Refugium help/ guidance for aio I need options and opinions

[Gichigami.reefer]

Going to attempt to add refugium in one of my aio chambers of my nuvo 40 don’t wanna spend the 80$ on Im Chatman light so I’m opting for this cheapish full spectrum submersible hygger led light with timer from amazon as a “test” for my five before I go “balls deep” If you will

. My plan is to strip off a section of the black stuff on back of tank and tape it in place and make it so there is no light bleed behind the tank . My plan is to set up built in timer. Or to just turn the light on when I feed at night so it runs opposite of my display photo period.

Then my plan was to set it to the pinkish purple how other refugium lights look or should I just use regular light ?

Not too sure about it or maybe there’s another option that’s cheapish this one’s only 20$ basically. Don’t wanna spend too much on it as it’s an experiment and if it works good i might upgrade night down the road. who knows ? any input would be appreciated my plan is to put chaeto in chamber that I have rubble rock in and then I’m going to put a small mesh section glued to baffle so it doesn’t spill out over into the return pump chamber but I don’t want to go the route of the media fudge basket thing I think I wanna send it in the chamber with rock rubber and it to the rock so it anchors down. My main reason behind all this is I’m having a gha issue I can’t seem to solve and I’m hoping this will help lower nutrients in the tank.

The water will go through sock then into chamber with rock and chaeto with light shining through back glass

Side note is there anything I can do to cut back on these spiroid things they are so annoying

 

[dangles]

I had an AIO that I had a refugium on for about a year. Similar setup (light through the back instead of in the actual chamber with the chaeto). The refugium worked great for me. I did use a caddy for the chaeto though. I'd highly recommend that if you're using chaeto because little bits and pieces goes EVERYWHERE. The caddy keeps it contained (more or less). I used the InTank Aquatics refugium caddy. I would definitely recommend it. I would also suggest you try Pom Pom Gracilaria instead of chaeto (even if you have to order some from TSA or Algae Barn). It's MUCH less messy, and doesn't hold onto detritus like chaeto does. Much fewer little stray bits and pieces than chaeto. I also haven't noticed it get slimy like chaeto can. That's what I run in my traditional sump-based refugium now and I love it.

As for the light, your plan sounds like a good start. It's hard to know how the LED's in that light will perform, but if I had to guess, they'll do at least "fine" if not good. I think watts matter more than spectrum but that's just my uneducated guess. I ended up running mine 24/7 but I fed heavily.

 

[Gichigami.reefer]

Bump

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Not worth it imo. I tried one in my old aio tank and ended up taking it out.

 

[Gichigami.reefer]

Not worth it imo. I tried one in my old aio tank and ended up taking it out.

What makes you say that? Just a hassle or not much growth or didn’t make that much of a difference? Main reason I’m trying the refugium is I brought in frags with gha being inexperienced and it spread everywhere and crashed a crash. 100% my fault and due to inexperience but I learned and trying to recover from outbreak. I think fuge would be most natural way of doing so

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Definitely increased maintenance with it, being a hassle depends on the person.

I just personally think there are easier and more effective ways to reduce nitrate and phosphate.

That said, they do add a cool and interesting element to the tank, which a lot of people might find worth it.

All this assumes a smallish AIO tank. I think fuges with macro algae on larger tanks are much more effective.

 

[TacticalBacon]

Instead of the caddy I got a cheap dishwasher insert and use it to hold the Chaeto. I wish I would have know them little bits like to sneak through stuff.
I have an in sump fuge but it’s smallish.

 

[Gichigami.reefer]

Definitely increased maintenance with it, being a hassle depends on the person.

I just personally think there are easier and more effective ways to reduce nitrate and phosphate.

That said, they do add a cool and interesting element to the tank, which a lot of people might find worth it.

What would be your chosen route if you were me here’s parameters all have been the same for months other than the false 0 nitrate tests I was getting and a spike to 80 from 0 when I did a massive pulling of algae and scrubbing to try to get it gone. Did water change brought it down to 10 . Running sock on one side filter floss on top shelf of basket then chemipure elite and then rubble media on bottom and heater in one of them and the one I planned on refugium for has some pieces of rock for extra surface area. I really was hoping Refugium for the sole reason of its cheaper and I know in this hobby cheaper isn’t better but got surgery expenses and a 18 month old been outta work a while so I need a “budget option “ for atleast the next few months been doing 20% water changes with hybrid pro salt from aquaforest and it’s seeming to help but still wanna lower them and get gha gone. I think the 20 ppm is stil skewed because there’s still algae present on rock

 

[Justfebreezeit]

How new is the tank? Your current parameters are what a lot of people run their tanks at, and successfully.

