Green monster

[o2bnh20]

I purchased about a handfull of Chaeto about two months ago and now it's grown about 4-5 times as big. My question is do I prune this stuff back or do I let it fill up my whole 30g fuge! I mean it's really getting big here. It is helping contol the algae in my main tank, but I see like green "dot's", very tiny bits of algae that grows on my corals and rocks and then gets blown away with my powerheads. help, Green Monster,
Scott

[sjvl51]

As soon as the refuge gets about 3/4 full, I prune back to 1/2 full. If the macro algae gets packed in too tight, then the growth will slow down. You want fast growth for nutrient export.

Vickie

[Plantbrain]

Generally,
If you want a constant rate of export, you need to prune the weed regularly. Once a week or two is fine.

1/2 the biomass will come close to removing 1/2 as much, zero ppm is not good, having a small low amount of nutrients is fine, too much or too little is not good.

This will help keep the system more stable and ultimately have less trouble and other nuisance algae creep in.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[o2bnh20]

The algae is like a big ball of green. Do I just grab in there and start pulling out? Or do you cut it with a knike or scissors?

[Plantbrain]

Just pull it out.
Not all of it, but perhaps 1/4 of the biomass.
I don't suggest more than 20-30% typically, but we all neglect things:-) So 50% might be okay for some systems.

The more frequently you remove and export, the better and more stable things will be.
But messing with it too often can be a hassle.

Regards,
Tom Barr