How should I proceed with my Triton Refugium?

[d2mini]

Ok, Triton peeps, here's my progress over the past three weeks.
I started with a tennis ball size clump of cheato and some other macros.

Here it is 9 days later...

And this is it after 3 weeks, pic taken last night.

So at this point, it has stopped rotating.
My light is the Mars Hydro 300 led. Fuge is 21" front to back by 13" wide by 18" tall.
Is it going to penetrate enough to provide enough light to the macros that have been swallowed up by the Chaeto?
Do I need to occasionally rotate it or do I go completely hands off?

I've always culled back my cheato at this point, and I've never run my fuge with other macros so this is new territory for me.

Thanks!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Man that's some quick growth!

 

[Brett H whitt]

I bet your nitrate levels are dropping off a lot, that’s a lot of cheato growth. I started out with a 1lb bag of Cheato in my 120 setup and
ended up removing some later and dosing nitrates to get my nitrates up to 0.25.

also like your skimmer choice. Love my life reef.

 

[hawkinsrgk]

I like to flip mine every couple of weeks. Seems to be more healthy that way

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

...


Thats Real?

 

[d2mini]

I bet your nitrate levels are dropping off a lot, that’s a lot of cheato growth. I started out with a 1lb bag of Cheato in my 120 setup and
ended up removing some later and dosing nitrates to get my nitrates up to 0.25.

also like your skimmer choice. Love my life reef.

Yeah, i've started to dose some nitrates too. They've gone down to around 1-2 ppm.
Also wondering if I should decrease my photoperiod a little or leave it be.
Currently running the light from 10pm to 6am so just 8 hours.

 

[Psymon]

Yeah, i've started to dose some nitrates too. They've gone down to around 1-2 ppm.
Also wondering if I should decrease my photoperiod a little or leave it be.
Currently running the light from 10pm to 6am so just 8 hours.

Its probably overkill! Based on those results, I think nitrates and phosphates have no chance. I have the same lights for my new build and I think I will reduce the period based off your experience..

 

[hawkinsrgk]

After looking at your pictures again I think you could have some die off if you don't remove some. It looks like you have too much chaeto for the space. I think you should remove from the tape line down. From the picture it looks to be about 3 inches from the bottom. I had some die off on mine when it got too compacted in the space provided.

 

[Psymon]

Its probably overkill! Based on those results, I think nitrates and phosphates have no chance. I have the same lights for my new build and I think I will reduce the period based off your experience..

After looking at your pictures again I think you could have some die off if you don't remove some. It looks like you have too much chaeto for the space. I think you should remove from the tape line down. From the picture it looks to be about 3 inches from the bottom. I had some die off on mine when it got too compacted in the space provided.

On second thoughts... Wasn't that the purpose of the triton method... Die off in the refugium..

I'm sure that's what is said to release some of the locked up nutrients and feeds the corals.

 

[d2mini]

On second thoughts... Wasn't that the purpose of the triton method... Die off in the refugium..

I'm sure that's what is said to release some of the locked up nutrients and feeds the corals.

Correct.
I'm just curious what the Triton guys think about the other macros that are being swallowed up.
Since triton recommends a variety of macros to take up various nutrients as they become available, I wouldn't want to lose those other macros all together.

 

[Matze]

Good evening D2,

your Chaeto growth is remarkable, but I don't get why you wouldn't simply pull some of that stuff out the fuge?
In my own experience having to much Chaeto in a place that is to small leads to a die off of a part of the algae. That will release all the bound nutrients into your water again.

For my Triton setting, I reduce the amount of Chaeto every 10 days to the size of my hand and let it regrow again.

If you have problems with to low nutrients, wouldn't be adding more animals or raising the amount of food per feeding a possible solution?

Really awesome your new set up is running Triton, loved all your builds, but this one is by far my favorite!

Matze

 

[Brett H whitt]

I would say your light schedule is good. I have used multiple types of algae before and the cheato usually out grows them all.
Your tank is new right, the Cheato is probably just picking up all the extra nitrates and phosphates that your rocks are leaching.
I was able to slowly remove enough cheato algae to raise my nitrate levels without needing to does anymore. I test nitrates weekly,
If the levels start going down, I simply remove some more cheato. I have not dosed nitrates in over a month.

Once a week I change out my filter sock and clean the sump. I also agitate the cheato bed.

 

[d2mini]

Good evening D2,

your Chaeto growth is remarkable, but I don't get why you wouldn't simply pull some of that stuff out the fuge?
In my own experience having to much Chaeto in a place that is to small leads to a die off of a part of the algae. That will release all the bound nutrients into your water again.

For my Triton setting, I reduce the amount of Chaeto every 10 days to the size of my hand and let it regrow again.

If you have problems with to low nutrients, wouldn't be adding more animals or raising the amount of food per feeding a possible solution?

Really awesome your new set up is running Triton, loved all your builds, but this one is by far my favorite!

Matze

My thinking previously as well.
But read this post... and see some of the posts above it...
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lets-see-your-triton-specific-sumps.241668/page-3#post-2969591

And yeah, eventually I can get enough fish in there and feed more and balance it out a bit more. For now adding some nitrates is a quick fix.

 

[Jonty]

your Fuge pictures in the other thread look very different from this thread?

 

[d2mini]

your Fuge pictures in the other thread look very different from this thread?

I had to start it over due to an Ulva infestation.

 

[Matze]

My thinking previously as well.
But read this post... and see some of the posts above it...
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lets-see-your-triton-specific-sumps.241668/page-3#post-2969591

And yeah, eventually I can get enough fish in there and feed more and balance it out a bit more. For now adding some nitrates is a quick fix.

Thanks for the Link D2

Well I kind of get the idea behind that thought of dying algae could offer another micro food source for other animals.

But in my opinion, which doesn't mean anything other than my thought process is different, I can't imagine this to be all that much benefical. I think about dying Caulerpa for example which is sometimes rather toxic for corals and fish. But there is another thing that makes me wonder about algae die off to be beneficial.
Here in Germany more and more people do not cycle their tanks traditionally over the course of a couple of weeks, to wait for all algae to dissapear. On reason for that is, that many people, including myself think that all the algae die off possibly leads to an environment that prohibits coral growth for quite some time.


That beeing said, I'm just a hobbyist and have no idea about chemical or biological processes at all. My experience has been a tank that is stocked directly after filling won't have all to much algae phases going on.

That topic is really interessting
I'm heading out to Triton tomorrow, to see what their opinion about it is


Cheers
Matze

 

[d2mini]

That topic is really interessting
I'm heading out to Triton tomorrow, to see what their opinion about it is


Cheers
Matze

Please post your findings here! I'm just going by the little bit i've read. It's mostly one big experiment for me.

 

[Brett H whitt]

following

 

[gpwdr]

D2mini
Tim is the expert here, but from my Triton experience you don't need to care for the refugium. Just let it be and enjoy the coral growth.
Some of the sump pics I've seen look like vomit, with no smell.
This is my sump;

The different types of algae, live and die, come and go, thru different cycles.

 

[Cment]

just a thought...but since chaeto grows so much quicker than the other macros and triton recommends a variety, why not section of the chaeto in your sump with egg crate or something similar?? This will allow the other macros to still receive light and be given an opportunity to grow and contribute to nutrient export. Then just trim back the chaeto as needed, like now haha