Leafer
New member
Hi!
I have a 40g refugium with a deep sand bed and live rock. My current setup is about a year old and was migrated to from a smaller setup which I kept for four years. In my older setup I was trimming chaeto weekly. Recently, several batches have just "melted" away. It stays a nice green, not turning white and there is just less and less of it.
My current fuge is well seeded with pods, brittle worms, stoma and other micro fauna. Could it be that it is being consumed faster than it can grow?
I've tried 5k bulbs, 10k bulbs and now have a mix going. I have tried testing and supplementing iron but have not seen an improvement doing so.
I have had 5 fish in my display for a year so I should have a good cycle going to feed a little algae. I even have been generous feeding.
One thing that is different with my current setup is that I am much better with water purification. I wasn't always using DI and if my TDS was less than 4 I would mix with it. Currently my post RO water goes to a stage for bubbling off CO2, then through a dual DI and then into the mixing stage. I'm always working with 0 TDS water.
I know using less than pure water can lead to algae issues. Could my chaeto simply be starving? This may be an incorrect connection but my skimmer is nicely productive leading me to feel my ecosystem is in a nice rhythm and there is fuel for things to grow.
You might also inquire about oxygenation. My display is lidless and I am feeding my skimmer with air from outside. I do have an oxygen test kit which shows I'm at saturation.
If I concede that I don't need to go nuts cleaning glass, you might say "œwell, then why do you need the chaeto?" With it there's a balance I can manage to based on growth and its reassuring to see what I'm expecting.
To wrap, do you have any thoughts regarding what I'm seeing with chaeto growth or a suggestion for an alternate algae to grow? I've got to think some of you have had a similar experience.
thanks!
I have a 40g refugium with a deep sand bed and live rock. My current setup is about a year old and was migrated to from a smaller setup which I kept for four years. In my older setup I was trimming chaeto weekly. Recently, several batches have just "melted" away. It stays a nice green, not turning white and there is just less and less of it.
My current fuge is well seeded with pods, brittle worms, stoma and other micro fauna. Could it be that it is being consumed faster than it can grow?
I've tried 5k bulbs, 10k bulbs and now have a mix going. I have tried testing and supplementing iron but have not seen an improvement doing so.
I have had 5 fish in my display for a year so I should have a good cycle going to feed a little algae. I even have been generous feeding.
One thing that is different with my current setup is that I am much better with water purification. I wasn't always using DI and if my TDS was less than 4 I would mix with it. Currently my post RO water goes to a stage for bubbling off CO2, then through a dual DI and then into the mixing stage. I'm always working with 0 TDS water.
I know using less than pure water can lead to algae issues. Could my chaeto simply be starving? This may be an incorrect connection but my skimmer is nicely productive leading me to feel my ecosystem is in a nice rhythm and there is fuel for things to grow.
You might also inquire about oxygenation. My display is lidless and I am feeding my skimmer with air from outside. I do have an oxygen test kit which shows I'm at saturation.
If I concede that I don't need to go nuts cleaning glass, you might say "œwell, then why do you need the chaeto?" With it there's a balance I can manage to based on growth and its reassuring to see what I'm expecting.
To wrap, do you have any thoughts regarding what I'm seeing with chaeto growth or a suggestion for an alternate algae to grow? I've got to think some of you have had a similar experience.
thanks!
