What should I do with my fuge/cheato area?

[LeslieS]

I have been reading that getting rid of refugiums has resulted in lower phosphates. Are people considering their deep sand bed area a refugium and getting rid of those as well?

I have a refugium with 2" of miracle mud and cheato. It has several scallops, lots of sponge, and some snails and mushrooms which escaped from the display. There are also a couple of rocks which I relocated to make more room in the display. What would be the optimal use of this space?

Also, why do we keep our sump lights on at night?

I think it has something to do with stable Ph but cannot remember.

What if you don't keep macro algae in your sump? Would you still light your sump at night if you had a remote DSB?

Let me know what you think!!

 

[Deanos]

A sump doesn't require a light other than for the reefer to see what he/she is doing.

A refugium containing macroalgae obviously requires light. Many light it opposite the main tank to maintain the system's pH via respiration of the macroalgae.

 

[kimoyo]

A remote dsb is different from a fuge. You can light a remote dsb but its better if you don't. You also want the water mechanically filtered when it enters it i you can to avoid getting detritus in there. Its intended for de-nitrification so algae growth (from lights) and detritus should be avoided.

 

[LeslieS]

Thanks to both of you for the clarification.

Other than allowing things to grow that don't normally grow in my display, I feel like this is a wasted area in my tank and my phosphates continue to be high even though I am feeding less and running phosphate reactor.

Nitrites are not a problem, so I am not going to worry about a DSB. I may clean out the area and just keep cheato.

What do you guys think?

 

[reefman]

how high is high?
po4 being it binds with most thing in your tank, it is almost impoosible to eliminate. the next best thing is to lower it to acceptable levels.
cheatoes, running rowa, n wc r effective ways in lowering it.

 

[LeslieS]

how high is high?

.4 mg/l

 

[ellebelle]

Leslie, if you're looking to experiment, you might try running a "refugium" in the same way that I do. My fuge is set up as an entirely separately fed container from my sump. I only have cheato in my fuge, and a couple of pieces of liverock. I have it set up with an EXTREMELY low flow, so the cheato has plenty of time to utilize the phosphates in the water. I think that a lot of the time people have water running through their fuge at 700gph and it doesn't really give the macro algae a chance to do what it is there to do. My nitrates and phosphates have always been really low - they're at the same level now as they were before I left for my travels, and that's with three months of no new phosban, no regular maitenance, no nothing.

That being said, I also have an enormous skimmer on a small tank. So, take my advice with a grain of salt.

If you decide to do this, let me know because I'd be really interested in the results.

 

[LeslieS]

I am thinking of taking the miracle mud and the rock out of the sump, which would make it cheato only which would be similar to yours.

My long term goal is less equipment not more, so I would probably not set up a remote fuge so the flow going through would be about 600gph.

What size tank is your skimmer rated for? Mine is rated for up to 225 on a 120 tank, but it is only super efficient if I clean it every day.

 

[ellebelle]

Mine is rated up to 150 gallons, and I've got it on a 29 gallon tank. I've got to clean the skimmer cup on mine fairly frequently as well, or it's not so efficient. When I came home, the first thing I did was clean my skimmer cup. When I put it back, the skimmer immediately began to bubble up some stuff.

Regarding the cheato, anything is worth a try, but I think that with 600 gph going through there, you aren't going to get phosphate export like you would like. I've been really interested in precisely the way that macroalgae breaks down and utilized phosphates from the water ever since Chris started saying that we should all get rid of our fuges.

Is there any way you can redirect your flow so it goes through there a little slower?

Also, are you using kalk as your dosing mechanism? That might also help to lower your phosphates.