Bulk Reef Supply I’m glad your opinion on refugiums have changed over the years. Your approach to feeding more and dosing the necessary nutrients from a too strong refugium is definitely more cost effective than water changes and adjustable from multiple aspects(light period, feeding, and dosing nutrients)
You guys are awesome, I been reefing since 1994, I have a purple tang that’s 28 years old, and a few corals the same age. My clown fish lived 23 years, outlived my cat. Keep up the great content, over the years I have become maintenance lazy, your content brings me back in touch with the art and is greatly appreciated.
If you get chaeto from someone else, do a few dips on RO water, any pests that require saltwater will die and come off, just do it for a few hours as 2-3 dips. That's the tip I would like to share
This advice just helped me out a ton. Got some chaeto from my LFS a few days ago and sure enough, it had bristle worms and other hitchhikers on it. An hour soak in RO water cleaned off the chaeto.
Been growing chaeto for about seven years. I use a 100W equivalent LED flood light from Home Depot on 6 to 8 hours a day. I placed my chaeto inside of a plastic mesh like a taco. The mesh is actually used to keep fish from jumping outside the tank, this is so I can clean the chaeto every water change by just pulling the net out after I let it drip due to detritus build up. The only other factor that really affected me was red slime starting anywhere the chaeto has too little flow or when I went on vacation and the chaeto touched the surface of the water. When the chaeto touches the surface even a little bit the red slime would spike, so I would know it’s time to just cut it out (halfway) since it only grows on the superficial portions of my chaeto and doesn’t affect the whole body of chaeto.
I highly recommend trying different species of macro algae. I grow sea lettuce (ulva) and it is as effective as chaeto, easier to clean/harvest and can also be used as a free food to tangs/other herbivores.
#17 - Flow: You gotta have flow through your sump/fuge especially if you're growing macroalgaes. My chaeto never seemed to do well in my sump until I added a dedicated powerhead to blow on/through it. It doesn't need to tumble in there, just get some water moving through it so it has access to enough nutrients to grow.
Haha. Me too. My chaeto actually get chock full of micro brittle stars. I literally put it in a shallow tray and try to pick them all out. I just can't pitch them!
Reef Dork that is the toughest part. Today I did my annual sump clean. I had accumulated silt/ detritus that had to go. Unfortunately I am sure I lost a very large percentage of my pods. Sigh. The good thing is my cheato has allowed my to go a very long time without interfering with the system.
Hey. I'm a new sub. Wanted to say I have only watched this video and your best led reef light, but you guys are so informative and I love how you guys describe everything. I've been in the hobby for 9 years and I feel like I learned so much more for your videos. I can't wait to see what else you guys have available. 😊 Keep up the great work!
Tried caulerpa? Grows fast, I'm assuming fast growth means excellent nutrient removal. Most of my tanks have grapeseed calurpa, a couple have the fern caulerpa, which is a little more sensitive. Tried Cheato a couple times, no luck.
I had a pretty successful 3 year mixed reef 55 that utilized a sump with a chaeto tumbling section, a deep sand bed section, slimmer and filter socks. I fought the occasional hair algae flare ups in the main display until I added GFO and carbon reactors. The tank really took off after that. In hindsight, I think I could have achieved similar results without the reactors by simply dialing back my feeding.
Re: light spillage into the skimmer - I stand a piece of black egg crate vertically beside my skimmer and my fuge light can’t directly shine on the skimmer body. Works great!
Would love to see some brs investigates into different types of macro algae. Cheato is great for sure but other macros are good to and have other benefits. I recently added some ulva to my fuge and loving it. My tang eats it and don't have to buy norgi anymore.
My fail was #4 .. put cheto in to soon. It died n all the nutrients are in my tank causing algae.i just let it go for a couple weeks. Did some water changes. Now I'm gonna try some more n see if it gets there nutrients out. Wish me luck lol
I used to run chaeto and when I did I took the bucket of water change water, pulled the chaeto and swished it around in there pretty well. While it was out I cleaned the fuge. I don't know if that was overdoing it or not but I felt better doing it. I use ulva now and it's much more relaxed. I use the harvested ulva in my fish only with rock tank as food.
You do not need expensive lights to grow Chaeto!!! As long as you have nutrients in your system that stuff practically grows with no light. I bought a cheap $30 light off of Amazon and it grows Heaps of chaeto algae.
Im watching this again right before a trip to LFS to buy chaeto has me apprehensive. Man..It’s really too bad there hasn’t been any stock available from you or Algaebarn selling for months now! Reefcleaners is also out of stock. What’s going on? Too busy with servicing commercial customers perhaps? So far I’ve kept my new reef build pest free... but seems I’m going to try my luck on QT treatment for Chaeto sources from my local LFS. Damn...please wish me luck! I hope starting this new fuge is worth the risk.🤞🏻 Wish there wa also solid answers on R2R for Chaeto QT it’s all over the map.. Maybe that’s a future BRS video idea (?)
