Triton Sump Algae

gpwdr · Sep 12, 2017

Hi Tim
Hope you had a good time at MACNA, it was good to see you there.

What have you been doing with the algae in the refugium that covers the entire surface?
I have left it alone, weighted it down with rock and removed it.
I don't really know what to do. The phosphates have been low, maybe I should just leave the mat on top of the water alone?

Oberst Oswald · Sep 12, 2017

What I do is float a Pyrex bowl under the light. Chaeto and floating plants will quickly grow around the bowl and hold it in place in a short time if there is enough nutrients. The supermarket baking section has a stack of these bowls in 4 sizes to suit your needs. This way the plants under the algae mat get enough light to grow more and the algae mat will take awhile longer to grow as thick. In my case I still have to trim the mat about once a week because it clogs the drain area. I might add a rather large Turbo snail to the 'frug and see if he would be a help.

Tim@Triton · Sep 13, 2017

gpwdr said:
Hi Tim
Hope you had a good time at MACNA, it was good to see you there.

What have you been doing with the algae in the refugium that covers the entire surface?
I have left it alone, weighted it down with rock and removed it.
I don't really know what to do. The phosphates have been low, maybe I should just leave the mat on top of the water alone?

When I harvest I generally take from all over so will take some of the surface algae too. If you think that the light is not penetrating down due to it then thin it out a bit, the colour of the algae at the bottom will tell you.

Meldrath · Sep 13, 2017

What's a recommend planted algae? Feather caulerpa, hypnia etc?

Tim@Triton · Sep 13, 2017

Yes and yes, in our opinion there are really no bad macro algae to use, the only exception may be halimeda as it can also consume favourable elements such as calcium.