Fuge Questions

[d2mini]

I set up a small fuge in my sump several months ago. It has a 6" deep sandbed, some small pieces of live rock, and some chaeto. About 20% of the drain water enters the fuge, the rest goes into my skimmer section. I have a lamp that comes on at night when the tank lights go off. Pretty standard setup.

So couple things i noticed and wanted to check on.

1. The chaeto grows, but not really in a ball, just in a big mess. haha
Some of it seems to have other green algae mixed in? I dunno, hard to tell what I'm looking at. Chaeto tends to be course and not slimy, but some of mine is more gooey slimy.

2. I now have lots of coraline algae on the fuge walls. I assume this is fine? Does make it hard to see in there though. Should i clean it off the front? My sump is acrylic.

3. Is there anything to watch out for in the fuge that could negatively effect the water quality in my tank?

Thanks!

 

[project5k]

well, from what i have read you sould arrange things so that the chaeto is rolling in the water.

I have the same "slime" that grows on my calurpa in my fuge, and what i have found is that it is kinda like the starts of hair algae that is growing on a stationary object. get it rolling, and it should help out with the slime.

Corraline growth is a sign of a healthy system, from what i have heard, so i would say good goin, as for cleaning it off in the sump, i personally wouldnt, but thats just me, i think its really up to you, if you need to see then just clean one scraper's width, so you can see, but you dont get rid of it all.

as for it being on the acrylic, i've never tried to clean an acrylic tank, so i really cant offer anything usefull there, other than to start off with a plastic scraper so you dont scratch it...

the only thing that i would suggest watching out for in the fuge is with your DSB, if you stir that up, you could cause some problems, i have heard that the deeper a DSB is, the more likely that it could cause problems. There is a really interesting article about it, and its been linked to several times here on the forums, if i happen to come across that link, i'll come back here and post it, but i'm sure that if any one else reads this they will remember where that link is better than i do.

just my thoughts on it tho... i would definately difur to a more knowledageable source on this stuff, at least as a second opinion.(i still consider myself an ultra noob)

 

[Bifferwine]

The slime is probably a different type of algae, which is fine. The point of the fuge is to let all the algae grow in that, instead of in the main tank. As for the coralline, that's up to you. I know in my sump, I can't even see through the glass.

You want to watch for detritus build up on the bottom. If this starts to happen, you can either suck it out or add some hermit crabs to take care of it.

 

[Sunshine]

Are you not suppose to have a DSB in your fuge ? I thought you were. Mine is 6-7 inches. Should I take some out ?

 

[Bifferwine]

You can have a DSB in your fuge, but 6 to 7 inches really isn't deep enough, so I personally wouldn't call that a DSB. A DSB should be 9 inches or more.

 

[sen5241b]

As chaeto grows it gets more dense and thus parts of it may not get enough light. When this happens it turns white and starts to rot. Tumbling or stronger light will help.