I dipped and cleaned and quarantined and still ended up with all of these pest i just live with them now and do not stress over aptasia anymore it is what it is at this point. When i feel like it ill break down the tank and start over lol but for now things work i look at my tank everyday so im pretty on top of making stuff disappear. And then the next week start over again haha
Aloha!...so question, I am getting back into having a tank as allot of people are limited on funds for a saltwater tank: 1. Is it better to spend/invest the money on a UV light or a protein skimmer? 2. Is it better to invest in a "hangover" surface protein skimmer OR a submerged protein skimmer? 3. Should one invest their money into a professional sump or a "do it yourself" sump with a plastic tote and 3 dresser drawer? Mahalos and aloha from MauiWaui!!
1. Skimmer. 2. Properly sized submerged skimmer is best but don't oversize it. If you need space get one with pump built into it. 3. DIY is great if you have patience and a good idea. Some are cheap though and if you wanted a wet/dry filter those tend to be easier to just buy. I use a 40 breeder that I got for like $50. Auto filter roller is probably the best investment you can make! For beginners best thing you can do is get 2-3 inches of live sand in your display. Plenty of rock is good too. I suggest real reef or Carib sea life rock for best results. DIY is okay but just remember that you get what you pay for. Sometimes a little work can save you big bucks but a cheap light or other equipment will cost you in the long run. Outside of custom sump/baffles I would advise going with 4-5 star reviewed products until you get a better idea on what you want from the hobby. Once you have success with what everyone knows works you can start to experiment more :) hope that helps and good luck!
Some of what you say is contradictory of the Triton method.... I was under the impression to let the uneaten junk filter straight into the chaeto, not to harvest it and let it run its natural cycle,
And also if one is doing the mudbed, I was under the impression that was also how it was to be done. I suppose it's relative to the tank load, but I'm not one to overfeed.
Bristle Worm removal trick. This is probably already in this thread, but maybe not. Crazy glue over the suspected area let dry or dry with hairdryer or heatgun then rip off.
I will say I have an oversized fuge because I had the space and it’s for later additions and my 7 year old is helping me with it so I can’t have it hard to get into. I am probably going to link over 1000 gallons on it someday but it’s around 60-100 gallons split between two 75 gallon rubber livestock tanks on a 2000lb rated shelving unit because children and glass mix about as well as alcohol and fireworks.
Clean chaeto, great advice, there is nowhere to be found in Europe. How could I clean it if I take it from someone/store? It might be something easy in USA but does not apply to the rest of the world. Also, "not putting filter sock before chaeto", what about Trition method? It specifically says NOT to add socks.
I always rinse my chaeto under the kitchen faucet, it kills the pests and worms and such just lets go and gets rinsed out. You can also soak it in tapwater for awhile. Works great and doesn't hurt the algae. Just get the temperature right.
With regards to # 7: What about the Triton method with regards to mechanical filtering They say: no mechanical filter before the fuge Can you elaborate on that pls?
The theory there is that filter socks and other mechanical filtration might be taking things out of the water that the macro algae would normally use to grow.
I set up a refugium and it zeroed out my nitrates but did nothing to control my phosphates. I have a 40 gal breeder and use a Kessle H160 for my refugium on the blue setting at 24 hours a day run time. I dialed back the run time to 12 hours on a timer but don’t understand how my phosphates were untouched. I throw away chaeto like crazy. The refugium is thriving but like I said it only consumes nitrates. Is there something I’m doing wrong ?
Just wish there was a sweet spot for refugium lights that don't break the bank, why does the light that grows algae cost about as much as the same powered light that grows corals? I man I get it if you had a 4' x 4' refugium, but most people probably don't even have 2'x2' and it seems that "reasonably priced" refugium lights are just woefully underpowered e.g. H80.
Mike B I agree and often say there is no replacement for par. I’d often recommend to people to get multiples of the lights if possible. It’s easy to turn down but you more often then not can’t increase par.
The Kessil H380 grows chaeto well for me but the caveat is that it grows green hair algae well too and that green hair algae clogs my filter sponge often restricting flow. Although the H80 is much less powerful, my chaeto grows steadily and I don't get the green hair algae issue in my sump. In the end, no matter how fast or slow it's growing for, if the numbers are under control and the algae is under control, I am good.
If you're looking for a nice middle ground between cost and performance, check out some of the refugium lights from Zetlight. Their E200 and E200s lights cover a good amount of area, but don't break the bank in comparison to some of the premium brands. www.bulkreefsupply.com/e200-macroalgae-cultivation-led-light-zetlight.html
I use a 5 dollar purple plant light, on a 4 dollar manual dial timer on an old school clamp lamp about 12" above my fuge timer set on ~ 12 hours per day during the night cycle of DT for ph balance. And my caulerpa and chaeto grow amazingly well. For less than 20$. All 3 products can be bought at walmart.
My chaeto is filled with bristle worms (which I rarely, rarely see in my display). It's weird, they just love to be in chaeto. My issue with chaeto is the 'die off' if my nitrates go low. Keeping the balance is a bit trivial though not impossible. I just turn up my feeding to increase nitrate and a week later, the chaeto bounces back.