Do you feed the corals anything like reefroids? And if so how?

How many snails do you have?

Are you using 0tds water to make your new salt water?

There are so many factors hard to cover everything.

Water changes for nitrates on small tanks are the easiest.

For Phos lowering i like gfo in a bag so it's not to aggressive.

But like i said those numbers don't tell the whole story and alot of people successfully run tanks at that.

 

[Gichigami.reefer]

10 pounds of rock was ran for 5 months previously upgraded then added extra dry rock and it’s been up 10 months or so I think algae is giving inaccurate readings though not sure though

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Edited my post to include more. Algae will definitely consume and give false readings but that's a good thing because it's consuming the nutrients, with manual removal its then exported

 

[Gichigami.reefer]

How new is the tank? Your current parameters are what a lot of people run their tanks at, and successfully.

Do you feed the corals anything like reefroids? And if so how?

How many snails do you have?

Are you using 0tds water to make your new salt water?

There are so many factors hard to cover everything.

Water changes for nitrates on small tanks are the easiest.

For Phos lowering i like gfo in a bag so it's not to aggressive.

But like i said those numbers don't tell the whole story and alot of people successfully run tanks at that.

I don’t use any reef roids or any coral food
TDS comes back 1ppm
I’ve got 5 asters snails 8 hermits and 2 turbos
I feed frozen 1/2 cube a night no dry food for the last week to try to cut back on excess nutrients

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Id definitely increase snails. I have 10 in my 20gal for reference.

Maybe someone else can chime in with ideas.

Not trying to discourage you from trying the refugium idea, i just don't think it will out compete the display in such a small area.

 

[Gichigami.reefer]

I figured it wouldn’t be a 100% fix but maybe it will help. Here’s a few more pics on how the rocks look it’s not nearly as bad as it was I bet I’m 70% better than I was

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Yea its definitely not that bad. And corraline growing is a good sign not to do anything drastic.

 

[Gichigami.reefer]

Id definitely increase snails. I have 10 in my 20gal for reference.

Maybe someone else can chime in with ideas.

Not trying to discourage you from trying the refugium idea, i just don't think it will out compete the display in such a small area.

What would be a good choice snail wise that will help eat the algae I got the turbos thinking they would help but they hangout on the glass it’s like nothing touches it no matter how short I get it not even the bristletooth tang

 

[Gichigami.reefer]

Yea its definitely not that bad. And corraline growing is a good sign not to do anything drastic.

Coraline started bout the same time as the gha bloom did and it’s really starting to take off ever since I got nitrates detectable

 

[Justfebreezeit]

What would be a good choice snail wise that will help eat the algae I got the turbos thinking they would help but they hangout on the glass it’s like nothing touches it no matter how short I get it not even the bristletooth tang

I like a good mix of astrea, trochus, and cerith. They all seem to prefer different areas and seem to work nicely together

Yea not alot of real options in a 40gal to eat it once it gets to long.

Unfortunately a tank that grows coral and corraline also grows algae. Once the rock gets colonized with corraline and corals it will supress new hair algae growth.

 

[Gichigami.reefer]

well getting 2 tester sps this weekend to see how that goes

 

[Rhetoric]

I brought in frags with gha being inexperienced and it spread everywhere and crashed a crash. 100% my fault and due to inexperience

Green hair algae is unavailable. I mean it, the idea that you did something wrong triggers me. Bad information is everywhere. The thing at fault is the idea that you can prevent it. It's something that needs to be managed.

If you want to do a refugium for fun and learning, you should. However I seriously doubt it solves the green algae problem.

Try an urchin and a Conch (more snails as others have suggested) if you want to manage it.

As someone who's had refugiums, I'd recommend spending money on coral. My logic is simple - Grow an awesome underwater garden IN your display v.s. growing green weeds not in the display.