Refugium Q

[Venaman]

my refugium has hair algae in it. . do iwant this to grow?
or should i clean it up in there??

and just out of curiousity y does the algae only grow in the refugium and not in the tank?

[scubadude]

Originally posted by Venaman
my refugium has hair algae in it. . do iwant this to grow?
or should i clean it up in there??

and just out of curiousity y does the algae only grow in the refugium and not in the tank?

That should be one of the sole reasons for using a Refugium IMO, Especially if you can harvest it.....Its like have a natural skimmer built
into the system. Im sure it will support some kind of growth in the main tank too, but you will be able to control it through the refugium via exporting it. Alot of ppl like different kinds (more decorative) of algae but if you let a tank tank its natural course on the one thing that grows the best it will be better in the long run IMO Grape calerpa is what im using in my Refug....but it can be toxious if it goes sexual. You may want to try an emerald crab or two and/or maybe a lawnmower blenny or some other predator of HA if it gets out of hand. Even though I have majority of Grape calerpa in my refug. I do have some HA in there too...but there is none in the main tank and there is a Lawnmower Blenny in my tank that catches any that starts to grow.

[Venaman]

ya i have razor caulerpa and a red caulerpa in their as well as a mangrove. .
its not a lot in their but its a start. .
im putting LR soon and the HA isnt out of control but i have a couple snails in there eating some of it. . and a lawnmower Blenny in my main tank ..
i get trace amounts of HA on the front glass, but its so little that it doesnt even look green it just looks like white hair that is barely visible. .
and i get quite a bit of hair algae on the sand bed. .
its slowly going away but i cant understand y my hermits wont eat it. .
the blenny eats alot of it

[reefhead]

I have 7 different kinds of macro algea.

IME the hair algea is home to so many pods-- its like a breeding ground for those guys!


cheers,
Joe

[Venaman]

pods are always good. .
as long as i dont get too man

[reefhead]

say what

[Venaman]

haah as long as dont get too many i mean to say