How much chaeto

[jmichaelh7]

Start slow . I started 10 hours and nutrients bottomed out. Worse thing came next .

now I’m trying again

 

[Coxey81]

Start slow . I started 10 hours and nutrients bottomed out. Worse thing came next .

now I’m trying again

K, thanks. I was planning on about 6 hours. Does that sound good. Does not running thr light longer hurt it at all? Or just slow growth?

 

[jmichaelh7]

I didn’t see any issues with it definitely will pull nutrients so make sure you have enough coming in that your pulling out

 

[muzikalmatt]

A refugium is not much different than any other piece of filtration equipment in that you'll need to tune it based on your system. In this case the tuning is adjusting the intensity and duration of your lighting.

I would start with six to eight hours of lighting first and run it while your display lights are off. Test your nutrients after a week and make adjustments from there. I would err on the side of caution though because you don't want to bottom out of your nutrients. Typically the problems that come with zero nutrients can be worse than high nutrients.

 

[Coxey81]

A refugium is not much different than any other piece of filtration equipment in that you'll need to tune it based on your system. In this case the tuning is adjusting the intensity and duration of your lighting.

I would start with six to eight hours of lighting first and run it while your display lights are off. Test your nutrients after a week and make adjustments from there. I would err on the side of caution though because you don't want to bottom out of your nutrients. Typically the problems that come with zero nutrients can be worse than high nutrients.

Thanks, yeah I know dinos will show up and that it's not good for the corals either. Wanting to try and maintain between 5-10 ppm nitrates. I was up in the 25s, but part of that was due to overfeeding at first. But also wanting to add more fish and start adding corals after Christmas... so trying to get in control now.

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

So a softball size ?

Less and nuisance algae will take over the crate...

 

[Hilltopreef90]

Don’t you remove the access as it grows anyway?

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

Don’t you remove the access as it grows anyway?

At this point in time, i prefer one macro growing cleanly in refugium. Hair algae, other macros, slime bacteria/algae, i just prefer not to get a hold, or be, in my refugium.

If you put in a larger amount of macro in to start, you have a better chance IMO to out compete nusiance algae /crap in your refugium. The macro will grow to harvest size more quickly. You'll see nutrient reduction quicker.

I just think it works better and sometimes macro wont grow so i try start with a big chunk.

 

[Avengerx77]

Agree, is going to be a balance. You will need to pay attention to it. You need to eventually trim if you see chaeto is reeceding or too large for the sump, because if there are no more nutrients, it can result in other plagues ligue cyano. Too little it could give a chance to other algae to thrive. I am in the first case, where I think my chaeto is sucking all of my nutrients, so I am now overfeeding

 

[Coxey81]

Agree, is going to be a balance. You will need to pay attention to it. You need to eventually trim if you see chaeto is reeceding or too large for the sump, because if there are no more nutrients, it can result in other plagues ligue cyano. Too little it could give a chance to other algae to thrive. I am in the first case, where I think my chaeto is sucking all of my nutrients, so I am now overfeeding

Have you tried cutting down the period you have the fuge light on?

I'm completely new to this and don't even have my chaeto yet, but this is going to be my approach.

From my understanding trimming will just give the chaeto more room to grow which is when it reduces more nutrients. Which is good if trying to bring them down, but bad if you are trying to raise them.

However, if you don't trim it then it will max out the area and choke itself out and start to die... which you don't want either.

So the question is how do you slow the growth rate without killing it... if wanting to raise your nutrients levels? Seems like reducing light time is the best bet.

No idea if it will work, but its what I'm going to try to use as a method to keep mine balanced.

 

[Avengerx77]

Have you tried cutting down the period you have the fuge light on?

I'm completely new to this and don't even have my chaeto yet, but this is going to be my approach.

From my understanding trimming will just give the chaeto more room to grow which is when it reduces more nutrients. Which is good if trying to bring them down, but bad if you are trying to raise them.

However, if you don't trim it then it will max out the area and choke itself out and start to die... which you don't want either.

So the question is how do you slow the growth rate without killing it... if wanting to raise your nutrients levels? Seems like reducing light time is the best bet.

No idea if it will work, but its what I'm going to try to use as a method to keep mine balanced.

Thanks Coxey. In fact, I have reduced the lights from 14 to 10 hours as another alternative, as you mentioned. Is a matter of fine tuning to get the proper balance, so that's my advice to the OP to keep an eye on it as not all tanks are the same

 

[Coxey81]

Thanks Coxey. In fact, I have reduced the lights from 14 to 10 hours as another alternative, as you mentioned. Is a matter of fine tuning to get the proper balance, so that's my advice to the OP to keep an eye on it as not all tanks are the same

I would think you could also do smaller or less frequent water changes and dose mag, calcium, etc for corals.

 

[Avengerx77]

I would think you could also do smaller or less frequent water changes and dose mag, calcium, etc for corals.

Yes, I am planning to do some 15% water changes every 3 weeks, depending on how my readings are in the next couple of weeks. I still don't have corals, so that is why I want to get the system prepared on nutrients and light intensity (currently only at 10%). Don't plan to add corals yet to give the system some additional time for stabilization.

 

[Coxey81]

Yes, I am planning to do some 15% water changes every 3 weeks, depending on how my readings are in the next couple of weeks. I still don't have corals, so that is why I want to get the system prepared on nutrients and light intensity (currently only at 10%). Don't plan to add corals yet to give the system some additional time for stabilization.

Gotcha, im in the same boat except my nutrients are high. Was up to 25 ppm Nitrates and .5 ppm phosphates. Started feeding less and did about a 50 percent change this past weekend and I'm now at about 12 Nitrate and .25 phosphates. And I have chaeto coming Thursday.

Wanting to get my phosphates around .1 and nitrates around 5-10, so I'm hoping the chaeto will do that as I'm wanting to add two more fish and corals starting around february after QT (getting for christmas).

I figure the extra fish will raise them some so I'll need the chaeto then for sure. But corals will probably consume some as well...

Ahhh, trying to balance, lol. Definitely going to be a bit of trial and error.

 

[Coxey81]

That should be just fine! Ideally you want a reoccurring 5-10ppm on nitrates depending on your tank's bioload/amount of chaeto

I got my chaeto if fro. You guys yesterday and put it in. It was kinda of dark green. Does it usually brighten back up in a day or so?

 

[Avengerx77]

The greener the better, if they start loosing coloration and going whitish, is because is dying.

 

[TnFishwater98]

Yes, I am planning to do some 15% water changes every 3 weeks, depending on how my readings are in the next couple of weeks. I still don't have corals, so that is why I want to get the system prepared on nutrients and light intensity (currently only at 10%). Don't plan to add corals yet to give the system some additional time for stabilization.

Some say adding corals early on sets your system up better. After cycled and before any fish. That’s what I did with my frag tank snd it’s doing awesome. I just added a springer Damsel last week.

 

[Reeferbadness]

Have you tried to contact fellow reefers around your city? Maybe some LFS, they sometimes have for their tanks and are willing to give you some from their own tanks, that's how I got mine.

just be careful about chaeto sources - lots of reefers have aiptasia and if you don't, this is a surefire way to get it unless you can be 100% sure it's clean

 

[TnFishwater98]

just be careful about chaeto sources - lots of reefers have aiptasia and if you don't, this is a surefire way to get it unless you can be 100% sure it's clean

I like dipping in freshwater for other pest. While dipping I examine for Aiptasia.