Keeping my Refugium Cleaner?

[Eb0la11]

Originally Posted by ponokareefer

I'd agree with this post. I would hesitate to put fish in a refugium, as they will eat all this beneficial life. Crabs can eat this beneficial life as well, but snails should be fine. Since you have a DSB, you could look at nassarius snails to sift the sand a little. I have a few in my refuge. One thing to watch out for with snails though, is to make sure they can't get to your intakes on your pumps, as I've had a few get caught in there. I know filter socks are a bit of a controversial topic, as they catch the junk as it comes form the main tank, but then you have to change it regularly, or it becomes a nitrate factory. I use filter socks, but change them out weekly, which some people believe isn't often enough.
One other thing to consider is the age of your bulbs. I know you had said the refuge had only been set up for 2-3 months, but if you used old bulbs, that may be contributing to the algae problem.

Hmmm this is more along the lines I was thinking too. I definitely cant keep the snails in the refugium as it is setup right no, Id need to put a porous fence up that would hopefully do the job.

Bulbs arent old at all above the refugium. 5500K 27W bulbs I think is what they are. Apparently tons of reefers use them for chaeto growth over their fuge.