How should a fuge look?

I wanted to know if you should clean your fuge or let the algae grow and if we do let it grow, at what point is it too much? I have chaeto and some mangroves too.

Question being because I've allowed it to grow in my fuge and it now seems to be way too much but don't want to clean it up if it's helping the tank in general.

 

What kind of algae are we talking here?

Algae has to be trimmed to have any real benefit. It absorbs nutrients (nitrogen and phosphates) but they are still in the system until you remove the algae. If you leave the algae it could go sexual or die and release the nutrients back into the water column.

 

You can trim back the chaeto some to export nutrients. Do the same with the other that grows in there just don't clean it. The idea is to have a swamp like area to trap nutrients before they get back to the main system. Trim back enough to allow a little smoother flow through.

 

I think it's pretty much green hair algae but I got some brown looking algae starting to grow in the fuge that I pulled out today. My fuge is looking pretty swampy.

My chaeto is also trapping detritus in it and has a bit of algae growing on it. Is that ok?

I also get a little bit of chaeto and some algae that will make it into the tank. Is that ok?

The pods seem to love it though because they are thriving.

 

.........Any Ideas?....Anyone want to help out to answer questions?....Please

 

You might want to rinse the chaeto out in change water to keep the detritus down. I would try and minimize any algae getting to the display tank.

 

fuges look nast after running for a while. when i first started out it was prestine clean and clear... now its over run with cheato and other stuff...

 

Ok cool. I'm going to be doing a water change today so i'll rinse my chaeto some. I get a bit of detritus on stuff in the tank too so I'll try and rinse them too. Thanks for the help. I was getting a little worried that my fuge was looking a little nuclear.

 

I just built my fuge this weekend. Plan is to put the cheato in an eggcrate box I made with an open top, plant mangroves in the cheato, and let them lose. To keep the detritus trap down, and save some headache for cleaning I'm going to get one turbo snail to clean the bottom... I don't think he'll mess with the cheato... And if he does ill just put an egg crate lid on the algae box and he wont be able to get into it. The box will be suspended above the bottom of course. From other threads a small CuC isn't unheard of in a sump/fuge... I think this will be small enough (only one big guy!) so it will be beneficial without hurting the purpose of a refugium.

All I should really need to do is trim the mangroves and cheato every once in a while.

I'd be worried about washing out a lot of pods and their eggs by washing out the cheato, but I'm a noob so this may not be a real concern.

 

If it's just to do a job then it can look like whatever.
Mine is a display fuge