refugium maintenance

[map95003]

My tank has been running for 6 months now, the little ball of cheato I started off with in my fuge has now filled it up....time to get some of it out....but the fuge seems to be doing it's job, it's loaded with pods and my nitrates are undetectable.

Question: Do I need to do any maintenance on the fuge? I have a 7" sandbed in it and the top layer has a coating of brown stuff, mostly crud, similar to the stuff that falls off LR during the cycle, it's not the typical brown algae stuff. I notice an inch or so above the sandbed there is a swarm of tiny pods just hovering around, I don't want to disrupt anything by trying to vacuum it....suggestions? maybe I don't ahve to do anything?

 

[jus chillin]

if it works why fix it?..let it go if the cheato starts to block things up then yes otherwise let it be...i always put a couple snails in mine...to help with crud...

 

[Jflip2002]

You should clean out your fuge, certainly. Trim down the chaeto like you said, then siphon out any of the detritus. I go as far to take out my live rock, and swish them around in the tank water from a water change. You could always add some snails to the fuge, they may help eat up some of the excess. Some people let it all compile up, and thats when they have problems.