Refugium Struggles

[raylinds]

This is my second attempt at setting up a refugium and my Chaeto is dying. The first one failed about a year ago. Tank parameters are all very good and stable (tank almost 2 years old), though I am struggling to keep Phosphates under 0.1 (hoping the refugium would help). I have a Tunze full spectrum refugium light on for 8 hours at night. I stocked it with several cups of Chaeto a month or so ago and it is almost gone and the remaining looks very dull colored. The worst part is there is plenty of hair algae growing in it, but none in my display tank! I thought Chaeto was hardy and would keep away the hair algae. I have dosed Vibrant every few weeks.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I thought Refugiums were supposed to be pretty easy.

 

[Dkmoo]

Vibrant is an algae-eating bacteria. The way it seem to work us to target a specific kind of algae until its gone, them move onto the next.

GHA grows faster than chaeto so its possible that its able to survive the vibrant but chaeto not.

With chaeto, its an numbers and math issue. Just because you have it, doesnt mean it'll prevent gha from growing. It needs to be able to outcompete them. If the GHA volume is big enough, or if the light under which it grows is a lot more indusive to growing (for ex, stronger dt light, longer dt photo period, etc. ), then its possible that gha will outcompete chaeto and kill it instead.

Finally chaeto seem to need trace elements like iron from what I've been told. Could be a factor for you too.

 

[raylinds]

Vibrant is an algae-eating bacteria. The way it seem to work us to target a specific kind of algae until its gone, them move onto the next.

GHA grows faster than chaeto so its possible that its able to survive the vibrant but chaeto not.

With chaeto, its an numbers and math issue. Just because you have it, doesnt mean it'll prevent gha from growing. It needs to be able to outcompete them. If the GHA volume is big enough, or if the light under which it grows is a lot more indusive to growing (for ex, stronger dt light, longer dt photo period, etc. ), then its possible that gha will outcompete chaeto and kill it instead.

Finally chaeto seem to need trace elements like iron from what I've been told. Could be a factor for you too.

I guess I'll stop the Vibrant. There is actually a little more chaeto than GHA, used to be much more. As long as the GHA is not in my DT maybe I should just leave it and add more chaeto.

 

[Stevemillercali]

This is my second attempt at setting up a refugium and my Chaeto is dying. The first one failed about a year ago. Tank parameters are all very good and stable (tank almost 2 years old), though I am struggling to keep Phosphates under 0.1 (hoping the refugium would help). I have a Tunze full spectrum refugium light on for 8 hours at night. I stocked it with several cups of Chaeto a month or so ago and it is almost gone and the remaining looks very dull colored. The worst part is there is plenty of hair algae growing in it, but none in my display tank! I thought Chaeto was hardy and would keep away the hair algae. I have dosed Vibrant every few weeks.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I thought Refugiums were supposed to be pretty easy.

i had the same problem and switched my light to red spectrum only and now its thriving and growing like crazy

 

[jeffchapok]

Try increasing your lighting hours. I run mine 24x7.

 

[Suohhen]

I can't say what factor Vibrant could be playing but high phosphates is probably something you should address first. Also there are different types of chaeto so the source could be the issue.
There are also other macro algaes that can help get your refugium established and bring nutrients under control.

 

[bruce53]

This is my second attempt at setting up a refugium and my Chaeto is dying. The first one failed about a year ago. Tank parameters are all very good and stable (tank almost 2 years old), though I am struggling to keep Phosphates under 0.1 (hoping the refugium would help). I have a Tunze full spectrum refugium light on for 8 hours at night. I stocked it with several cups of Chaeto a month or so ago and it is almost gone and the remaining looks very dull colored. The worst part is there is plenty of hair algae growing in it, but none in my display tank! I thought Chaeto was hardy and would keep away the hair algae. I have dosed Vibrant every few weeks.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I thought Refugiums were supposed to be pretty easy.

You might want to bump up the phosphate a little bit.

 

[PeterC99]

What are your tank’s nitrates and how much flow is the chaeto getting?

 

[Pistondog]

Vibrant does not discriminate. It eats algae, gha or chaeto or otherwise.