Algae Refugium Question

Hi,

So a newb that has a question about his Refugium, and algae build up.

I noticed 2 days ago that my refugium has brownish, green muck, what I think is algae on the sides. I also noticed some green on my Dry Rock Fragments that put in there and a little pink(YIKES) on the Live Sand bed of the refugium as well as the Chateo has some brownness happening..

My tank looks crystal clear, no signs of anything bad, but was worried that it might start spreading due to already being in my refuguim. As I said I'm fairly new, and have heard people talk about how dirty their refugiums are, and not looking for mine to be crystal clear, but want to make sure I'm not causing harm to tank.

I keep the light on 24/7 on refugium, it's also not near a window. The tank light is on usually from 6am until 7-8 pm.
Here's me set up.

46 Gal Bow Front
HOB Remora Skimmer
HOB CPR Refugium
Chateo Ball
Live Sand
Dry Rock
1-550 Hydro pump circulating
Temp is 76-78
Salinity is 1.0225

I have 2 clowns and 1 feeder shrimp. I feel 1/4 block of frozen brine 1 time a day in am. and they never eat it all so some lands in refugium.

I checked my levels and do need a water change after 2 weeks of live fish/shrimp.

Any advise is helpful. Just want to make sure I don't have a Future problem, and make sure that I'm checking the right things.

Pictures attached..

let's see if I can help here? first off run your fuge light opposite of your tank light second your main tank light is on way to long, well let me rephrase that. How long is your actinic lights on and how long is your 10k (or whatever you use) on for?
I turn my actinics on at 730am and they go off at 730pm my 10k go one at 1030am and go off at 530pm then my lunars come on after that uness I leave them off for the night.
And yes after 2 weeks you should do a water change of 10- 20 percent it keeps your parameters in check. Do you have a skimmer? Those are almost a must in doing salt tanks. Is that a skimmer to the left of the tank? can't tell?
The aquascaping looks good you might try to get as much of it off the sand as possible it helps with eliminating dead spots http://youtu.be/0kAqKXyciDc <----- this guy really seems to know his stuff

the Tank looks fairly new. Have you had your Cycle ???
As far as the light in the refugium go its ok to run it 24/7 I Do and it works great for me, But since your tank looks New there might not be anything in the water for the Cheato to Consume so it might be dying out from lack of nutrients in the water.

Have you done all your testing ??

When you first Cycle a tank its normal to get Brown algea Its a Diatom Bloom and all knew tanks get it. Are you using RO/DI water ???

grozier said:

let's see if I can help here? first off run your fuge light opposite of your tank light second your main tank light is on way to long, well let me rephrase that. How long is your actinic lights on and how long is your 10k (or whatever you use) on for?
I turn my actinics on at 730am and they go off at 730pm my 10k go one at 1030am and go off at 530pm then my lunars come on after that uness I leave them off for the night.
And yes after 2 weeks you should do a water change of 10- 20 percent it keeps your parameters in check. Do you have a skimmer? Those are almost a must in doing salt tanks. Is that a skimmer to the left of the tank? can't tell?
The aquascaping looks good you might try to get as much of it off the sand as possible it helps with eliminating dead spots How To Aquascape A Reef Aquarium - YouTube <----- this guy really seems to know his stuff

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never mind the skimmer question, I just read that you have one. duh

I'm not %100 positive civic, but the fuge light is suposed to be on the opposite schedule of your main tank lights, I believe it helps with PH swings at night and with photosynthesis?

grozier said:

never mind the skimmer question, I just read that you have one. duh

I'm not %100 positive civic, but the fuge light is suposed to be on the opposite schedule of your main tank lights, I believe it helps with PH swings at night and with photosynthesis?

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yeah it does and some people do run it like that, i useto run mine like that but then after running it 24/7 i noticed it was growing my macro better and reducing my nitrates faster. So thats what i started doing. I might go back to doing it the other way now that my nitrates are really down. But if you do some reasearch there plenty of people that run it 24/7 since there aint any corals in the fuge theres nothing to be affected by it.

I run my light for 12 hours, both antinic and 14k. No algae issues here and i believe as long as your consistant on your lighting, your corals will be happy

My Leds are set to come on Blues at 845am and then whites and full spectrum at 10 am, My whites and Full Spectrum then go off at 5 and the blues go off at 630pm

And so far im good on algea, Even got the light brown film algea off my sand bed now that i switched lights. im guessing the old lights sucked and where causing it.

You can either run your fuge light 24 hours a day or opposite the light in your DT (display tank).

To the OP: it's totally fine to have algae growing in your fuge. That's what it's there for. However, a quarter cube of food a day is a lot for two little fish. I would cut back on feeding and look into foods other than brine shrimp (which aren't very nutritious). Petco and Petsmart (as well as LFS) carry a variety of frozen foods. Mysis shrimp and Emerald Entree are both excellent choices.

Thanks for all the info guys.