Im pretty sure Randy almost said big ass skimmer xD Anyway what should I do to help keep cyano from growing on my chaeto? ive tried adding a pump to my fuge, but it just ends up clogged with macros
I think the point is that if you use a light like the Kessil, you can have a much smaller refugium that will perform just as well as a much larger one.
It’s always amazing how I have always learned something NEW from every video I have watched from you guys. In on of the other videos someone said you guys Ryan and Randy and #brstv is really becoming the wealth of knowledge and experience for all of us new and old refers. Absolutely love all the contents you guys share with us. Thank you 🙏
You said if you run gfo it wont grow cheato. I am worried about removing it though untll levels start coming down so my plan was to remove little by little? is that not going to work? How long before it starts to remove a fair amount of nutrients? My po3 ranges 0.03 to .08 with gfo. Why would i have/need to throw shrimp and heater into the fuge if I am treating the tank for alage? First you said throw it out then you said you can put it back. Did you mean to save the cheato to throw shrimp and a heater! Also would my nutrients sky rocket if I threw it out to treat? What about bacteria like MB clean and MB7? I treat with both. Also what is that bottle of Brightwell sitting next to fuge. I dont think u addressed that.
Loved the video guys. Just found out I’m a #8 violator. Bought my first sump large enough to have a refugium from Trigger and Watched your how to 4 yrs ago. But just thought it was okay to 4-5 algae’s growing. As a show idea with this in mind, could you do a sump maintenance or a 15 mistakes on using a sump?
Hahaha, awesome... fail #2: STDs. Sharing transmitted diseases. Btw,, that's really wild artwork on the wall. I like it. This was a wonderful vid guys, thanks!
I'm getting ready to setup a RS 650P and I definitely had a Carbon/GFO reactor AND a Kessil H380 on my shopping list. This is the first time I've heard that running both isn't a great idea and I have a follow up question. Not running GFO AND a fuge with adequate lighting like you've mentioned makes sense (because you'll end up with a deficiency of nutrients preventing your fuge from growing well). My question is what about just carbon? I wanted to run carbon for odor reduction and to reduce yellowing of water. Are we saying that a fuge is capable of those tasks on its own? I want to be as proactive on this as possible and if I have a choice, I'd prefer this all built in from the start rather than adding it later. But if it's not necessary, now's the time for me to have that information.
The carbon dosing there talking about Is different, dosing liquid carbon(like vodka) acts like a nutrient export combined with the refugium could possibly be too much. Where dry carbon is great for keeping water clear and smell free.
I have a eshopps R-100 sump. I think I added chaeto too early(setup is now 6mos old)and then hair algae came and out performed and killed it off within a week of adding the chaeto. Now the HA is growing like crazy in the fuge, but all HA has disappeared from the display. Should I just continue with a HA fuge? Or clean it out and try chaeto again? No algae anywhere else. Except some minor cyano in the DT. Which is manually removed with water change.
Refugium too large... What if your main function of your fuge is to grow out food for your display tank? Maybe one section with chaeto, but a dif. section with rubble rock or something similar?
I know BRS has a deal with Algae Barn; but Algae Barns ‘Clean Chaeto’ is very very far from clean (small but noticeable amounts of Cyano, Bubble, Hair, and Caluerpa simultaneously). After placing several orders from them, you couldn’t pay me to put their algae in any of my main tanks. And while the customer service was very friendly, they also didn’t honor their Arrive-Alive warrantee when my graciliara algae arrived completely mush and rotten. I asked other reef veterans after my bad experiences; and unfortunately they all had the exact same complaints. This tells me that Algae Barn is amazing at marketing their products, but doesn’t put much effort into product quality or customer service.
0 nitrate and 0 phosphate is a real problem with the fuge. It’s really hard to get nitrate above 0 with a fuge without dosing. Might be why I give up on mine
If you're running a light and algae then take a bunch of algae out and reduce light timeer, that's what they were talking about when they said tune your fuge
Some reefers may use a substrate in their fuge, but not having one isn't going to be a dealbreaker. Personally I would choose to not have substrate as the fuge is easier to clean without it in there.
@@joevillavicencio6548 I know, I run it. And it doesnt require filter socks. That's why I asked if it was the exception, or maybe I've missed something along the way.
I wouldn't say that 10% of your display size for the refugium to be a massive fuge in most cases. We're talking about a 10 gallon refugium for a tank of 100 gallons. There will always be a few exceptions to the rules, but these ideas discussed in the video are some good general guidelines to consider.
Both work: Triton method insists on in front. One of the upsides of fuge first of that is you can have much deeper (aka bigger) refugium since you are not constrained by skimmers water level. I have Fuge-> skimmer-> pump section setup and my fuge level height is at 32 cm while skimmer is at 22 (i do a get a bit of water splashing due to height difference so I put an acrilic sheet to cover the fuge/skimmer baffle area). While I do see pods everywhere in my sump I do not see them in the skimmer cup - just fish poop
Split the drain pipe. The faster drain flow goes to skimmer chamber; while the slower drain flow goes to refugium. Both chambers overflowing to the return chamber. This way you don't skimmed out the overflowing critters from refugium. They go directly to return chamber and into the DT.
