sump/refugium question

[Hara]

Now that the hair algae and other crap is starting to majorly break down, of course, it is ending up in the macroalgae jungle in the refugium. The
detritus is really piling up down there. I have yet another batch of crabs that should be in wednesday, but should I do some kind of cleaning in the refuge? and if so, how? I mean we are talking thicket type jungle down there.

 

[mojoreef]

Hara it sounds like a great time to do some serious harvesting. Remember the stuff doent get exported until you pull the plants out. Other types of cleaning I like to do in the refugium is with nassarius snails, they a great job on the detritus on the sand and also sift it quite well.

hope it helps


Mike

 

[Hara]

ok, I am a little confused. I thought the idea was to have a nice little jungle with assorted types of macro. The only time I have "pruned" was before the crash when I wanted to give the tangs a treat. How much harvesting needs to be done?

 

[Guest]

I think what Mojo is saying is that if the macro algea goes sexual, it releases the stuff it uses i.e. nitrates and phosphates back into the water...If you prune it, it doesn't go sexual and thus keeps using the nutrients that you want to get rid of...

 

[Hara]

I keep the lights on 24/7, nothing had gone sexual yet.

 

[Guest]

OK

 

[tyler]

the main purpose is for nutrient deportation with the benifit of giving pods and such a safe place to hang out. what type(s) of macro do you have? pruning it won't prevent it from going sexual, but in the case that it does, there is less to go sexual thus less nutrients being released into the water.

 

[Hara]

3 kinds of caulerpa, tang heaven, spaghetti macro