refugium/ats

i have a refugium coupled with an ats system. water trickles down from my main tank, hits the ats (which by the way is growing a thick red/brown algae). underneath the ats is the refugium (same tank) which i have one inch of refugium mud covered with about 2 inches of crushed coral. is this a good set up? do i need to improve it? my only problem is that i dont have a way of filtering the water prior to it going into my ref/ats (mechanical filtering). so on the surface, a lot of gunk is building up.

i siphoned up most of what i knew didnt look healthy and now considering adding a macro algae to assist in phos/nit reduction, even though tests kits show no traces. What kind of algae should i use?

i used caulerpa and pinkish, cottonballish algae starting growing. i figured maybe the circulation was the problem. adding small powerhead. algae still present. remove caulerpa. wonder what algae works best in ref/ats. if anyone knows, or can recommend one, please respond. thanks.

 

An ATS gives the same benefits as growing macro in the fuge. Regardless of type, the point is for nutrient export. At some point, growth will be limited to available nutrients... nitrates PO4. Zero nitrates does not men zero. It means the algae it taking them up as soon as they are produced. Which is good. You have zero accumulating.

How does your fuge overflow??? if it is below the surface, you will have a film of organics on top, because it is skimmed from the tank.

Crushed coral is no good. Too big and collects too much crap. If all you want to do is grow pods you can just use rock rubble. If you want to do a DSB. then take out the crushed coral, and replace with oolitic sand. It's fine.

I don't really see your setup lacking other than the crushed coral. I don't filter my fuge. All that stuff feeds the micro fauna. You could just do away with the ATS and just grow cheato in the fuge if you like. I would be curious which one worked better for you. But I would ditch the crushed coral for sand or rock rubble.

 

i agree with removing the crushed coral, and that chaeto would be a good substitute for the pink furry algae and caulerpa....easy to grow etc....Will do the same thing as the ATS. The chaeto tends to outcompete it from tank threads available on the ATS site, but it all depends on lighting etc.. I am sure. Have fun and let us know how it all works out for you.