LouH
LouH
I have a 120 gallon reef tank which houses SPS, LPS and a couple of soft corals. The overflow on the left side of the tank drains into a remote deep (14") sand bed (a small Brute garbage can), and the right overflow drains in to an acrylic sump which houses an ASM G-2 skimmer. A centrally located sump receives the effluent from the deep sand bed and the right hand sump, and two Eheim 1260 pumps return water back to the tank.
Now, I also take water from the deep sand bed container and lift it 4.5' to a 30 gallon refugium which is located on a shelf above the DSB. The pump providing the lift is a Mag7. Flow in the refugium is fairly vigirous. Currently the refugium is bare bottomed, but the space in the tank is pretty full with large chunks of live rock. A 65W Lights of America light illuminates the refugium on the same schedule as the main tank. For the last 5 months I've tried growing Chaeto in this refugium by placing a ball of it on top of the live rock in the tank. In every attempt the ball got smaller and smaller until it lost color. At that point I would remove it and throw it away.
My current situation is that a couple of pieces of live rock in the refugium are starting to get covered with hair algae while the Chaeto characteristically (for my tank) shrinks in size and dies. I'm contemplating taking my live rock and breaking it down into rubble for the sake of pod culture. This would also open up a considerable amount of area from the middle part of the tank and up for Chaeto to grow. I also think that a reduction in flow through the refugium would be a good move.
There currently is no algae in the main display, although my Bird's Nest has been under attack from slime algae for several months now. Nitrates and Phosphates are unmeasurable in my system, and I dose an iron supplement each week at water change.
Can anyone comment on my refugium plans? Is a rubble field better for pods than big rocks? Is low flow and space to grow the way to support Chaeto (Hey, that rymes).
Now, I also take water from the deep sand bed container and lift it 4.5' to a 30 gallon refugium which is located on a shelf above the DSB. The pump providing the lift is a Mag7. Flow in the refugium is fairly vigirous. Currently the refugium is bare bottomed, but the space in the tank is pretty full with large chunks of live rock. A 65W Lights of America light illuminates the refugium on the same schedule as the main tank. For the last 5 months I've tried growing Chaeto in this refugium by placing a ball of it on top of the live rock in the tank. In every attempt the ball got smaller and smaller until it lost color. At that point I would remove it and throw it away.
My current situation is that a couple of pieces of live rock in the refugium are starting to get covered with hair algae while the Chaeto characteristically (for my tank) shrinks in size and dies. I'm contemplating taking my live rock and breaking it down into rubble for the sake of pod culture. This would also open up a considerable amount of area from the middle part of the tank and up for Chaeto to grow. I also think that a reduction in flow through the refugium would be a good move.
There currently is no algae in the main display, although my Bird's Nest has been under attack from slime algae for several months now. Nitrates and Phosphates are unmeasurable in my system, and I dose an iron supplement each week at water change.
Can anyone comment on my refugium plans? Is a rubble field better for pods than big rocks? Is low flow and space to grow the way to support Chaeto (Hey, that rymes).