Chaeto refugium maintenance

DonJuanAntwon · Jul 28, 2022

Hey everyone, I just set up a chaeto refugium with the DIY aquaclear filter method for my 10 gallon nano reef. Any tips on maintenance, improvements, etc. I’m running white/blue led for 12 hours at night. I plan to remove some every week or so as needed. I just want to make sure I’m doing it right.

MaxTremors · Jul 28, 2022

I think you’re going to find that it’s not big enough to grow enough macro to make much of a difference (it’ll make some difference, but I wouldn’t expect it to massively lower your nutrients), and also that the flow is too high to make it a refugium for copepods. If you can adjust the flow as low as possible (even obstruct the intake a little bit. I highly recommend dosing some ChaetoGro, it will make it grow super fast, just be careful not to over do it, in a tank that size, I’d only dose 0.5ml a week or so.

DonJuanAntwon · Jul 29, 2022

MaxTremors said:
I think you’re going to find that it’s not big enough to grow enough macro to make much of a difference (it’ll make some difference, but I wouldn’t expect it to massively lower your nutrients), and also that the flow is too high to make it a refugium for copepods. If you can adjust the flow as low as possible (even obstruct the intake a little bit. I highly recommend dosing some ChaetoGro, it will make it grow super fast, just be careful not to over do it, in a tank that size, I’d only dose 0.5ml a week or so.

Awesome! Thank you. I’ve lowered the flow to lowest setting. Would you Gravel vac the bottom at weekly water change?

MaxTremors · Jul 29, 2022

DonJuanAntwon said:
Awesome! Thank you. I’ve lowered the flow to lowest setting. Would you Gravel vac the bottom at weekly water change?

I have sand and some rubble in the bottom of my refugium and do not gravel vac it, its a true refugium as opposed to a macro algae scrubber, meaning that its full of all manner of microfauna, so it stays pretty clean. If you notice detritus building up, you could vacuum it out, but if you’re trying to grow copepods/micro fauna, I would probably leave it (put some rubble and/or a thin layer of sand if you’re trying to foster microfauna).