Aiptaisia is a lot more expensive than $70 to fix. AEFW can easily kill $70 worth of coral. You're paying for making sure it's clean and safe. If you don't care about that; chaeto can be had for free at any reef club.
I bought an h380 and I’ve tried about 6 times to grow chaeto but it always just floats to the surface and dies. I’m trying to get rid of the algae problem in the display but the chaeto just won’t grow. Help please.
I had that same issue. Dosing nitrates into my tank let the chaeto take over, then start to out compete the algae in my tank. Too low of nutrients ended up being my issues.
That's a tough choice. While not everyone in the office may agree, I'd personally opt for a refugium. With a refugium, there is no feed pump, no screen cleaning, and in most cases, doesn't require any additional plumbing/installation. Just drop in some clean cheato, add a light source, and you're off to the races.
I want to run chaeto in my nano but not now in time. And like u said, it may be too effective for the softies. Also, what would work like chaeto in a Ranchu tank? The refruge´ looks like a pain in tbe balls though. Thanks again.
![[DRAGON BALL LEGENDS REVEALS ＆ STUFF] LEGENDS FESTIVAL 2024 Special Edition Part 1](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/mV5bGIswTtQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Refugiums and Algae Scrubbers....Tested!
➡ brs.li/BRStv_Refugiums_AlgaeScrubbers
Bulk Reef Supply I’m glad your opinion on refugiums have changed over the years. Your approach to feeding more and dosing the necessary nutrients from a too strong refugium is definitely more cost effective than water changes and adjustable from multiple aspects(light period, feeding, and dosing nutrients)
You guys are awesome, I been reefing since 1994, I have a purple tang that’s 28 years old, and a few corals the same age. My clown fish lived 23 years, outlived my cat. Keep up the great content, over the years I have become maintenance lazy, your content brings me back in touch with the art and is greatly appreciated.
If you get chaeto from someone else, do a few dips on RO water, any pests that require saltwater will die and come off, just do it for a few hours as 2-3 dips. That's the tip I would like to share
This advice just helped me out a ton. Got some chaeto from my LFS a few days ago and sure enough, it had bristle worms and other hitchhikers on it. An hour soak in RO water cleaned off the chaeto.
@@johnb3193 I just got a tiny bit from a reefer. Had some fish poop that’s about it
Great advice! I didint want to spend the xtra money ordering from algae barn and was going to get form lfs!
Been growing chaeto for about seven years. I use a 100W equivalent LED flood light from Home Depot on 6 to 8 hours a day. I placed my chaeto inside of a plastic mesh like a taco. The mesh is actually used to keep fish from jumping outside the tank, this is so I can clean the chaeto every water change by just pulling the net out after I let it drip due to detritus build up. The only other factor that really affected me was red slime starting anywhere the chaeto has too little flow or when I went on vacation and the chaeto touched the surface of the water. When the chaeto touches the surface even a little bit the red slime would spike, so I would know it’s time to just cut it out (halfway) since it only grows on the superficial portions of my chaeto and doesn’t affect the whole body of chaeto.
I highly recommend trying different species of macro algae. I grow sea lettuce (ulva) and it is as effective as chaeto, easier to clean/harvest and can also be used as a free food to tangs/other herbivores.
Or for people! We can eat it too.
i love ulva, I felt that tang eat easier than chaeto.
Does it export nitrates & phos the same?
#17 - Flow: You gotta have flow through your sump/fuge especially if you're growing macroalgaes. My chaeto never seemed to do well in my sump until I added a dedicated powerhead to blow on/through it. It doesn't need to tumble in there, just get some water moving through it so it has access to enough nutrients to grow.
Can I put a led air stone under the chaeto for the flow
Guys....wow!...I'm right in the middle of picking a tank for my red...I was looking at a 40...but now I know better...thanks guys..right on time!!
Good advice if you have the money . Been very successful with using less money and taking more care.
I'm SUCH a wimp when it comes to copepods when I harvest! I try to save as many as I can to go back in 🤣
I even check my filter socks! Things are so rare around my side of the world
Haha. Me too. My chaeto actually get chock full of micro brittle stars. I literally put it in a shallow tray and try to pick them all out. I just can't pitch them!
Reef Dork that is the toughest part. Today I did my annual sump clean. I had accumulated silt/ detritus that had to go. Unfortunately I am sure I lost a very large percentage of my pods. Sigh. The good thing is my cheato has allowed my to go a very long time without interfering with the system.
BallcardzTV why do u do that??? What’s the point of that to u?
Ha same. I spend so much effort to save a tiny little critter. :/
I have my light on in my Refugium on 24 hours a day and it’s growing just fine with my kessil and it seems to love it
I watched this video for 5 minutes before I figured out that coral in the tank behind you wasn't growing up out of the top of the fuge tank
Hey. I'm a new sub. Wanted to say I have only watched this video and your best led reef light, but you guys are so informative and I love how you guys describe everything. I've been in the hobby for 9 years and I feel like I learned so much more for your videos. I can't wait to see what else you guys have available. 😊 Keep up the great work!
