My understanding is that macroalgae need some dark time, so reducing the photoperiod to 8-14 hours should be helpful in the long run. My refugium can typically get rid of problem algae (except Valonia, sadly) but it can take several weeks. Skimming should help that process speed along as well.
Hair Algae Outgrowing Chaeto in Refugium
- Thread starter Andy G
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My understanding is that macroalgae need some dark time, so reducing the photoperiod to 8-14 hours should be helpful in the long run. My refugium can typically get rid of problem algae (except Valonia, sadly) but it can take several weeks. Skimming should help that process speed along as well.
Drewbacca
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Once i reduced mine to 8 hrs. It pretty much went away. Try increasing the amount of cheato and keep the time to 8. ( have as much chaeto as you wld possibly want before you wld trim)
Still have to clean the fuge glass a little every few weeks.
Still have to clean the fuge glass a little every few weeks.
Drewbacca
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Mine was all mixed in, but pretty much went away altogether after I got a new giant fresh batch of chaeto, Cleaned my sump & lowered my photo period to 8 hrs.
Give it a good cleaning and then try increasing the amount of chaeto first instead of the time. Have as much as you cld hold before you wld start trimming it. Then start at 8 hours and see where your nutrients and hair algae go after a week.
Give it a good cleaning and then try increasing the amount of chaeto first instead of the time. Have as much as you cld hold before you wld start trimming it. Then start at 8 hours and see where your nutrients and hair algae go after a week.
BadAsh
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Why not bring this back again.
I have the issue of hair algae in my fuge. Does the cheato need to tumble? Mine sits on the bottom and is absolutley covered in GHA.
I have the issue of hair algae in my fuge. Does the cheato need to tumble? Mine sits on the bottom and is absolutley covered in GHA.
good.reef
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Honestly I think in order for a "refugium" to be successful and meaningfully beneficial, it needs to be much larger than what 90% of people are running and should be more diverse than a small ball of chaeto. I understand the appeal of having a small section of a sump for nutrient uptake but I don't think it's effective in a lot of systems. Or can be only after much time, effort, and luck. IMO best bet would be to add a chaeto reactor or algae scrubber to the system as it more efficient and contained and leaves the limited sump space free of nuisance algae
2Wheelsonly
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i'll never understand the concept of "display sumps" if GHA is doing a good job at nutrient control in your sump then I would assume your sump is doing what it's designed to do. 
BadAsh
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If I didn't have any GHA in display I would happily agree but I'm worried the cheato is being out paced to the point it's starting to lose to the GHA. I second the above post about size and I do wish it could be bigger. Maybe an algae scrubber would be more effective...
Drewbacca
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For me its just a matter of maintenance. Cleaning the fuge once a month seems to be key.
Turn off the pump, Take out the chaeto removing any that has any gha growing on it, which serves as trimming /as well. completly clean everything, which includes my aquamesh baffle screen and pieces of black plexi which keep the light from going into the other areas. Fill back up with new SW , turn pump back on and after a few min put the chaeto back in. (It's very important to have things blocking the fuge light from the rest of your sump...especially on top as well or else you are lighting the bottom of your sandbed from underneath and allowing all kinds of unnatural processes to occur.
As for The point of keeping your sump clean..it isn't so much that it's its a "display sump", but more importantly just that its not an embarrassing dirty mess harboring and hosting things that you didnt intend to be there. Doesn't serve a positive purpose, and you wouldnt want in your display tank. Its all one big water loop and the sumps purpose is to improve the water as it repeatedly passes through and right back to your DT.
When you stay on top of it, things don't sneak up on you.
Here is my Tank and sump w refugium.
It's only 1/3 of my 40b sump(about 10 gal) in a 115 ish system (90 gal DT)
No filter socks as the chaeto filters and absorbs and seems to do much better this way, which is why triton recommends it. I have the option for a filter pad in my last baffle but my phosphates go to zero when its in and the corals don't grow as well. But its nice to have so you can put it in if your phosphates rise or just to catch all the debris while doing a quick fuge clean without turning off the pump or taking out the chaeto out.
