refugium is yucky

Susan Edwards · Apr 15, 2018

So the tank, a 125 g with a 35 gal sump has been going about 2 months. No bad algae in tank, lots of coraline. The refugium on the other hand is disgusting. I had chatoe that didn't make it--just melted into ick. I have I think either dragon breath or red garc. in there with live rock and sand. Have one hermit, lots snail babies popping up. Should have lots of pods as well if they survived in there.

And lots of gunk. Used a net to get what I could. Sump is a bashsea so there is a wall of plastic "noodles from fuge, into that chamber and then into the pump chamber. No real way to filter out the debris.

So what is the fuge supposed to look like. Not nice and clean like your tank? Is algae good down there--keeps it from the display? How do I get rid of the yuck? Do I need to use filter floss pads going from skimmer chamber to fuge and then one from fuge to the noodle chamber?

If I vacuum out the fuge, then I lose pods.

So what is proper? what is the maintenance? Need help to figure out if what I hve is normal and desired or need to redo

rcpalmer1 · Apr 15, 2018

I upgraded the light in fuge and it got over run with all kinds of nasty. I got some large snails and put in it. They ate everything but the coraline algae. Once it was clean I put them in my display. If I notice it start to get nasty I put a couple back in it.

Nickp · Apr 15, 2018

Susan Edwards said:
So what is the fuge supposed to look like. Not nice and clean like your tank? Is algae good down there--keeps it from the display? How do I get rid of the yuck? Do I need to use filter floss pads going from skimmer chamber to fuge and then one from fuge to the noodle chamber?

If I vacuum out the fuge, then I lose pods.

So what is proper? what is the maintenance? Need help to figure out if what I hve is normal and desired or need to redo

Exactly this, the fuge (especially if you want it for nutrient export) is never going to be lovely and clean like the display.

I leave mine to it, all kinds of algae, sponges etc on the walls, even a bit of cyano here and there and plenty of detritus etc.

Only maintenance i do is to harvest cheato, and very very rarely a quick tidy up

Susan Edwards · Apr 15, 2018

so maybe I should add a hermit crab or emerald crab or 2 and some snails just to keep it controlled?

J. Austin · Apr 15, 2018

You could add a small CUC to help keep things under control. every now and then i suck out all the crap with a maxi jet power head. You would think that a fuge could go uncleaned, but like everything else in this hobby, you have to put time into it or it gets out of control dirty.