Mr Fishface]

I’m not sure if I could grow that in my small area.

I know you said a gallon and a half but what are the dimensions of the area you're using? You might be able to get away with getting a handful of algae from someone and just prune it when it gets too tall. They recover well from pruning.

 

[Mr Fishface]

So I guess the question is how important is growth if everything is normal? Is it still doing it’s job?

Well i would say, imo, growth is not super important. If its staying alive and growing ever so slightly i think that's ok your nutes are low so you may not get that explosive growth some people do and that's ok; to me at least. Now if it doesn't grow and nutes start to rise - that becomes a problem then.

 

[Aaron88]

I know you said a gallon and a half but what are the dimensions of the area you're using? You might be able to get away with getting a handful of algae from someone and just prune it when it gets too tall. They recover well from pruning.

To tell you the truth when I measured it to get how many gallons I knew but idk now. Lol. But it’s a few feet tall and like a 3x3.5in space.

 

[Mhart032]

It will grow, give it sometime. you could feed heavier, or dose. i dont know that size matters in this case. the HD Prime might be a little overkill for that size. it has to be feed if you want it to grow though, the idea is you dont really want it to as its an export method to remove unwanted nutrient which you dont seem to have, if you go to low on Po4 and No3 you could create other issues like Dinos which you definitely dont want. just take it slow be patient

 

[Aaron88]

Well i would say, imo, growth is not super important. If its staying alive and growing ever so slightly i think that's ok your nutes are low so you may not get that explosive growth some people do and that's ok; to me at least. Now if it doesn't grow and nutes start to rise - that becomes a problem then.

tThats what I was thinking. But over the last 2.5 weeks my Nitrate went from zero to 2. But that’s the only change. My skimmer even produces skim at a slow rate. It takes about a week to fill the tank. BTW tank is 2 months old.

 

[Aaron88]

It will grow, give it sometime. you could feed heavier, or dose. i dont know that size matters in this case. the HD Prime might be a little overkill for that size. it has to be feed if you want it to grow though, the idea is you dont really want it to as its an export method to remove unwanted nutrient which you dont seem to have, if you go to low on Po4 and No3 you could create other issues like Dinos which you definitely dont want. just take it slow be patient

That sounds like good advise. I was watch a BRS video that did some research into growth rates and what type of light you use. I know mine isn’t very large with a lot of out put but at the same time I’m also using a much smaller area with less Chaeto. I have noticed some growth from when I first added it so I know it is growing some.

 

[Mhart032]

That sounds like good advise. I was watch a BRS video that did some research into growth rates and what type of light you use. I know mine isn’t very large with a lot of out put but at the same time I’m also using a much smaller area with less Chaeto. I have noticed some growth from when I first added it so I know it is growing some.

I have a 20gal fuge on my tank, but i feed very heavy (14 fish) twice a day. My Cheato is out of control most the time, i run a kessil H380 over mine, but if i dont run the fuge i deal with nitrates and high phosphates, i started my fuge from day one when i started the tank and it took some for it to really get going. but again i feed heavy everyday. that being said, my kessil went down a couple months ago and i had to send it in, i just kept the sump light on roughly 5 watts of leds at 5K and it still grew just fine.

 

[adamsfour]

I have a similar issue. I find a few months after I add cheato it turns into more of a goo looking stuff and I have to replace.

 

[EakTheFreak]

tThats what I was thinking. But over the last 2.5 weeks my Nitrate went from zero to 2. But that’s the only change. My skimmer even produces skim at a slow rate. It takes about a week to fill the tank. BTW tank is 2 months old.

You probably didn’t even need a refugium yet. What’s your current live stock in your 2 month old tank? I didn’t add my refugium until I had a much larger bioload. Once my phosphate/nitrate increased and I wanted a better Pod Population that’s when I added my fuge. Give it some time and I’m sure if your Bio Load becomes large enough the Chaeto will take off!

 

[ccombs]

I have that exact setup with a 30 gallon AIO and it does not grow one bit. Not sure if it is the light or what, it has become more of a detritus trap for me than anything.

 

[huckjai]

How much phosphate is needed for chaeto to grow? Does chaeto also need nitrates? I just tested my water, 0.11 ppm phosphates, 5ppm nitrates. My chaeto doesn't seem to grow either. Seems to be dying.