Is my refugium hurting my tank?

[vette.tech]

What i mean by that is, it seems like ever since i added it i've had a few small problems. Its a 75g DT, 55 sump and a 20g fuge. I added the fuge a few months ago and in it put about 15lbs of LR from my other reef tank that is now a QT tank and the fuge is bare bottom, i threw in some chaeto for good measure. I wanted it so i could take the ball of chaeto to the DT and shake it out to replenish some pods every now and then for my mandarin and to grow other cool things like macros in there. I do notice a fair amount of detritus settles in there and i put in a powerhead to stir it up every now and again.

Seems that i've started having algae problems ever since i added it. Not horrible just a slight brown tint to the sand and if a fish picks at the sand for a critter you can see that its sort of mat like connected. And i have to daily scrape the glass. I'm considering taking it off line but always felt like the extra water volume, extra live rock and whatever else would be good for the tank. I don't overfeed in the slightest and do regular water changes, nitrates are detectable (5-10) API phosphate kit says 0, though i've been contemplating getting a hanna. Also have had good growth but lame PE from sps, most likely due to my coral beauty but my gut keeps telling me theres something about the fuge thats not right. Discuss the possibilities with me

[joedc]

Sometimes changes create mini cycles when ever I see s problem I pull all my levels and start there second don't disturb the fuge if you wanna syphon out that's what I do

[vette.tech]

it seems pointless to have a fuge and just let it collect crap behind all the rocks, its just more poo storage that isn't siphon accessible, maybe i should ditch the LR or put it in the sump where its more easily removable for maintenance cause reaching into my fuge is tough as its higher than than sump which is head height

[ca1ore]

I'd agree the algae you are seeing is some combo diatoms and green 'dust' algae triggered by the fuge addition. Should die down. I'm not a fan of a pile of rocks in the sump - more likely to just produce nitrates than anything else. Rock in a lit fuge is good though as long as you have some way to keep particulates out as much as possible.

[vette.tech]

it does seem like diatoms but hasn't gone away in a couple months now, just lingering around not being a pain but letting me know its there, the dusting on the glass is getting annoying now though. Maybe i oughta just take the fuge offline along with everything in it, i feel like it should have stabilized by now

[1SlickFish]

That poo is gonna collect somewhere. Might as well collect where you can get to it. Dont stir it up, vacuum it out into a bucket, let it settle and put the clean water back in the tank. Maybe get a filter sock and use that for a while while stiring the main tank a Little here and there, clean the sock every 2 days. Whether your feeding a lot or not, your building up nutrients, gotta export them some how......faster!

[ca1ore]

I have to mag float my glass every other day or so to remove dust algae. Is the sign of a healthy tank IMO. Is actually good food for filter feeders. I can keep tube worms easily if I have the dust algae, not without.

[vette.tech]

That poo is gonna collect somewhere. Might as well collect where you can get to it. Dont stir it up, vacuum it out into a bucket, let it settle and put the clean water back in the tank. Maybe get a filter sock and use that for a while while stiring the main tank a Little here and there, clean the sock every 2 days. Whether your feeding a lot or not, your building up nutrients, gotta export them some how......faster!

thats the problem, its impossible to get at in the refugium without stirring it up with a PH and having it go into the sump where i can then siphon it out easily, its under and behind the rocks and above my head in a cramped area in the basement so not much room above it to work with. I was running filter socks for a while but for whatever reason i changed it up, the little devil on my shoulder kept telling me i didn't need them, plus if i forgot to change them for a day longer than i should have they would start foaming over and splashing all over the place

[1SlickFish]

Sounds like you may need a little redesigning? Maybe move the tanks around a little, get a 7" filter sock which will give you a little more time to get to them, buy 3 to change out during the week, place the filter sock location in a area of the tank to where if it does splash, it will not get on anything important etc. I cant tell you the amount of times I have changed it up, and, as I keep adding things, it keeps changing.

[Mudbeaver]

Ok my first question is why do you want a refugium? I had many and some so much that now i'm doing a 75 g starfire display refugium. So tell me why you want one and whats you goal? I'll tell you later whats the solution.