Algae refugium? Reactor? Scrubber

[Carlosmc151]

Hello, everyone,
I've been battling hair algae for a few months and am considering getting a sea hare to tackle the short-term problem. I have a Red Sea 350, and my sump is already quite full with a Reefmat, UV sterilizer, skimmer, and pump.
I would like to set up a refugium with Chaeto, but I'm unsure how to connect my tank to a second one for that purpose. I've also looked into hang-on refugiums, but I'm concerned about whether the glass can support one.
Are there any retail solutions for a side-by-side refugium? Should I consider getting a small algae reactor or scrubber instead? Are there any chemical treatments that can help stop hair algae from affecting my corals?
Thanks for your help!

 

[Reeferbadness]

I would recommend tuxedo or other urchins. They are algae eating machines, even when it's a little longer. Turbo snails are also pretty good. My tangs also pick at algae all day so in combo they keep things very managable. Also, it's important to try and export what you can - using a siphon you can suck out lots of longer hair algae. Refugium's are ok, they help for sure but also can lead to nitrate deficiency suck up other trace elements out of proportion to what you are adding back with water changes. Good luck

 

[Carlosmc151]

I have turbo snails, tuxedo urchins, and 3 tangs. I don't overfeed; in fact, I do the opposite. My light configuration has withes at 10%.
I do a water change of 20% every week ..

 

[exnisstech]

IME chaeto has done nothing to help with reducing GHA. It's great place for pods and other little critters to grow.
A scrubber has helped keep it at bay so far in my new build but not sure if you have room for one.

 

[Carlosmc151]

Is that a surf?

Maybe I could place it there?

 

[NeedAReef]

what kind of scrubber is that?

 

[VintageReefer]

It’s a surf and I highly recommend it
A surf 2 is the ONLY filtration on my 75g reef. I don’t do water changes, I don’t use mechanical filtration or rollers, I don’t have a skimmer

Tank pics - I have 7 fish, tons of coral, I feed heavy.

 

[NeedAReef]

wow, not inexpensive, what air pump do you run it with? should have asked that earlier sorry

 

[VintageReefer]

Surf 2 is 300$ and while not cheap it’s comparable to other equipment like a skimmer or sump. Cheaper than most lighting. Cheaper than a controller system.

To put in perspective, they last forever and don’t need anything replaced or refilled. I bought mine in 2013 for $350, and they sell for $300 today. That was a one time price I paid and I’ve literally got over a decade of use out of it, running every single day, and it still works good as new

Air pump:

OxyMax 200 Air Pump - Oase

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

 

[NeedAReef]

thanks for the info. you run all day then or just off from light cycle?

 

[VintageReefer]

There’s a development period where the algae colony needs to form, instructions are provided. After about 4 weeks you start tweaking the hours to your systems needs. You always want the scrubbers run time to correspond with night time and overlap with display lights for some of daytime

For me, I need the scrubber leds on 18 hours a day. So I have the scrubber running during all of my overnight period and 6 hours of my tanks daytime

If you need more nitrate / phosphate, you reduce the leds hours

If you want lower nitrate and phosphate, you increase the scrubber led runtime.

18 hours a day keeps me at nitrate 5-8 And phosphate .05-.08

 

[VintageReefer]

I’ve used mechanical timers but switched to a kasa wifi timer and won’t look back

 

[exnisstech]

Is that a surf?

Maybe I could place it there?

what kind of scrubber is that?

Sorry, you gotta tag me or I don't know you asked a question @VintageReefer has answered. He was instrumental in my decision to go with the surf 4 shown above on my new tank of 285g total volume. It's working so well I recently added a surf 2 to my reefer 170.
I got both on sale @premiumaquatics for a good price with free shipping and sales tax included in the price.

 

[VintageReefer]

I just checked. Still on sale. A good price too!

 

[NeedAReef]

I just checked. Still on sale. A good price too!

pulled the trigger, installed today, hoping for the best!!!

 

[Treefer32]

I run a turbo aquatics L4 ATS on my 340 gallon. It grows a ton of hair algae every 7-10 days. However, I can't keep up with Phosphate generation. I also have a skimmer and reefmat 1200. Phosphates continue to rise despite these. I thought about another Turbo Aquatics scrubber but, it's more maintenance than I would like every 5-10 days. I run the lights on it around 23/7 1 hour off. I'll check out the Surf, it looks easier to maintain than the Turf scrubber, but wondering if it's as efficient with a top down only light.

 

[VintageReefer]

I run a turbo aquatics L4 ATS on my 340 gallon. It grows a ton of hair algae every 7-10 days. However, I can't keep up with Phosphate generation. I also have a skimmer and reefmat 1200. Phosphates continue to rise despite these. I thought about another Turbo Aquatics scrubber but, it's more maintenance than I would like every 5-10 days. I run the lights on it around 23/7 1 hour off. I'll check out the Surf, it looks easier to maintain than the Turf scrubber, but wondering if it's as efficient with a top down only light.

It’s extremely efficient and instead of growi no a sheet it grows a 2” thick block of algae.

For your phosphate situation you may need a big surf or multiple units. It’s extremely easy to harvest. No scraping or rinsing. I just grab a handful and pull it out. Takes 3 seconds. Leave some behind to regrow. Been using my surf for 10 years, dm me if you need help

 

[Treefer32]

It’s extremely efficient and instead of growi no a sheet it grows a 2” thick block of algae.

For your phosphate situation you may need a big surf or multiple units. It’s extremely easy to harvest. No scraping or rinsing. I just grab a handful and pull it out. Takes 3 seconds. Leave some behind to regrow. Been using my surf for 10 years, dm me if you need help

Thank you. Yeah, I feed around 6-8 cubes of frozen food (a combination of brine, mysis, and krill) daily, 1 sheet of nori daily, and around 6-8 cubes of freeze dried food via the avast plank autofeeder.

All food is consumed rapidly and tangs still munch on algae on the rocks constantly. My fish all wait by the plank auto feeder pipe in full anticipation of the next feeding time and they eat it as soon as it comes out of the pipe. I had to up my feeding because I noticed my clowns were fighting more agressively than ever for food. I knew they weren't getting much scraps.

Approximately 23 -24 fish, half of them in the 6-14" in size. (one tang at dang near 14")

 

[VintageReefer]

I have the smaller one, surf 2. Rated for 2 cubes of food a day. I find they are conservative in the ratings and I was feeding 3 cubes daily with no issues.

Now I’m feeding 1-2 cubes, 1/4-1/2 sheet nori, and I added a plank that runs 3 min a day (not sure what that equals to)

My nitrates and phosphates increased slightly but are remaining stable.

 

[Treefer32]

According to avast 1 minute of feeding should be close to 1 cube of frozen food. I never checked them in that. But seems a reasonable estimation. I might have to consider selling my turf scrubber and get a surf 4. I'm tired of cleaning the canvas every week plus the acrylic insert. I neglected it one week and had the gate valve on it set too open actually overflowed onto the floor because the algae was plugging the main and emergency drain. So much easier to train someone else on cleaning this while on vacation.