Refugium Algae

[LoyalConvict]

What type of Macro Algae does everyone use in thier fuge's? And what type of substrate?

[Octopussie]

i use cheatomorpha and 5" of live sand.

[SuperAWE]

chaeto and 4-6" dsb

[Sk8r]

Cheatomorpha. No roots, so it's safe if it gets loose. Harder to grow than caulerpa, needs flow and light, but much nicer.

[djcerna]

Cheato is great! It removes much of my excess nutrients from my main tank.
Plenty of people selling on the for sale forum.

[LoyalConvict]

Thanx, only reason i asked is cos i have no macro in my 30 gallon fuge, and was gonna put a bunch of my cheato in there, i just wanted to see if any one used Halimeda in thier fuge's. i dont like it because whene it dies off it leaves a layer of dead white "leaf's" on my sand bed, and i was also told it uses alot of calcium carbinate, i also have smooth leaf kelp, very hard to find i got mine as a "hitch hiker" on an order of tonga live rock. and also i have a mangrove plant. is cheato the most benificial macro algae?...oh and i was also thinking of getting rid of my crushed coral and replacing it with live sand, and on another post i was told to get rid of my fiji refugium mud. is the mud that bad to have in a fuge? its in a seperate area of my fuge taking up maybe 1/4 of my 55. sorry for such the long post and thanx again

[pjf]

I like chaetomorpha because it requires no substrate. An upward current keeps it floating at the surface near the light. By removing the chaetomorpha and placing it in a bucket, the refugium sump is easily cleaned.

[92reefer]

I've placed Cheato in my return sump with a 5100K bulb (melev's reef.com) but it's not growing very much. I don't have any coral rubble or DSB in the plexiglass cube (10 inch X 10 inch) at this point. Do I need to run either or am I just fine with the Cheato floating. I'm gettin lots of upward water movement so far

[mg426]

Chaeto here with a DSB.

[LoyalConvict]

when i first got my hunk of cheato "freebie from foster and smith one time i went there" at that time i had very little light over it and it grew slow at first, then after a while started going crazy, i now have a monster hunk taking up a third of my 55 gallon fuge and i'm constantly ripping hunks off and throwing out, "after i tear it apart in a bucket of salt water and shake it so i can use the little star fish to feed to my wrasse and pseodochromis", oh yea i am only running a 15 watt T-8 daylight, but next to it i am running a 65 watt PC dual daylight actinic for my smooth leaf kelp, oh and to finally answer your question my friend had sum cheato in a bare sump and had to prune once a week also, he uses 2, 18 watt PC

[kdblove_99]

Yeah Cheato and live rock is what i have and some live sand