I keep a large ball of cheato trimmed just shy of completly filling the fuge. I've had it tumble and had a powerhead in there pushing flow underneath and Currently neither and I haven't noticed any difference. (With a small fuge it seems more important to get the chaeto to fill it than it is to have it tumble). My photo period with a kessil 160 flora at 100% is 9 hrs at night, I feed 2 - 3 cubes of diy frozen reef chili a day , 2ml of aminosdeeand this keeps my phosphates right at the .03 to .05 range.
Turn off the pump, Take out the chaeto removing any that has any gha growing on it, which serves as trimming /as well. completly clean everything, which includes my aquamesh baffle screen and pieces of black plexi which keep the light from going into the other areas. Fill back up with new SW , turn pump back on and after a few min put the chaeto back in. (It's very important to have things blocking the fuge light from the rest of your sump...especially on top as well or else you are lighting the bottom of your sandbed from underneath and allowing all kinds of unnatural processes to occur.
As for The point of keeping your sump clean..it isn't so much that it's its a "display sump", but more importantly just that its not an embarrassing dirty mess harboring and hosting things that you didnt intend to be there. Doesn't serve a positive purpose, and you wouldnt want in your display tank. Its all one big water loop and the sumps purpose is to improve the water as it repeatedly passes through and right back to your DT.
When you stay on top of it, things don't sneak up on you.
Here is my Tank and sump w refugium.
It's only 1/3 of my 40b sump(about 10 gal) in a 115 ish system (90 gal DT)
No filter socks as the chaeto filters and absorbs and seems to do much better this way, which is why triton recommends it. I have the option for a filter pad in my last baffle but my phosphates go to zero when its in and the corals don't grow as well. But its nice to have so you can put it in if your phosphates rise or just to catch all the debris while doing a quick fuge clean without turning off the pump or taking out the chaeto out.
I keep a large ball of cheato trimmed just shy of completly filling the fuge. I've had it tumble and had a powerhead in there pushing flow underneath and Currently neither and I haven't noticed any difference. (With a small fuge it seems more important to get the chaeto to fill it than it is to have it tumble). My photo period with a kessil 160 flora at 100% is 9 hrs at night, I feed 2 - 3 cubes of diy frozen reef chili a day , 2ml of aminosdeeand this keeps my phosphates right at the .03 to .05 range.
Drewbacca
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Do you have any pics? It wld help to be able to identify anything you might be able to do to help your situation.
For now def Just keep manually removing the gha and the nutrients they were absorbing should go to the chaeto and this process will perpetuate as you keep doing it.
If you already have common pests in your tank like aptasia and vermatids etc.. I would just go to a friend or lfs and get a big ball of cheato for $20, or as much as you can get to try and fill your fuge, shake/rinse it out in a bucket of your own tank water and just add it to your fuge after you get all the gha picked out.
BadAsh
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I appreciate the response and I will post more info when I get home. Tank is 6 months old. Everything was dry I don't have any pests besides the algae lol I don't have a good pic at the moment but it's not crazy in the display just a few spots the sump however is pretty infested and the cheato is possibly shrinking
BadAsh
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Rona and all has taken me away and I can say my dt is now infested. Cheato has grown but not to a degree where im harvesting it. Gha has blown up to the point where I tried vibrant for 1 month and I ended up losing some montis to a huge alk swing. Tried reef flux next and the directed dose did nothing... local fs stated to dose it 5 days strait ( 5 doses) then do a 30 percent wc... sounds nuts so I haven't. The back glass on my dt was its own ats the GHA is so bad. I do weekly 10 gallon water changes on a 60 gallon system
Alk 7.0
Sal 1.026
P03 undectable
Po4 undectable
Cal 420
Mag 1400
Alk 7.0
Sal 1.026
P03 undectable
Po4 undectable
Cal 420
Mag 1400