Just what I needed, really struggling growing cheato, shame I can’t sell hair algae to my Lfs id make a fortune
Tried caulerpa? Grows fast, I'm assuming fast growth means excellent nutrient removal.
Most of my tanks have grapeseed calurpa, a couple have the fern caulerpa, which is a little more sensitive.
Tried Cheato a couple times, no luck.
Great information! I'd still go with sea lettuce over chaeto but to each their own.
I had a pretty successful 3 year mixed reef 55 that utilized a sump with a chaeto tumbling section, a deep sand bed section, slimmer and filter socks.
I fought the occasional hair algae flare ups in the main display until I added GFO and carbon reactors. The tank really took off after that.
In hindsight, I think I could have achieved similar results without the reactors by simply dialing back my feeding.
I have been in the salt water hoby for over 15 years and I can say that your summary is highly educational. A big thank you!
I love a large refugium with macro algae, great place for critters, copepods and a place to put a rogue fish in.
Re: light spillage into the skimmer - I stand a piece of black egg crate vertically beside my skimmer and my fuge light can’t directly shine on the skimmer body. Works great!
That's a good idea! After putting my Chaeto light in, I noticed some brown algae build up in the skimmer body so I'll try something like this!
I would love to see an expansion of the refugium investigation which includes miracle mud and if it has any of the claimed benefits to corals and fish
Would love to see some brs investigates into different types of macro algae. Cheato is great for sure but other macros are good to and have other benefits. I recently added some ulva to my fuge and loving it. My tang eats it and don't have to buy norgi anymore.
My fail was #4 .. put cheto in to soon. It died n all the nutrients are in my tank causing algae.i just let it go for a couple weeks. Did some water changes. Now I'm gonna try some more n see if it gets there nutrients out. Wish me luck lol
I used to run chaeto and when I did I took the bucket of water change water, pulled the chaeto and swished it around in there pretty well. While it was out I cleaned the fuge. I don't know if that was overdoing it or not but I felt better doing it. I use ulva now and it's much more relaxed. I use the harvested ulva in my fish only with rock tank as food.
Does the ulva also get rid of the nitrates & phos?
You do not need expensive lights to grow Chaeto!!! As long as you have nutrients in your system that stuff practically grows with no light. I bought a cheap $30 light off of Amazon and it grows Heaps of chaeto algae.
Agreed i run a ufo gro light grows it just fine
It cracks me up hearing of people running Kessils to grow chaeto.
I bought a $20.00 LED grow light off eBay works fine
I run deep sand bed under rocks and chaeto. Miracle mud. Never an issue
Fantastic video guys. Watched the whole thing. Never had a fuge before but I’m planning stages and all of this info helps a lot.
chaeto is never worth 70 bucks smh...
Thanks Fellers for you're time, to make all of these great info Video's..
I found a bristle worm in some gracilaria algae i was handling but luckily I didn't get stung either from luck or because it was too young
Im watching this again right before a trip to LFS to buy chaeto has me apprehensive.
Man..It’s really too bad there hasn’t been any stock available from you or Algaebarn selling for months now! Reefcleaners is also out of stock. What’s going on? Too busy with servicing commercial customers perhaps?
So far I’ve kept my new reef build pest free... but seems I’m going to try my luck on QT treatment for Chaeto sources from my local LFS.
Damn...please wish me luck!
I hope starting this new fuge is worth the risk.🤞🏻 Wish there wa also solid answers on R2R for Chaeto QT it’s all over the map..
Maybe that’s a future BRS video idea (?)
your videos are the reason why i dont make mistakes in the hobby thanks alot!!
Great video. I have a 20 gallon water box all in one tank. What would be a good way to add a refugium to my tank? Again thanks for the great videos.
NICE, GETTING MORE AND MORE INTO DOING THIS VERY SOON. THANKS GUYS!
I dipped and cleaned and quarantined and still ended up with all of these pest i just live with them now and do not stress over aptasia anymore it is what it is at this point. When i feel like it ill break down the tank and start over lol but for now things work i look at my tank everyday so im pretty on top of making stuff disappear. And then the next week start over again haha
Make sure to dose Brawndo. It's got what plants need!
It's got electrolytes!
Welcome to BRS we love you
Great video as always! Very comprehensive and lots to think about. Thanks Ryan, Randy & the BRSTV team.
Aloha!...so question, I am getting back into having a tank as allot of people are limited on funds for a saltwater tank:
1. Is it better to spend/invest the money on a UV light or a protein skimmer?
2. Is it better to invest in a "hangover" surface protein skimmer OR a submerged protein skimmer?
3. Should one invest their money into a professional sump or a "do it yourself" sump with a plastic tote and 3 dresser drawer?
Mahalos and aloha from MauiWaui!!
