Freshwater Refugium Algae Problem

[MrPhazeWun]

Hey all,

I've custom made a freshwater refugium for my 72 gallon bow front out of a 29 gallon aquarium. Due to the lack of information I've been able to find on a freshwater refugium set up, I've gone with steam plants (Wisterias) and lights on 24/7. For a light, I've gotten a plant bulb and a common bulb reflector (the ones you could buy in walmart for around $6). The plants are booming, but with the plants, so is the algae growth. As if late, I've seen some hair algae on the plants.

I'm not sure if many have had experience with this issue or not, or if it sounds logical to be concern about this, since at the end of the day, the algae will absorb nitrates as well.

My concern I guess would be to have algae infestation in my main display. FYI, my main display is a mbuna tank, and the lights are only one at feeding time for only 4 hours a day (due to my concern of algae infestation and they are T5 H/O 6500K)

So I guess I'm asking for any information/advice on Freshwater Refuges as far as setup and maybe and information about these sort of issues, if there is any out there.

Thanks in advance,

Luis

 

[CorallineAlgae]

You should only have the fuge lights on for a maximum of 12 hours, though 10 may be better. There is no benefit that I know of to keeping them on 24 hours other than to purposefully grow masses of algae to feed freshwater algae eaters.

You should definitely keep some algae eaters in the refugium like snails or a SAE and bristlenose pleco. The plants may start to be outcompeted by the algae otherwise. Any plants could stop growing properly if there are nutrient decencies and algae will take over.

For now I would remove as much algae as you can manually, cut the light cycle down to 10 hours and add something to help eat the stuff you can't remove.

 

[MrPhazeWun]

Thank you very much for the advice...I will be taking care of it tonight as best I could, and I'll see what I could add to the refuge as far as algae eaters from my lfs.

 

[Rivercats]

Coralline Algae gave you sound advice. I don't know if you have Nerite snails were your from but they would be perfect for your tank. They can't breed in freshwater and eat a wide variety of algae. For hair algae problems American Flag Fish and true Siamese Algae eaters are your best choice. American Flag fish stay small but only get one male and the rest females. But if you go with one of these two fish be sure not to feed them but a touch of food once or twice a week. Keeping them hungry will encourage them to eat the algae. If fed commercial food too much they will get lazy about eating algae and can completely stop eating it.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Thanks guys! Keep us informed on the tank. You have a very interesting setup.

 

[Terrance]

Imo its better to manually clean up the algae on your owb instead of adding more fish. Less added bioload (although not much for a properly stocked tanks). It does not and should not take that long once you cut back the amount of light and the algae starts to disappear. It takes less than 5min per week when i had plants in my sump.

 

[MrPhazeWun]

Thanks guys! Keep us informed on the tank. You have a very interesting setup.

Thank you, it started on a diy project for a sw set up, but after realizing the expenses, I decided to stay fw. I did a bit of cleaning last night and set a timer to turn the bulb on at night for 10 hours. In a couple of days I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks for all your help.

Attached is a pretty bad quality picture, but enough to give you an idea of my set up when it was originally set up. Take care everyone.

 

[aqua_chem]

I have an alternate idea for you.

The issue with using plants as nutrient sponges is the fact that you are still limited by the same factors that planted tank people are. Plants are limited by the lowest available factor that they need to grow: light, co2, and inorganic nutrients. In your case, you have two of the three, but since you lack a carbon source, you end up with an unbalanced ecosystem that allows algae to thrive. Unfortunately in a "nonplanted tank", supplying carbon isn't a practice solution.

You can circumvent this by choosing plants that aren't as limited by aqueous carbon sources: floating plants. They generally can harvest co2 from the air, and will shade the lower plants to limit the light that gets to them. There are a number of good options available, but I would recommend a larger floating species like water lettuce or red root floater rather than the smaller but more proliferation duckweed that WILL get into your display tank.

 

[MrPhazeWun]

Interesting...and by the way thank you very much for your response.

So to make sure I understand I could do one of two things:

- Supply a Carbon Source

or

- Adding semi aquatic plants that will absorb the carbon source from the air?


Am I understanding you correctly? The reason I ask to verify (seeing how your recommendation lead to floating plants), is that I have a hefty flow, flowing through the sump, and anything floating will lead to the last chamber...I'm not sure if this is a good option for me. I could create something to prevent anything into the last chamber, but I fear that will cause blockage after time.

So if I understand correctly, if I get a CO2 defuser system of some sort, this should eventually be great for the plants and combat the algae problem?...will the liquid CO2 work as well, being that I have but one small plant in the main display?

Thanks in advance,

Luis

 

[Terrance]

I thought the wisteria was floating in your sump, which would get limited air contact. Its does not get the same amount of air c02 as thr true floating plants, but it still gets c02 with this method. You have to prune often to eliminate the dead wisteria toward the bottom and the plant debris that get trapped and prevent flow.

Liquid co2 also works. Its not as effective as the real co2, but its better than nothing.

Please keep up with weekly water changes as plants do not elimate the need to delay water changes. It just keeps your tank cleaner in between the water changes.

 

[MrPhazeWun]

Friday night I did some algae spot cleaning in the refuge, but this weekend I did a good amount water change and did some major algae cleaning (well as best I could). I also put my refugium bulb on a timer to turn on at night (starting at 10PM and turning off at 8AM). Reason I have it on at night and not the day is that I noticed some temperature rising when to refuge and the main display lights are on. I also began adding liquid CO2 Booster (that I had in the house) at night when the lights go on, to see if I see a difference. If the difference is not noticeable I 'll look at other options to add CO2 to system.

Thanks for all your help and I will keep this posted updated.