smallest useful cheato refugium???

[duganderson]

I'm thinking about adding a light to the back of my back compartment on a 15 g. AIO cube to add cheato.  The compartment is only about 6" tall X 2.34" left to right X 2 5/8 front to back.

 

Is this big enough to grow cheato and be useful?

 

What light would you use to mount to the back glass to light this?

 

How often would you estimate that I'd need to harvest the cheato on this mixed reef tank?

[TheKleinReef]

that'd be roughly 0.6% system volume which is kinda small for a fuge but that doesn't account for any sand/rock displacement in your system.

 

alot of people run chaeto in their rear chambers.

 

4 hours ago, duganderson said:

Is this big enough to grow cheato and be useful?

i'd think about it this way, bigger might be better, but not having something to help export nutrients can be helpful even if it's "undersized"

 

4 hours ago, duganderson said:

What light would you use to mount to the back glass to light this?

tunze makes a submersible one!

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ecochic-waterproof-refugium-led-light-8831-00-tunze.html?queryID=267e1534054ed553f2d11511db399614&objectID=9062&indexName=brs_prod_m2_default_products

 

4 hours ago, duganderson said:

How often would you estimate that I'd need to harvest the cheato on this mixed reef tank?

 

this is hard to quantify, if the algae gets enough light and has enough nutrients it could be a weekly 50% harvest

 

 

TLDR: i'd do it, but i like doing things for fun

[geekreef_05]

Yes the chamber is big enough to run a useful fuge. 

 

Could be chaeto, Mangroves or just biocubes. With macro algae's you'll know they're useful if they are growing. However if you have a low nutrient system, they may shrink up and fade away.

 

Really depends on the nutrient levels of your 15 AIO. 

 

How many fish? Feeding often? 

Whats your nitrates and phosphates at? 

 

That said, for the cost of cheato and cheap growlight, id always say its worth a try. Even if the cheato dies, it wont negatively effect youre aquarium. 

[Tired]

If you need to reduce nutrients, it's worth a shot. If you don't need to reduce 'em, don't bother.

[KC2020]

22 minutes ago, geekreef_05 said:

Yes the chamber is big enough to run a useful fuge. 

 

Could be chaeto, Mangroves or just biocubes. With macro algae's you'll know they're useful if they are growing. However if you have a low nutrient system, they may shrink up and fade away.

Mangroves can take months to get established and start to grow. So while it may be fun to have one I wouldn't rely on it to remove excess nitrates or phosphates quickly.

22 minutes ago, geekreef_05 said:

That said, for the cost of cheato and cheap growlight, id always say its worth a try. Even if the cheato dies, it wont negatively effect youre aquarium. 

If you want Clean Cheato it's not what I would call cheap. Getting it from a friend's tank means you get all the bristleworms and other pests in that system for free. 🤔

I'm in the same boat though. I'm tying to decide if a reactor would be better than relinquishing the center chamber on my AIO 12 and AIO 20. 

 

[duganderson]

30 minutes ago, geekreef_05 said:

How many fish? Feeding often? 

Whats your nitrates and phosphates at? 

Only one clown because I'm restarting a new tank with old rock.  I had a crash and have only had a clown for a few years.  Starting to stock coral and would like to feed heavily for the corals and fish.

 

Thank you everyone for your thoughts

 

[Staticmoves]

Bio media in that chamber may give you more juice for the squeeze.  Without Cheato possibly plugging up plumbing when your not home.

if your set on a fuge, there are small HOB style ones.

Just some more food for thought.

cheers…..

[KC2020]

I was just reading this review by @billygoat of his IM AIO 40 and found this comment pertinent.

 

"...the cramped and narrow space inside of the overflow chamber where the media caddy sits gets insufficient flow to grow chaetomorpha. The light being stuck right to the glass also causes intense pest algae growth back there, and barbeques the chaeto since it's less than a centimeter away from the diodes. I do not recommend trying to use the sump as a refugium in this way."

[geekreef_05]

On 2/14/2024 at 5:39 PM, duganderson said:

Only one clown because I'm restarting a new tank with old rock.  I had a crash and have only had a clown for a few years.  Starting to stock coral and would like to feed heavily for the corals and fish.

 

Thank you everyone for your thoughts

 

I agree with Staticmoves, biomedia back there or even LR rubble is your best bet for space and bioload.

 

In terms of space, cheato likes to tumble. I doubt the back chamber would be enough for a cheato fuge. 

 

And in terms of bioload, even if you had two clowns and a goby, and a small shrimp colony... it would be tough to feed enough to sustain cheato. 

 

A simple nano skimmer maybe another alternative. I also perfer natural filtration, but a skimmer has its benefits too.