1. Skimmer. 2. Properly sized submerged skimmer is best but don't oversize it. If you need space get one with pump built into it. 3. DIY is great if you have patience and a good idea. Some are cheap though and if you wanted a wet/dry filter those tend to be easier to just buy. I use a 40 breeder that I got for like $50. Auto filter roller is probably the best investment you can make! For beginners best thing you can do is get 2-3 inches of live sand in your display. Plenty of rock is good too. I suggest real reef or Carib sea life rock for best results. DIY is okay but just remember that you get what you pay for. Sometimes a little work can save you big bucks but a cheap light or other equipment will cost you in the long run. Outside of custom sump/baffles I would advise going with 4-5 star reviewed products until you get a better idea on what you want from the hobby. Once you have success with what everyone knows works you can start to experiment more :) hope that helps and good luck!
Using sterile chaeto is great advice. H160 was the best light for me.
Some of what you say is contradictory of the Triton method.... I was under the impression to let the uneaten junk filter straight into the chaeto, not to harvest it and let it run its natural cycle,
And also if one is doing the mudbed,
I was under the impression that was also how it was to be done.
I suppose it's relative to the tank load, but I'm not one to overfeed.
I was wondering this too. Ryan took the filter socks off the BRS160 and replaced it with the chaeto... Have you added filter socks back in?
I lol when they assumed your buddies tank is loaded with pests but yours isnt....
A larger Refugium can be good for a constant food supply in some cases as example a Mandarinfish
Years ago when I started my tank I put Chaeto in from a buddies tank like two days after I set it up. Gotta agree. Never again.
Line your sump with mirrored Alexander and it'll block the light from your sump and help your algea grow down low.
What about waterflow? To little or too much could be an issue.
Elemental uptake is the #1 critical step. I had chaeto die because I wasn't feeding enough iron.
For algae I have a foxface and a tomini tang which do excellent job
They had me at those nasty ass Bristleworms and critters in the sock.
I never had nitrate / phosphate too high - the corals will consume far more than enough.
Great video and thanks for the shout out! :)
I would be interested in you guys explaining how to make a good fresh water refugium
Bristle Worm removal trick. This is probably already in this thread, but maybe not. Crazy glue over the suspected area let dry or dry with hairdryer or heatgun then rip off.
I will say I have an oversized fuge because I had the space and it’s for later additions and my 7 year old is helping me with it so I can’t have it hard to get into. I am probably going to link over 1000 gallons on it someday but it’s around 60-100 gallons split between two 75 gallon rubber livestock tanks on a 2000lb rated shelving unit because children and glass mix about as well as alcohol and fireworks.
😂
Clean chaeto, great advice, there is nowhere to be found in Europe. How could I clean it if I take it from someone/store? It might be something easy in USA but does not apply to the rest of the world. Also, "not putting filter sock before chaeto", what about Trition method? It specifically says NOT to add socks.
I always rinse my chaeto under the kitchen faucet, it kills the pests and worms and such just lets go and gets rinsed out. You can also soak it in tapwater for awhile. Works great and doesn't hurt the algae. Just get the temperature right.
@@semisuccessfulreefer220 But it will not clean all pests. Aiptasia for example.
Thank you for making videos that make sense =).
Kessil H380 box upside down ... i guess this was on purpose... fits right into the theme of "fails" :P
I REALLY like this format of video.. keep them coming!
Thanx guys for the video!!! really interesting
With regards to # 7:
What about the Triton method with regards to mechanical filtering
They say: no mechanical filter before the fuge
Can you elaborate on that pls?
The theory there is that filter socks and other mechanical filtration might be taking things out of the water that the macro algae would normally use to grow.
That is my understanding so what are you doing? On your 360? On the BRS 160? I remember you taking the filter socks off BRS 160…
Is it just me, or do Ryan and Randy look like a pro-wrestling tag team?
opethmike it’s just you.
@@TheGabrielberki No it isn't.
Need your advice: what light is the best for small refugium chamber 6” by 12”. The main display is 65 gallons Redsea 350.
Thank you.
I set up a refugium and it zeroed out my nitrates but did nothing to control my phosphates. I have a 40 gal breeder and use a Kessle H160 for my refugium on the blue setting at 24 hours a day run time. I dialed back the run time to 12 hours on a timer but don’t understand how my phosphates were untouched. I throw away chaeto like crazy. The refugium is thriving but like I said it only consumes nitrates. Is there something I’m doing wrong ?
Where the hell was this video 6 months ago? Haha
This video cleared up several things for me THANKS!!!
Awesome video! I just added a chaeto to my sump purchased from Algae Barn.. it's growing a little slow but so far so good!
The video I have been waiting for! Thank you so so much for this!
Just wish there was a sweet spot for refugium lights that don't break the bank, why does the light that grows algae cost about as much as the same powered light that grows corals? I man I get it if you had a 4' x 4' refugium, but most people probably don't even have 2'x2' and it seems that "reasonably priced" refugium lights are just woefully underpowered e.g. H80.
Mike B I agree and often say there is no replacement for par. I’d often recommend to people to get multiples of the lights if possible. It’s easy to turn down but you more often then not can’t increase par.
