Refugium questions

[Jon]

About a month ago I converted my 29 gallon sump into a refugium. In the center chamber of the sump I put 10 lbs of miracle mud, 3 lbs of dry rubble rock and a fist full of chaeto. My light is an 18 watt rose colored led light that are supposed to be great for growing algae. I run my light 24 hours a day and since the addition of the refugium my tank has done a complete 180 and everything looks happy and healthy.

When I did my weekly 10% water change today I noticed I have a good bit of green algae and possibly some bubble algae growing in the refugium. Is this ok or should I be concerned?

 

[Justin]

Are you still running for 24 hours? Could be to much light if your starting to get some nuisance algae

 

[Goodair]

Try picking out the bubble without popping it, and throw in some snails to eat whatever grows on the walls. 24h light might also be contributing , you can try reducing the light to reverse schedule and see how the tank reacts.

 

[diana a]

Usually one would run refug light and DT light opposite of each other. Meaning when the DT light is on, the refug would be off. You can stress the chaeto with too much light.

 

[Jon]

I like the idea of some snails in the sump. I never thought about that one before. I also just ordered a timer for my light. I’ve read many different opinions about refugium lighting and will try the opposite schedule lighting approach. I will keep you guys posted.
thanks

 

[MadReefer]

Usually one would run refug light and DT light opposite of each other. Meaning when the DT light is on, the refug would be off. You can stress the chaeto with too much light.

Agree.

 

[amado]

If you put snails in the sump make sure you have baffles and they can’t move to where your return pump is. Snails +Return Pump = bad

you should have a dark time for your refugium. 12 hrs on 12hr off and it’s a good idea for it to run opposite of your tank lights.

 

[Sponge]

I had some bubble algae on some rock in my quarantine tank. (Guess that’s the point of a
Quarantine). I found emerald crabs to be quite useful. But I did carefully remove what I could by hand first.

 

[Sponge]

Run the refugium lights when The lighting on The main tank is off and vice versa. the reason for this is to stabilize pH, which may fluctuate somewhat between periods of varying photosynthetic activity.