Should I clean Sump/Refugium?

Ernie C

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Hi all, just wondering if i should clean up my sump/refugium. I only have a skimmer, chaeto, and a bit of rubble in the center section. No mud or sand. Have tons of tiny shrimp, amphipods and pods. Don't have a nutrient problem at the moment. NO3 is 4ppm and PO4 is at .12. Cheato is grows well but am starting to see some cyano pop up on the cheato. Not sure how to clean it without sucking out some of the critters living in there. Any thoughts?
 

BestMomEver

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I think we all sacrifice something when we do maintenance of any kind.... even scraping the glass. But if you have Cyanobacteria, I would try to get it out. How old is your tank?
 
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Ernie C

Ernie C

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I think we all sacrifice something when we do maintenance of any kind.... even scraping the glass. But if you have Cyanobacteria, I would try to get it out. How old is your tank?
The live stock, rocks, etc are years old but transferred to a new tank over a year ago. Been trying to keep things a little dirty in the sump/refugium cause my nutrients were bottoming out. Had dino issue a few months ago, but never cyano. Its mainly on the top of the chaeto at this point. Had my skimmer working very dry but just adjusted it to run a bit more wet. Worried about doing any drastic cleaning as Its cause me issues in the past as my tank tends to run on the lower nutrient side since i have a bare bottom.

I could probably just remove the top layer of the chaeto as its growing steadly.
 

CoralNerd

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You can rodi dip the chaeto.
KZ Cyano Clean is a decent bacteria that will help or rid them.
If you have cyano bad then ChemiClean time [emoji16]
 

Mehul

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Could you share a picture of you Keto, I think I have same problem. My keto is covered in brown stuff but the tank is clean.
 

CoralNerd

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Could you share a picture of you Keto, I think I have same problem. My keto is covered in brown stuff but the tank is clean.
Take it out clean with rodi works great. You can do it often if needed.
 

cracker

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I just cleaned out my refugium There was a lot HA growing on the sides & the bottom had a bunch of gunk . As for the bugs ,there's really no way around it . You swish off the rock you will lose some .
I personally sacrifice the pods to get the detritus out of the rock.
 

Mastiffsrule

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I am all about cleaning.

Might I also suggest if it is only growing on the cheato, pull out the cheato get a bowl of tank water. Manually remove it and put it back. Once back in the sump increase the flow if possible to the cheato. If you do not have it slowly tumbling try to get it to tumble. Tumbling should stave off the cyano since it will not be stagnant. Similar to increasing flow in the DT when it hits in there.
 

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