Check out the Tunze Eco Chic 8831. Purple light, submersible,. Grows chaeto like mad!! It's a fraction of the price of a Kessil H380
The Kessil H380 grows chaeto well for me but the caveat is that it grows green hair algae well too and that green hair algae clogs my filter sponge often restricting flow. Although the H80 is much less powerful, my chaeto grows steadily and I don't get the green hair algae issue in my sump. In the end, no matter how fast or slow it's growing for, if the numbers are under control and the algae is under control, I am good.
If you're looking for a nice middle ground between cost and performance, check out some of the refugium lights from Zetlight. Their E200 and E200s lights cover a good amount of area, but don't break the bank in comparison to some of the premium brands.
www.bulkreefsupply.com/e200-macroalgae-cultivation-led-light-zetlight.html
I use a 5 dollar purple plant light, on a 4 dollar manual dial timer on an old school clamp lamp about 12" above my fuge timer set on ~ 12 hours per day during the night cycle of DT for ph balance. And my caulerpa and chaeto grow amazingly well. For less than 20$. All 3 products can be bought at walmart.
My chaeto is filled with bristle worms (which I rarely, rarely see in my display). It's weird, they just love to be in chaeto. My issue with chaeto is the 'die off' if my nitrates go low. Keeping the balance is a bit trivial though not impossible. I just turn up my feeding to increase nitrate and a week later, the chaeto bounces back.
Im pretty sure Randy almost said big ass skimmer xD Anyway what should I do to help keep cyano from growing on my chaeto? ive tried adding a pump to my fuge, but it just ends up clogged with macros
1-2 hours freshwater dip for your cheato, and the pest problems are dead. Cheato is fine with a freshwater dip.
a kessil lamp for the refugium ? Costly choice.
Simple 40 dollar grow light does it .... Single led thing
I think the point is that if you use a light like the Kessil, you can have a much smaller refugium that will perform just as well as a much larger one.
Is good use chaeto liquid as Food to increase growing ¿
Great video! What do you guys think about using chaeto in algae reactors for nano tanks?
Definitely a viable option for those setups with space constraints!
It’s always amazing how I have always learned something NEW from every video I have watched from you guys. In on of the other videos someone said you guys Ryan and Randy and #brstv is really becoming the wealth of knowledge and experience for all of us new and old refers. Absolutely love all the contents you guys share with us. Thank you 🙏
You said if you run gfo it wont grow cheato. I am worried about removing it though untll levels start coming down so my plan was to remove little by little? is that not going to work? How long before it starts to remove a fair amount of nutrients? My po3 ranges 0.03 to .08 with gfo. Why would i have/need to throw shrimp and heater into the fuge if I am treating the tank for alage? First you said throw it out then you said you can put it back. Did you mean to save the cheato to throw shrimp and a heater! Also would my nutrients sky rocket if I threw it out to treat? What about bacteria like MB clean and MB7? I treat with both. Also what is that bottle of Brightwell sitting next to fuge. I dont think u addressed that.
15:12 I tell my girl that all the time.
16:47 I tell her that too.
Loved the video guys. Just found out I’m a #8 violator. Bought my first sump large enough to have a refugium from Trigger and Watched your how to 4 yrs ago. But just thought it was okay to 4-5 algae’s growing.
As a show idea with this in mind, could you do a sump maintenance or a 15 mistakes on using a sump?
I actually like the pests in my tank my tank has been running for 13 years never had one issue with bristle worms
Hahaha, awesome... fail #2: STDs. Sharing transmitted diseases. Btw,, that's really wild artwork on the wall. I like it. This was a wonderful vid guys, thanks!
I'm getting ready to setup a RS 650P and I definitely had a Carbon/GFO reactor AND a Kessil H380 on my shopping list.
This is the first time I've heard that running both isn't a great idea and I have a follow up question.
Not running GFO AND a fuge with adequate lighting like you've mentioned makes sense (because you'll end up with a deficiency of nutrients preventing your fuge from growing well). My question is what about just carbon? I wanted to run carbon for odor reduction and to reduce yellowing of water. Are we saying that a fuge is capable of those tasks on its own?
I want to be as proactive on this as possible and if I have a choice, I'd prefer this all built in from the start rather than adding it later. But if it's not necessary, now's the time for me to have that information.
Same carbon. And order in sump would help.fuge skimmmer etc
The carbon dosing there talking about Is different, dosing liquid carbon(like vodka) acts like a nutrient export combined with the refugium could possibly be too much. Where dry carbon is great for keeping water clear and smell free.
When I added my h380 from h80 it was like a growth bomb
I have a eshopps R-100 sump. I think I added chaeto too early(setup is now 6mos old)and then hair algae came and out performed and killed it off within a week of adding the chaeto. Now the HA is growing like crazy in the fuge, but all HA has disappeared from the display. Should I just continue with a HA fuge? Or clean it out and try chaeto again? No algae anywhere else. Except some minor cyano in the DT. Which is manually removed with water change.
Refugium too large... What if your main function of your fuge is to grow out food for your display tank? Maybe one section with chaeto, but a dif. section with rubble rock or something similar?
