Any foreseeable issues with running an up flow ATS in refugium?

[marco j]

Title says it all.

I'm about to build my ATS and the most convenient place to position it in my system is in my 75g refugium. I planned on keeping the par38 lamp running over the Chaetomorpha like normal but using a section to attach my ATS.

The refugium is gravity fed from the display and is a comfortable 3.5' off the ground with an open top.

Anyone see any issues with this?

Thanks and Happy New Year All!!!

 

[Chris Abbott]

The biggest issue would be sizing of the ATS. Consider going smaller to start. A scrubber can outcompete and kill off cheato with appropriate lighting. Have you considered simply increasing the lighting on your cheato to avoid adding the extra complexity invovled in balancing the two? They can be run together but I can speak from experience that it is far easier to run either one by itself.

 

[marco j]

The biggest issue would be sizing of the ATS. Consider going smaller to start. A scrubber can outcompete and kill off cheato with appropriate lighting. Have you considered simply increasing the lighting on your cheato to avoid adding the extra complexity invovled in balancing the two? They can be run together but I can speak from experience that it is far easier to run either one by itself.

Thanks for the response.

I expected expected the chaeto to eventually stop growing and I would have to remove it. I figured the refugium can still do it’s job with the DSB etc. and the scrubber would take over thealgae growth portion of the functions.

Now I will admit I have not considered simply increasing the lighting over the refugium. If I were to do so and algae growth were to increase etc. I would have to clean the refugium in order to remove the nutrients, correct? Currently I siphon the ditrius from the refugium when I do water changes. Doing my best not to disturb the sand bed.

I was considering the idea of a scrubber because I was under the impression that they were more efficient at nutrient export since my chaeto grows so slowly.

 

[marco j]

Maybe you’re right and I should just try another light source. I could start off with a cheap par38 bulb that is in the 6500 range and see if growth speeds up before going any further.

 

[Chris Abbott]

Cheato can take a lot of light and take up a lot of nutrients. What are you currently using to light the fuge? Single par38? Can you share pictures? Just to be clear, I have nothing against ATS and ran one very successfully as the primary filtration on my previous tank. After using both on my current setup I found balancing the two more work than optimizing either.

 

[marco j]

Cheato can take a lot of light and take up a lot of nutrients. What are you currently using to light the fuge? Single par38? Can you share pictures? Just to be clear, I have nothing against ATS and ran one very successfully as the primary filtration on my previous tank. After using both on my current setup I found balancing the two more work than optimizing either.

Yes, one full spectrum par38 bulb.

 

[Chris Abbott]

If you are just trying to increase nutrient reduction your current fuge has lots of additional potential. Increase the available light.

 

[marco j]

If you are just trying to increase nutrient reduction your current fuge has lots of additional potential. Increase the available light.

Yes, managing my nitrates with my algae growth in the refugium is my goal. I switched to a blue/red led bulb in the 450-650 range. Hopefully this will increase growth. If not, I will consider other options.

Thanks for the help. Any other suggestions?

 

[Pife]

Add a ton more light. What are your nitrates and phosphates at now?

 

[marco j]

My nitrates are at 25 and zero po4 or zero on my Salifert test kit at least. Lol

 

[clevername]

I would suggest what others are saying, increase light.

Some input would be to start with the BRS videos on refugiums
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKNOfwEUdPs

 

[marco j]

Well, small update.

Since switching to the 450-650nm led bulb there has been some obvious growth to my Chaeto and my pH has shot up as well. Now the change in pH could also be due to the combination that I added a dual chamber CO2 scrubber at the beginning of December.

I didn't necessarily want to chase pH but I did want to get it consistently over 8.0 when it was hovering 7.8-7.9+ with the refugium lights running for 18 hours mostly opposite the DT light schedule.

Last night when I was checking for any chaeto growth I noticed my pH was up at 8.4! I checked again this morning and it was 8.15. I think this might be due mainly to the growing chaeto. I just don't see the pH finally shooting up after 2 weeks with the scrubber because the initial increase was 7.8-7.9 avg. up slightly to 7.9 avg and hitting 8.0 or even 8.1 at times.

I believe this kind of sudden jump in pH must be due to a recent change and that would be the lighting change in the fuge.

 

[marco j]

pH is back down to 7.9-8.1 consistently. Anyone have an idea why the spike in pH simply due to changing to a different bulb in the refugium?

 

[marco j]

It's only a 9 watt bulb. Strange I am getting more growth compared to the par 38 bulb

 

[marco j]

Sunday to today growth from the bulb change.

This is like a blog at this point. Lol sorry for the multiple posts.

 

[Pife]

pH is back down to 7.9-8.1 consistently. Anyone have an idea why the spike in pH simply due to changing to a different bulb in the refugium?

Was there a temp swing?

 

[marco j]

Was there a temp swing?

I don't believe so.

My Reef Keeper is set at 79.0 so if the bulb change added heat the controller should have kept the heaters off. My sump sits on the basement floor and my heaters usually have to be on quite a bit during the day/night to keep the tank at that temperature.

Also, since I don't have a separate ATO tank. I top off 3 gallons or so every night to prevent my RODI waste line running most of the day while I'm at work because the ATO kicks on so frequently. I really need to get a separate ATO tank set up.