Benapilot's SCA 150 Upgrade

benapilot · Dec 7, 2021

NoPoX is helping keep the Nitrates and Phosphates at bay, but I don't like the slimy bacterial strands that accompany carbon dosing. I'm still getting hair algae growth on the rocks.

I've never run a refugium or grown macro algae. Maybe now is the time. I've got room in my sump. Actually a lot of room. By moving my skimmer from the second chamber to the first, the entire 13" x 24" chamber is plenty of room! With 10.5" of water, that's 14 gallons of refugium!

I can lay the marine pure balls on the bottom and build a Chaeto Sandwich like in this thread:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/chaeto-egg-crate-sandwich-idea.144659/

I'll order a Neptune Gro light for easy power and control.

Maybe this will help in my quest for balanced nutrients.

benapilot · Dec 13, 2021

I had a trip to LAX Saturday and stopped at my favorite LFS there, LAX Aquarium, and picked up a new toy.

Neptune GRO

I’m such a gear junkie!
After the holidays (headed to Hawaii), I’ll order some Chaeto.

@Zach B, @Chris Spaulding, @JayRozzer, @josvanmeer, @hhaase (And anyone else who happens to be following this build). Are you guys running a Refugium? I never have and would love to hear your tips and tricks!

Zach B · Dec 13, 2021

Hey, hope all is well. So we are running a Very similar system with the clarisea and now refugiums with the neptune gro. My fuge has miracle mud that I added when I started the tank as the base and a couple of well established rocks. My chaeto didn't start doing to well until I got my nitrates down a bit. Tough with all the fish

I have also been adding phyto and chaetogro lately which has definitely helped some. I am seeing a lot more pods and diversity in there.. I have a powerhead as well to get some more random flow but it doesn't tumble like others. Let me know if there's any other ways I can help. Best of luck

josvanmeer · Dec 13, 2021

I ran a fuge for a while with Ulva and a Kessil H380 light. It did well for a while but then I got my skimmer in (my other one stopped working and did not buy a new skimmer for like 2 months) and when I started that skimmer the Ulva started dying. I do not have enough bioload to have anything left past my filter socks and skimmer to feed the fuge. Maybe it will work for you, but ideally you position the fuge (triton method) before the skimmer so any leftovers go to the skimmer not the other way around. I run quite low on nutrients so my fuge has no food to thrive on and I cannot switch my fuge and skimmer section since the skimmer wont fit in the fuge section.

I would recommend a reverse light cycle, most important reason for that is that nutrients are also being absorbed by algae in the tank during the day when the tank lights are on and I can guarantee you that your fuge light cannot outperform growing fuge macro algae with your display tank growing algae in the tank. So a reverse light cycle will help with this as display algae is not actively hogging nutrients and it will also balance PH levels during the night.

hhaase · Dec 15, 2021

My tank struggles to keep nutrients, and I’ve never been able to keep any kind of macro algae alive in my refugium even with a kessil a360x refugium light.

I did accidentally make a really hard to service turf scrubber though. I had issues with my chaeto spilling over into the main chamber of the sump, and used some egg crate and window screen to make a screen to keep the chaeto from flowing out. Grew some brown slimy stuff on that like nobodies business. But it was too hard to clean.

Super Fly · Feb 4, 2022

any update?... haven't seen one in a while, hope everything's well.

jmichaelh7 · Feb 4, 2022

what’s up man glad to hear your tank is doing better.

I’m running a big refugium, as you can see the Chaeto is about 12x12 in size . The sump is 60” long so I have room. At first I dosed Chaeto grow but now I dose once a week.

Kessil 380 on grow is the spectrum I use. Keeps phosphates at 0.045-.08 . Light schedule is starts at 1700-0500 . A little more than reverse light schedule to keep pH from dipping

Are you clear of Dinos?

benapilot · Feb 6, 2022

Hi guys! Thanks for asking!

My main display is looking real good! Not a trace of hair algae. The Sea Hare did his job wonderfully!
My sand is staying pretty white.2

My parameters are stable:
Alkalinity 9-11
Nitrates 7-9
Phosphates 0
Calcium 380-420

My refugium is a mess! I can't find any Chaeto locally or online, so I got a rock with Dragon's Breath, but hair algae, and something else (I'm hoping NOT Dinos) has taken over. I put an emerald crab to hopefully clean some of it up. I also just got a little Sicce nano pump with cleaner attachments- I just haven't had the time yet to get in there and do a big cleanup.

I can't seem to keep SPS alive... I don't quite know why... I've gotten a couple orders from Tidal Gardens as well as from my LFS and only a couple have survived.

jmichaelh7 · Feb 6, 2022

benapilot said:
Hi guys! Thanks for asking!

My main display is looking real good! Not a trace of hair algae. The Sea Hare did his job wonderfully!
My sand is staying pretty white.2

My parameters are stable:
Alkalinity 9-11
Nitrates 7-9
Phosphates 0
Calcium 380-420

My refugium is a mess! I can't find any Chaeto locally or online, so I got a rock with Dragon's Breath, but hair algae, and something else (I'm hoping NOT Dinos) has taken over. I put an emerald crab to hopefully clean some of it up. I also just got a little Sicce nano pump with cleaner attachments- I just haven't had the time yet to get in there and do a big cleanup.

I can't seem to keep SPS alive... I don't quite know why... I've gotten a couple orders from Tidal Gardens as well as from my LFS and only a couple have survived.

Alkalinity 9-11?

Maybe your dkh is swinging too much to keep sps

BirdGuy21 · Feb 6, 2022

Good to hear from you. Glad you got the algae under control! Hope things turn around soon with the SPS.

benapilot · Feb 7, 2022

Video Update:

jmichaelh7 · Feb 7, 2022

benapilot said:
Video Update:

Torch looking really happy right there

I like that naso tang I want one so bad

Super Fly · Feb 8, 2022

like the way green mushrooms look on the arch... should've placed mine higher on rock work

benapilot · Feb 8, 2022

Super Fly said:
like the way green mushrooms look on the arch... should've placed mine higher on rock work

Thanks! I wish I could say I planned it that way, but they were on that curved rock from my previous tank. When I decided to make it an arch, they just so happened to be on the top!