Fluval 13.5 Fuge

[Crusinjimbo]

I have created a fuge in the center chamber of my 13.5 AIO tank and it is definitely growing algae. The foam block has been discarded. Two 12" 12w LED bars are attached vertically to the glass shining in (actual 7w each, 11 red/1blue LEDs), 12 hour cycle. It's been running about 6 weeks and all three walls of the chamber are covered with bright green hair algae. I pulled, by hand, a collected ball off algae about the size of a baseball. No algae in the tank, I add kalk only, NO3=0 and PO4<3ppm. It is bit difficult to harvest cause the mat sticks but cleaning (pulling gobs of algae) took <5 minutes. I put an old media bag over the tank return at power-up to catch the algae pieces that were pulled free but not extracted by hand. Not sure where this will end but everything is doing well so far. Will advise on where this leads.
Jimbo

 

[Subillbo]

I have the same tank and I also am attempting a center fuge.... I added a small piece of live rock and a small piece of Chaeto today.... I forgot the specs at the moment on the lights, but ordered a cheap 1 of Amazon that will be here Monday, just using tank lights until then(will move top light back for a few hrs at a time until it comes in) keep me informed on your progress, I'm hoping this works out!
Subillbo

 

[Crusinjimbo]

I tried cheato first. I affixed it in small size balls along the length of a 12” plastic ruler using wire tie wraps. The ruler set vertically in the center chamber and grew well but cheato strands got into the tank and was a pain to remove. The center chamber walls covered with hair algae so I dumped the cheato.

 

[Crusinjimbo]

Did a 2 gallon water change yesterday and hand-pulled 24g of hair algae from my center section of my AIO 13.5. I upped the wattage on the light to 14 Watts (actual). I left about half the total volume of algae for continued growth. Tore it out by hand with literally zero root detachment. It has covered all three walls of my center chamber, top to bottom. Not sure where this will end but so far it is working. NO3/PO4 are zero. Tank inhabitants are 1 clown (big), 8” Monty, Duncan, a leather, and 400 zoas all evacuated from a failing larger tank.

 

[Subillbo]

Nice!!

Nice!!

Hey jimbo......
Good job, looks like it's working for u it's been almost 2 weeks for my attempt and seems to be doing ok, cheato growing slightly and live rock also looks ok.... no New algae growth on walls, but tank parameters are stable: ammonia 0, nitrates 0 and nitrates at 2... getting New growth on my single zoa polyps and gsp attached to rock and looking happy.
Keep me informed.... as always thanks!

 

[stagcrazy]

do u have any pics ?

 

[Crusinjimbo]

Oh, I have pics but have yet to figure out posting. Still working efficiently. Using no carbon, GFO, or mechanical filtration. Just a center chamber with turf algae and 2G water changes every 5 days. I started with cheato but turf took over and cheato was removed. Strands of cheato got into the tank so it was removed to avoid a mechanical filter requirement.

 

[Crusinjimbo]

Harvested the algae today and pulled 106g of squeezed and dripped algae. It has been 28 days since last harvest but I wanted to let it go to see if the growth would restrict water flow through the chambers. No noticeable restrictions. I left at least half of the volume and will harvest in 14 days. Harvest is simply grabbing a handful and pull; took maybe 4-5 minutes. Still doing weekly 2-3 gallon water changes and there is zero algae anywhere in the display area except for a few strands of cheato that got loose. NO3/PO4 still undetectable. Not sure if this is a refugium cause the water passes through at 240G an hour which is high flow for a fudge and I have no surface contact bubbling as with algae scrubbers. The chambers on either side are free of algae. Too simple and I’m sure we gonna hit a snag.

 

[Crusinjimbo]

Gonna give posting pics a try.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Crusinjimbo]

I pulled another 38g of squeezed algae on Saturday, 2 June. Harvest was done with a pair of 12" forceps which keeps my hands out of the center chamber and reduced harvest time to a minute or so. Zero algae growth in either of the other chambers or the display area and water test values are excellent. So far, so good.

 

[Crusinjimbo]

Removed 72g of algae yesterday from the center chamber of my 13.5G yesterday. I redid the light bar enclosure to move the light to 2 1/2” from the glass. The algae closest to the light appeared to be bleaching a bit. No growth in either of the other chambers. Will run some water tests later today but there is zero nuisance algae inside the display area except macro growing on my snails. No continuous mechanical filtration. All good so far.

 

[Crusinjimbo]

Harvested 60g of algae today form the center chamber. Moving the light back has mitigated the bleaching of the algae nearest the light. Numbers check reveals NO3 0 (Red Sea Pro) and PO4 1ppb (Hanna URL). Still no mechanical filtration, charcoal, or GFO. I do a weekly 2 gallon water change. A minor issue persists with small gobs of algae restricting water at the return pump. I need to get a filter between the center and third chamber to keep the pump unrestricted. Not sure if it’s a refugium or an algae scrubber. I’m pulling about 250 gallons of water through the chamber, right side to left, and a circular current appears to be turning clockwise and there is turbulence in the growth. Doesn’t matter, seems to be working.

 

[MuscleFish]

Innovative Marine ChaetoMax works very well in the first chamber.

Crusinjimbo, what kind of algae do you use? It's not chaeto.

 

[Crusinjimbo]

I started with a bit of cheato but it kept shedding strands into the display, PITA. What’s growing now is the same as what grew on my algae scrubber, I believe it’s turf/hair algae. The center chamber has abut 120 sq in of black plastic walls as a grow surface and it is totally covered by turf algae that is up to 1.5” long, just waving in the flow. I haven’t harvested anything to see if it reaches a point that restricts the flow through the center chamber. NO3 shows 0, PO4 is 2ppb. My overcrowded tank is sucking up about 25 m/l of two part per day. Just having fun.