Cleaning the Refugium

[mikelush78]

OK I was having Nitrate problems due to a few problems...
- one being my lack of water changes
- another being I need to put Cheato in the Refugium instead of what I have in there... I was told that will help
- and also I think I am going to get a couple more Nasarious Snails.... I only see one now so i might have to bump up on the cleaning crew again...

Good news on that was that after a 30 gallon water change on my 90 gallon tank i got my nitrates back down to 20ppm (not great but not the worst either)

When I did the water change I also removed my old seaweed in the refugium because I am picking up new stuff today. When I did this i noticed that on top of the sand was allot of deterious.... or what looked like that to me... I have never cleaned my refugium only pruned the seaweed from time to time... I think this is also a leading cause of my nitrates in my tank....

Do people clean their refugiums and how often? Also how do you do it without disturbing the refugium?

I think when I get home I am just going to stir up the water and do a small Refugium only water change to get rid of the Deterius...

Also should I throw a couple Nasarious Snails in there to help or will that hurt the refugium?

 

[ToeJam]

I had Rubble rock on the bottom of mine..and only used chaeto. If its full of seaweed and growing well...

Most likely your source of your problem was the lack of maintenance honestly. If you stray from your weekly water changes or bi weekly schedule and amount ...you are asking for trouble.

For instance one may do 10% weekly changes thinking this will be fine for long term..in actuallity ...it only really slows down the eventual 50% change you may need to do long down the road unless one has a nitrate export (refuge).. The book I learned from showed how nitrates build over time regardless of 10-20% weekly changes... and it suggested that occasional large volume changes are needed ...

As for cleaning sand..i believe its recommended every 6 months to suck out about 1/4" layer off the top and or replace most of your sand... you see clumping its time..for a complete siphon out ...

thats another topic..but suck out the top layer...and yes the snails will be fine...