chaeto reactor working too well

[neyes_ice]

hello everyone,

 

this chaeto reactor has been running for 2 weeks, when i installed it for the 1st time it grew crazy since my nitrates and phospates were high

this 2nd week its growing kind of slow probably because nitrates have been 0 ad phosphates .03 less than a week after installation. i oversized this reactor (aquamaxx XL) for a 15 gallon tank , my thinking was so i have a long time between harvests and i wanted to see how much fish i can have, (6 fish) at the moment.

 

my question is, (see pictures) is the inside of my reactor too dirty? or is that normal to have a little bit of algae and detritus?

flow comes from my return pump (mighty jet 325 lowest setting)

light is a led bar grow light from amazon. its on at night for 11 hrs

i dose iron every other day.

[Matteo]

It is always good to clean debri out of any equipment you have. 

 

Keeps it new and fresh

Less debri means less nutrients 

better flow 

etc. 

[matth6761]

Try a couple hours less on the reactor light. I was running my fuge light opposite the display lights and ran into starvation issues, but found that running the light for 8 hours a night provided a better nutrient balance.  Also, dirty chaeto will pollute a tank.  Every month or so, I cut my chaeto ball in half and shake all the crud out of it into the dirty water change bucket. Keeps it growing well and the tank is super clean.

[Matteo]

1 hour ago, matth6761 said:

Try a couple hours less on the reactor light. I was running my fuge light opposite the display lights and ran into starvation issues, but found that running the light for 8 hours a night provided a better nutrient balance.  Also, dirty chaeto will pollute a tank.  Every month or so, I cut my chaeto ball in half and shake all the crud out of it into the dirty water change bucket. Keeps it growing well and the tank is super clean.

I should do this today...