Refugium is dead

[jphauler]

My Ref for my 75G RR is in bad shape. The plants (unknow type - green stringy with round bulb "leaves") have slowly dissapeared and is causing my tank to have mucho detritus. Should I remove the plant and look for replacement? If so, where? What kind?

My water is:
Magnesium 1200; Calcium 425; Alk 6; Nitrate 1; Phosphate 1; PH 8; Salinity 1.026

Suggestions?

BTW, the ref has been in use for 13 months and was growing great. I had to cut the plant monthly.

Thank you.

[bertoni]

Sounds like you might have had Caulerpa racemosa. Without knowing for sure, it's hard for me to guess the problem. You could try Chaetomorpha or C. brachypus if you would like to try a new species.

The pH is a bit low, 8.3 would be better. Is the plant dying or just growing more slowly? Maybe an iron supplement would help? There's more info in the chemistry forum on that.

Isn't alk 6 a bit low? I usually work in meq.

Are your lights in the refugium dimming with age?

[jphauler]

I'm not sure what meq. is. Also, I rechecked my Ph and it is 8.4. My alk hovers around 6-7. Is this low? The lights seems to be ok. I will change them. Is it ok to buy ref plants over the internet?

Thanks,
Robert

Originally posted by bertoni
Sounds like you might have had Caulerpa racemosa. Without knowing for sure, it's hard for me to guess the problem. You could try Chaetomorpha or C. brachypus if you would like to try a new species.

The pH is a bit low, 8.3 would be better. Is the plant dying or just growing more slowly? Maybe an iron supplement would help? There's more info in the chemistry forum on that.

Isn't alk 6 a bit low? I usually work in meq.

Are your lights in the refugium dimming with age?

[bertoni]

As bulbs age, they get dimmer. Your eyes won't necessarily be able to see the difference.

If you're measuring alk in dkh, I think you're at the low end of the acceptable range. You might want to raise it, I'd recommend doing a search in the chemistry forum. One of the sticky notes at the top has a lot of good links.

Algae over the internet is fine. Inland Aquatics and ipsf.com have been good suppliers for me, but there are lots of good places to buy algae.