Where to place refugium?

[Marc2952]

Hello so im at a point in my tank where i want to add a refugium since i beat dinos a couple months back. Even though i still have to add phosphates and nitrates to my tank to keep it above 0 i am getting a ton of algae growing in my DT and its starting to look nasty. I have kept it in check by physically remoing it every week but its getting tedious. I bought one of those UFO grow lights that i heard good stuff about. The thing is that putting the chaeto in the middle part of the sump will clog the baffle to the return section. Is there any way to hold the chaeto in place?

 

[Marc2952]

or is better to put the chaeto where the skimmer is at? I do have miracle mud on the mid chamber.

 

[khmer_reefer]

Best not to place the chaeto in with the skimmer as it going to get suck in by the pump. I put mines in the middle chamber and it doesn't really clog the baffle. Once it start growing, you won't see that much of the little loose chaeto flowing onto the battle sponge.

 

[Marc2952]

Best not to place the chaeto in with the skimmer as it going to get suck in by the pump. I put mines in the middle chamber and it doesn't really clog the baffle. Once it start growing, you won't see that much of the little loose chaeto flowing onto the battle sponge.

I had a refugium before but took it out since it clogged the teeth where the water goes into the return section causing the ATO to to dump a bunch of freshwater in the tank. So can i just move the skimmer on the middle and the refugium in the first chamber? But then comes the issue of the skimmer sucking up all the miracle mud.

 

[Flux Capacitor]

Have you tired any manual removal of the algae in your tank? It’s probably getting ugly because you are dosing the nitrates and phosphate, and the algae in the DT is using it up. If you remove it you have more than enough No3 and Po4 to stop dosing. Reason I bring this up is if you start a fuge, odds are it’s going to fail. The hair algae in your DT is already established and will out compete the micro algae. Before getting this up and going, speaking from experience, I’d remove as much as possible before turning on the fuge.

 

[Marc2952]

Have you tired any manual removal of the algae in your tank? It’s probably getting ugly because you are dosing the nitrates and phosphate, and the algae in the DT is using it up. If you remove it you have more than enough No3 and Po4 to stop dosing. Reason I bring this up is if you start a fuge, odds are it’s going to fail. The hair algae in your DT is already established and will out compete the micro algae. Before getting this up and going, speaking from experience, I’d remove as much as possible before turning on the fuge.

Yea i have removed most of the patches of GHA and has stayed good for a while but after about a month they slowly come back, i dont want to add fluconazole as last time i did that the dinos came back, so i just want to go the natural way for now. I keep my phosphates at 0.10 and nitrates between 5-10 since it drops daily. What i want yo do is remove as much of the GHA ( and some patches of bryopsis that is showing up) and then add the refugium so it starts competing with the DT. But i must continue to add phosphates and nitrates until my fallow period is done since i have no fish in my system until the 23rd of this month.

 

[R.Weller]

I would use the middle chamber & consider adding a DIY turf scrubber as well. You would not want the goodness from the refugium to be extracted by the skimmer. There are a lot of great examples here on R2R & you can build to the space you have. Ours is a waterfall design, but there are several options when space is limited (for example uplift or inflow). Algae is going to grow in your system, so you might as well direct it on a plastic mesh to make it easy to remove. With the right conditions & light cycle, it will outcompete in the refugium & stop growing in the display.

 

[Marc2952]

Its not too bad now but i just want to get ontop of the problem before it gets worse.

 

[Marc2952]

I would use the middle chamber & consider adding a DIY turf scrubber as well. You would not want the goodness from the refugium to be extracted by the skimmer. There are a lot of great examples here on R2R & you can build to the space you have. Ours is a waterfall design, but there are several options when space is limited (for example uplift or inflow). Algae is going to grow in your system, so you might as well direct it on a plastic mesh to make it easy to remove. With the right conditions & light cycle, it will outcompete in the refugium & stop growing in the display.

Yea the mid part sounds the best but how can i solve the problem where it clogs the teeth of where the water goes into the baffle for the return chamber?

 

[Auquanut]

Have you considered running an ATS instead of a fuge?

 

[Marc2952]

Have you considered running an ATS instead of a fuge?

I have but i dont have the space outside the sump to add that.

 

[Auquanut]

I have but i dont have the space outside the sump to add that.

From your pictures, it looks like you may be able to place one over the center section of the sump. It's generally a good idea to place the ATS over the sump when possible so that if you get any leakage (which happens) it will drain back into the sump. Just a thought.

 

[R.Weller]

I have but i dont have the space outside the sump to add that.

I would use the glass in the middle chamber & consider either a DIY uplift ATS or an inline model as noted above. The algae will grow on the plastic mesh screen & you won't have issues of this blocking the flow or getting in your return pump.

 

[Casket_Case]

or is better to put the chaeto where the skimmer is at? I do have miracle mud on the mid chamber.

If you can stop the chaetomorpha from getting sucked in yes, that’ll allow for more equal flow and aeration which I’ve found helps the Chaeto.

 

[R.Weller]

You can also try this...

DIY Chaeto Reactor

Hey all! Just built a DIY chaeto reactor using a Two Little Fishies Phosban 150 reactor. Got some RGB LED strips lights from Home Depot and the tubing... well yeah it's tubing ;) Didn't think it would grow very fast, but it filled up the whole chamber within a week! Here are some pics over the...

www.reef2reef.com

Just drop it in either chamber of the sump.