Refugium Help

[rk4435]

As you can see in the photo I have some issues with my refugium.

I've been on vacation so I expected to come home to a bit of a mess but the GHA in my fuge was a suprise. Also, my Chaeto is all strung out. Due to a delay in shipping the Chaeto was only in there for a couple of days befor I left.

How should I have my Chaeto set up in the fuge? I'm sure it should not be strung out all over the place.

If you are having trouble seeing, I have an acrylic insert in the middle section of my sump with live rock. In the background you may be able to see some of the Chaeto in my MJ1200 pumps. I currently have the refugium bare bottom.
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[bcavalli]

At least for me I found there was a lot of components to growing Chaeto with my setup. Lights - reef breeder fuge LED light (I tried a quite a few different cheap lights, non were effective) and run a 18 hr reverse cycle photo period. It likes to be tumbled so I added a power head to a chamber With a bubble trap I built into my 30 gallon breeder. I added the chamber below the drain line in the refuge. I also add a Magnesium and Iron supplement directly to the chamber as needed. Once I did everything above my Chaeto took off. Now I harvest about a softball size a week. If I had to do it over again (which Im sure I will, lol) i would have built a larger chamber for the Chaeto.

As far as the rest of my refugium I have about 1.5 " of sand for the red mangroves to root and about 30lbs of live rock. I built an overflow chamber in the back of the breeder to hold my 2nd thermometer and it helps break the surface tension of the water.

And I keep a small power head (80 gph) pointed toward the surface to keep the water circulating. Its also loaded with pods, blue legs and assorted snails. My refugium dumps by gravity fed right back into the return area of my sump.

Sorry to be so long winded.... But, after months of trial and error I finally figured out a way to grow it in a low flow environment.