As long as your refugium isn't removing too much in terms of nitrates/phosphates and the associated trace elements, you should be just fine 🙂
I know BRS has a deal with Algae Barn; but Algae Barns ‘Clean Chaeto’ is very very far from clean (small but noticeable amounts of Cyano, Bubble, Hair, and Caluerpa simultaneously). After placing several orders from them, you couldn’t pay me to put their algae in any of my main tanks. And while the customer service was very friendly, they also didn’t honor their Arrive-Alive warrantee when my graciliara algae arrived completely mush and rotten.
I asked other reef veterans after my bad experiences; and unfortunately they all had the exact same complaints. This tells me that Algae Barn is amazing at marketing their products, but doesn’t put much effort into product quality or customer service.
I deep clean my sump about once a quarter
It sucks and is a ton of work with with my shop vac
I believe copepods help with the detritus in your refugium. Introducing copepods to colonize in your cheito helps because copepods eat detritus.
0 nitrate and 0 phosphate is a real problem with the fuge. It’s really hard to get nitrate above 0 with a fuge without dosing. Might be why I give up on mine
If you're running a light and algae then take a bunch of algae out and reduce light timeer, that's what they were talking about when they said tune your fuge
So no live sand or live rock in the Refuge anymore?
Some reefers may use a substrate in their fuge, but not having one isn't going to be a dealbreaker. Personally I would choose to not have substrate as the fuge is easier to clean without it in there.
We have a crabitat down in the fudge with the Cheeto. He cleans up the sand and rock and the chaeto removes the nutrients.
Is the Triton method an exception to some of this like the large fuge, or filter sock before the macros?
Same question about the filter socks.
For triton is fuge first. That way macro gets first pass at the nutrients.
@@joevillavicencio6548 I know, I run it. And it doesnt require filter socks. That's why I asked if it was the exception, or maybe I've missed something along the way.
@@joeymerrell8585 I think exception is size wise. The 20% Fuge volume rule.
I wouldn't say that 10% of your display size for the refugium to be a massive fuge in most cases. We're talking about a 10 gallon refugium for a tank of 100 gallons. There will always be a few exceptions to the rules, but these ideas discussed in the video are some good general guidelines to consider.
I'd appreciate if someone would help me with my question for protein skimmer in the sump - before the refugium or after? I think it should be before.
Same they should do a vid on the order. Water from dt to sock to carbon fuge skimmer return etc.
Both work: Triton method insists on in front.
One of the upsides of fuge first of that is you can have much deeper (aka bigger) refugium since you are not constrained by skimmers water level.
I have Fuge-> skimmer-> pump section setup and my fuge level height is at 32 cm while skimmer is at 22 (i do a get a bit of water splashing due to height difference so I put an acrilic sheet to cover the fuge/skimmer baffle area).
While I do see pods everywhere in my sump I do not see them in the skimmer cup - just fish poop
Split the drain pipe. The faster drain flow goes to skimmer chamber; while the slower drain flow goes to refugium. Both chambers overflowing to the return chamber. This way you don't skimmed out the overflowing critters from refugium. They go directly to return chamber and into the DT.
Well, this definitely explains my cyano issue. I run my H160 way too long and way too intense. Thanks!
You have cyano because you don't have enough refugium power.
Is there anything you can do with the chaeto you harvest? Besides throwing it out?
$70 on chato you guys are smoking crack lmao
I got sum for 10 lmao
Aiptaisia is a lot more expensive than $70 to fix. AEFW can easily kill $70 worth of coral. You're paying for making sure it's clean and safe. If you don't care about that; chaeto can be had for free at any reef club.
13:18 i laughed my ass off and had to replay, I thought I heard "You never let your tank look like crap, so why do you let yourself look like crap"
😆
The h380 box is messing with me. Lol but I plan on getting one can’t beat the results.
Any coincidence assume was above big refugium? Cause i read that as big ass refugium 😂😂
I bought an h380 and I’ve tried about 6 times to grow chaeto but it always just floats to the surface and dies. I’m trying to get rid of the algae problem in the display but the chaeto just won’t grow. Help please.
I had that same issue. Dosing nitrates into my tank let the chaeto take over, then start to out compete the algae in my tank. Too low of nutrients ended up being my issues.
I'm curious about mud in refugiums. Why would I choose to use mud over Chaedo?
Not factoring cost, would y'all prefer am algae scrubber or refugium? I'm a heavy feeder than likes his fish fat.
That's a tough choice. While not everyone in the office may agree, I'd personally opt for a refugium. With a refugium, there is no feed pump, no screen cleaning, and in most cases, doesn't require any additional plumbing/installation. Just drop in some clean cheato, add a light source, and you're off to the races.
I want to run chaeto in my nano but not now in time.
And like u said, it may be too effective for the softies.
Also, what would work like chaeto in a Ranchu tank?
The refruge´ looks like a pain in tbe balls though.
Thanks again.
What you call pest, I call free food and clean up crew for my reef, hardy ones at that. Certain fish and inverts love these.
Thank you for all the great info! Appreciate all the knowledge, still learning
Thank you, great video