Yes it's a fairly new tank. Well it is about a 6 weeks old with the fish/shrimp in for just over a week.
I put in approx 70# of Live Sand, and 40# of Live Dry Rock from Marco Rocks. I went to LFS and put in remixed salt water that they sell by the gallon. So 40 Gallons of water in the tank. I've since topped off with water that had 0.00 tds. This was pulled from my Zero Water container. Not a great idea but worked in a pinch.

I then spent time trying to figure out what else I needed to do. Checking levels and nothing was changing. Conflicting stuff like cycle tank with pure ammonia or a raw shrimp, to no need to cycle. When I went to my local fish store he said I was ready for fish since I put in Live Sand and it already has the beneficial bacteria needed. So I purchased 2 clowns and a cleaner shrimp.

The water levels are checked every few days. Salinity checked probably every day since I felt it was on low side at 1.021, but knew that I will increase as some water vapors off. Right now it's almost 1.023.
I tested the PH, Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite levels

PH is 8.0
Ammonia is .25
Nitrite is .25
Nitrate is close to 5 ppm
So I ran out last night and purchased 10 gallons of premixed water and will do waterh change today while working from home.

I will cut down on the time my hood light is on by putting it on a timer. It has the night/day led lights, but it has a switch that changes it, so no way to set up a timer for the lights to swap from night to day. Maybe a future purchase.

So the ODD thing about the refugium is this... I was looking online and someone said that the refugium should be trickling the water flow, not running wide open with rushing water. Prior to changing it to the trickling flow, the refugium and Algae Ball looked good, sure there was some old food in there, but nothing looked bad with the algea ball, then a day after changing the setting from full blast to slow trickle, the browness started showing up on the Algae, I was no longer seeing new growth, and the browness started to build on it. So I turned it back up yesterday AM. and has been running at a good flow, not full blown, but good water movement. So is it possible I choked it out by limiting the nutrients it needed by cutting the inflow down to a small amount.

I also do keep the light on 24/7. It is a CPR Aquatic AquaFuge Small Light, with Daylight Compact Fluorescent Bulb, 18 Watt.. If the consensus is to run opposite the tank lights then I'll do that. But was told by LFS that 24/7 is fine.

Yes feeding has been a huge thing... LFS originally told me 1/2 a cube. But I ended up fishing out a bunch of that non eaten food, so I went to 1/4 cube and even then there is food floating around for a short while. So I'll try to limit it even more. I will also go out and buy the mysis and emerald if nothing else to add variety to the diet.

I was also thinking of buying one Live Rock small piece to put in the tank to maybe help Seed it? Does that sound like a good idea? I'll also bury the rock a bit more so it's not sitting on top of the sand. At the time I put it in it was a dust storm and PITA to get set right :) but should be able to shift it down a bit.

I'll keep an eye on the refugium and if the Cheato is dead, I'll get some more.

Thanks for all your questions and advise. If there is anything else you can add, feel free.

The light on the fuge can be on all the time or reverse cycle really depends on what you like. I have always had better success with more flow in my cheato then less. I ran a hob fuge for years and never limited the flow. If it looks dirty in the fuge drop a few snails in there they will take care of it. I have always had snails in my refugiums.

Adding a piece of live rock to your tank would be a good idea. Make sure the rock doesnt dry out on the way home. They should pack it in wet newspaper or take a cooler with you and ask for them to put it in there with some water. You want as little surface die off as possible.

I think so far you are doing good, keep at it. :D

So if I were to get some snails, do I have to worry about them crawling out of the refugium? I don't have a cover over it.

For a 2 gallon refugium, how many snails should I get?

I was also thinking of getting some CUC for the tank. Just not sure how many to get. Was thinking snails, and a couple emerald crabs

Thanks
Chip

Ted said:

The light on the fuge can be on all the time or reverse cycle really depends on what you like. I have always had better success with more flow in my cheato then less. I ran a hob fuge for years and never limited the flow. If it looks dirty in the fuge drop a few snails in there they will take care of it. I have always had snails in my refugiums.

Adding a piece of live rock to your tank would be a good idea. Make sure the rock doesnt dry out on the way home. They should pack it in wet newspaper or take a cooler with you and ask for them to put it in there with some water. You want as little surface die off as possible.

I think so far you are doing good, keep at it. :D

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Snails should stay in tank dont think they would go out of the water, at least mine never have before

I just put 3 asteria snails in it. They love algae on the glass. If you have cuc questions go to Reef Cleaners| Clean up Crews and Macroalgae shoot them a email about your system and that you want something for a small hob fuge as well and they will email you back with suggestions. I just got a booster pack from them and have been really happy with it. My tanks and fuges have never had tops...

Thanks Grozier Any idea how many I should get for a small 2Gal refugium?

Chip

grozier said:

Snails should stay in tank dont think they would go out of the water, at least mine never have before

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Sending email now..

Thanks

Chip

Ted said:

I just put 3 asteria snails in it. They love algae on the glass. If you have cuc questions go to Reef Cleaners| Clean up Crews and Macroalgae shoot them a email about your system and that you want something for a small hob fuge as well and they will email you back with suggestions. I just got a booster pack from them and have been really happy with it. My tanks and fuges have never had tops...

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