Cleaning refugium

[Lonnie]

My refugium has tan fluffy deposits in the bottom. In some places, it is rather thick. Should this be removed or is it providing some sort of function?

There are bristle worms & pods everywhere as well.

I'm doing a major cleanup of the tank & wondered if removing this would help my water quality.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Lonnie

 

[demonsp]

Hows the flow in there?

 

[EnderG60]

I have a very low flow fuge(just rocks and algea) and once or twice a year I remove the rocks and algea and dunk them in a bucket of salt water to get the crap off em, then suck out the fuge and put it all back. Doesnt seem to effect the pods at all.

that buildup seemed to be the reason my nitrates would start to climb every so often so I started cleaning it out. Now that I have a denitrator I dont do it as much but I still do it.

Next tank will have more flow in the fuge.

 

[Lonnie]

The 'fuge is a 55 gal with a magdrive 700 feeding it.
Total system water capacity is 300 gal.

I was concerned with the Miracle Mud as I immediately got Cyano & all sorts of algae after adding it. I originally got some Caluerpa & added it & it was doing OK with live sand, but I heard how good the mud was so I bought some. Everything went downhill after that. My rocks started turning green etc. i let everything cycle & figured it would eventually cycle. I had near perfect water parameters but green live rock.

Now I'm starting over..... & getting a clean start.

I've been slowly cleaning everything & getting the tank spotless after 2 months of patience. I have a clean tank (after 6 weeks of darkness) & everyone is happy in the tank. Now I want to clean the 'fuge as it is the only ugly thing left. A lot of the Caluerpa was dying off & I've pulled out over 1/2 of it. I just do not want to upset the balance of the system by overcleaning the 'fuge.