Can you use Triton other methods with a small refugium

[LA9899]

I am currently running triton full system however my refugium area is not as large as triton recommends. There seems to be an excessive growth of brown algae daily. When I reduced the level of dosing the #1 algae is gone overnight. My question really is if I switch to the other methods can i still use a refugium?

 

[capt.dave]

Of course you can still use a fuge. They're great for all the same reasons Triton recommends in almost any methodology. Plus they provide a predator free nursery for pods and lots of beneficial worms and such. Small is better than none.

Make sure you have a good grow light. Your macro algae can't out compete GHA living under expensive lights in your display if it's living under a cheap florescent light bulb. Reach in and harvest about half of it when it starts to fill its chamber so it doesn't die and release nutrients back into the water.

Also be aware that rapidly growing macro algae, which is what you want, will deplete some of the same trace elements coral need to grow so if you leave Triton entirety, some other careful method of trace element replacement is necessary. I use Red Sea trace colors because they're tied to Ca use, which is easy to measure. Consistent water changes help slow the depletion but unless you are replacing all of it at once (DON'T) you're always falling behind.

 

[LA9899]

Thank you Dave for the feedback. I started with the full Triton method but noticed a constant and rapid growth of brown Algae
on sand and glass. As soon as I cut back the amount of dosing from bottle 1 it disappeared. I figured that my refugium is not large enough to absorb all the nutrients supplied which caused the excess growth. Thus my wanting to switch to Triton other methods.
I hear this version supplies much less nutrients for algae growth thus was wondering if I should keep the refugium going. You answered my question. I wonder if others using the full Triton method have this excessive growth as well?