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- Sep 15, 2018
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I recently restated my tank( about 3 months old) and added a new sump when I restarted the tank. I have never run a refugium before. The sump has a 5 gallon refugium. The refugium is fed by a separate pump feeding out of the sump. The pump feeding the refugium is a 237 gph pump with a spray bar in the refugium and the refugium empties into the return section of the sump. The refugium is approx 8" wide x 13" deep and 11" tall. I have live rock rubble in the bottom of the refugium and added a baseball size ball of cheato a little over a month ago. I light the refugium with a reef breeders pico refugium light 6 hrs a day. Currently the cheato seems to be growing really slow and periodically small pieces tend to break off the cheato and float around and settle on the bottom of the Refugium, so I assume it is not doing well. My nitrates are between 5-10ppm and my phosphates read zero on a API test kit. I just recently started to get brown alga and some patchs of green algae growing on the sides of the refugium and the spray bar. My tank is clear of algae, but I am currently only lighting the tank 5 hrs a day with low level lighting as I am gradually increasing the light every week by and hour the will adjust intensity. My questions are what should be the flow rate in the refugium? I have tried different flow rates but tried to get cheato to tumble so have it maxed out now. The cheato will tumble for several seconds when nudged alttle to get it to tumble but will settle back on the bottom. How long should I light the refugium? Since the cheato sets on the bottom is it to deep in the water or is the depth ok. Is the new brown and green algae normal for sumps with cheato? Do you add a snail or two to clean up the algae in the refugium or will it clear up if cheato starts growing? Any help would be appreciated.