GHA in Refugium/Sump

MichaelReefer · Dec 21, 2020

Good morning,

The last few months I've been dealing with GHA in my sump, mainly in my refugium... I mean it's definitely better than in my Display, but its a hassle to clean and it seems to be starving out my Chaeto. I added some Turbo snails to the sump but hasn't really made a big dent yet. Appreciate if anyone has some advice for this?

ylreefer · Dec 21, 2020

Slightly different situation here as I'm not trying to grow cheato in the sump. I'm not running a fuge but I was keeping frags in mtr sump, there was always a mad of GHA and some of the frags got taken over and cleaning out of was a pitta.

I recently moved the tank a few feet which gave me a chance to clean out the sump. Since putting it back together I've not seen a bit of GHA yet, been about 6 weeks now. the only thing I changed was reduce the intensity of the LED whits and blues from 80% to around 50%B/10%W.

So possibly if you remove every last bit of May give the cheato the head start it needs of your havnt done this already.
Hope this may be of some help.

MichaelReefer · Dec 21, 2020

ylreefer said:
Slightly different situation here as I'm not trying to grow cheato in the sump. I'm not running a fuge but I was keeping frags in mtr sump, there was always a mad of GHA and some of the frags got taken over and cleaning out of was a pitta.

I recently moved the tank a few feet which gave me a chance to clean out the sump. Since putting it back together I've not seen a bit of GHA yet, been about 6 weeks now. the only thing I changed was reduce the intensity of the LED whits and blues from 80% to around 50%B/10%W.

So possibly if you remove every last bit of May give the cheato the head start it needs of your havnt done this already.
Hope this may be of some help.

Its just growing so fast, that even when I do remove it, its back within a few days. I was thinking about doing a sump blackout but am worried about the Chaeto dying.

Pistondog · Dec 21, 2020

Emerald crab or manual removal or who cares, still nutrients removal, right?

MichaelReefer · Dec 21, 2020

Pistondog said:
Emerald crab or manual removal or who cares, still nutrients removal, right?

Its more the fact thats its growing on the pumps and so forth. And begins to get all in my Chaeto.

Pistondog · Dec 21, 2020

MichaelReefer said:
Its more the fact thats its growing on the pumps and so forth. And begins to get all in my Chaeto.

I have gha in my chaeto too, it is the 1st to go every other week when we have to remove chaeto. No equipment in my refugium.

MichaelReefer · Dec 21, 2020

Pistondog said:
I have gha in my chaeto too, it is the 1st to go every other week when we have to remove chaeto. No equipment in my refugium.

I know part of the problem is my Fuge light does flood into other chambers. Its just getting pretty bad. I put Turbo snails in there but didnt seem to help much.

Pistondog · Dec 21, 2020

MichaelReefer said:
I know part of the problem is my Fuge light does flood into other chambers. Its just getting pretty bad. I put Turbo snails in there but didnt seem to help much.

I have my light within 3 inches of the chaeto to maximize par and minimize spillage; it is an led array 1 foot square.

xxkenny90xx · Dec 21, 2020

MichaelReefer said:
I know part of the problem is my Fuge light does flood into other chambers. Its just getting pretty bad. I put Turbo snails in there but didnt seem to help much.

I agree with @Pistondog that the gha is not a problem. Keep pulling it out and it'll keep removing nutrients just like chaeto (possibly more effective than chaeto but don't quote me on that one). But it does sound like you need to do something to block the light from getting into your other sump compartments

Pistondog · Dec 21, 2020

Osunby LED Grow Light, 150W Dimmable Growing Lamp 289 LEDs with Red Blue Spectrum for Hydroponic Indoor Plants Seedling, Vegetative and Flowering

xxkenny90xx · Dec 21, 2020

Pistondog said:
Osunby LED Grow Light, 150W Dimmable Growing Lamp 289 LEDs with Red Blue Spectrum for Hydroponic Indoor Plants Seedling, Vegetative and Flowering

That one looks good, here is what I use

MichaelReefer · Dec 22, 2020

I have an AI Prime Fuge, I am thinking about getting the baffles that fit in the screw holes, hopefully it will help.

Jase4224 · Dec 22, 2020

I’ve had this same problem and was going to post about it also.

Today I thoroughly cleaned out My sump and added a large pump to get the chaeto spinning around, as the current through my sump was weak. Hopefully this works. I have a fairly powerful horticulture light so that’s not the issue.

As for those that suggested it doesn’t matter and to just pull it out as export that is not necessarily true.. the hair algae greatly impedes the growth and therefore surface area of the chaeto and prevents a sufficient amount of algae/chaeto to compete with the display.

Reef Puncher · May 6, 2024

Jase4224 said:
I’ve had this same problem and was going to post about it also.

Today I thoroughly cleaned out My sump and added a large pump to get the chaeto spinning around, as the current through my sump was weak. Hopefully this works. I have a fairly powerful horticulture light so that’s not the issue.

As for those that suggested it doesn’t matter and to just pull it out as export that is not necessarily true.. the hair algae greatly impedes the growth and therefore surface area of the chaeto and prevents a sufficient amount of algae/chaeto to compete with the display.

follow up? did more flow help? i have a ton of GHA flowing in my refugium. until yesterday it never made its way into my display so i didnt care till now. i saw a tiny clump in my display