6 week old refugium....some brown/rust algea coating mud

thanks everyone for your input; 6th week now and red algea has subsided in the fuge; phosphate remover and filtered water have helped; no levels across the board Percula and dottyback are happy campers;


newest problem is air bubbles in the tank; they are in the sump near the return pump and cant seem to mellow them; will this hurt the fish??

 

No it won't hurt the fish but it makes the tank look cloudy. Since your sump is already online, it's hard to build a bubbletrap without stopping the entire system because the glue needs time to dry. (The down/up/down dividers before the return pump on this attachment is a bubble trap http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html )

Many people in your position have had great success in trapping these bubbles with small-micron filterbags (or even pantyhose) to make the bubbles so small that they don't show up in the display tank. However, even though it is not filtration media, it will act just the same. It needs to be cleaned often so that detritus does not break down on it. You could solve this by have more than one pair of pantyhose or micron filter fabric and changing daily or you can solve this by removing, rinsing, and replacing daily.

 

Great Link!!! thanks much; so i got some chemi pure and slung it over the bubble trap area btw the skimmer return and the return pump and that seems to be working......I have a bubble trap btw the fuge and the return pump , but the guy that designed it didnt fasten it in, so there is a slim space on e the side that allows bubbles to come up along the side;;;;that was a mouthful,,,,

thanks again

 

Glad I could help.

C