Preferred algae type for nutrient export.

Never gonna lose my ability to neglect or overfeed my tank. Ive run chaeto before and had good results. Asthetics dont matter, I want that algae to eat up no3 and po4 like a pig. Who's experimented with various types?

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@BackbayReef
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Aug 25#2

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I’ve done a refugium before with Dragon’s Breath- very nice coloration, some nutrient exports, home for pods, and great food source for tangs & angels. However, I can’t seem to grow anymore due to low nutrients (I favor SPS more). Why not do carbon dosing (e.g. vodka)? With my 150gal, it’s set it and forget it! I dose 10mL/day and my NO3 is under 20ppm and PO4 under 0.10ppm. On big tanks, carbon dosing cannot keep up hence I’m running sulfur denitrator.

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@mescobar

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Aug 25#3

What are the risks of overdosing carbon? You could put vodka or vinegar on a doser, but what happens if/when the doser fails on/off?

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@BackbayReef

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Aug 25#4

@mescobar wrote: What are the risks of overdosing carbon? You could put vodka or vinegar on a doser, but what happens if/when the doser fails on/off?

No different if your alk/ca doser going crazy, esp alk - that might nuke your tank faster. For my 150gal where vodka is still running, I set a max limit of 15mL/day as a failsafe. If indeed failed open, you will have excessive algae bloom and will need WCs to bring down. Depending on severity (qty of overdose) one can create more surface agitation due to oxygen-depletion, add skimmer, monitor ammonia, etc.

— /yolo

@mescobar

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Aug 25#5

@BackbayReef wrote: No different if your alk/ca doser going crazy, esp alk - that might nuke your tank faster. For my 150gal where vodka is still running, I set a max limit of 15mL/day as a failsafe. If indeed failed open, you will have excessive algae bloom and will need WCs to bring down. Depending on severity (qty of overdose) one can create more surface agitation due to oxygen-depletion, add skimmer, monitor ammonia, etc.

My understanding is that it takes much more alk/ca to kill your corals and fish rather than a carbon overdose. Agreed that WC and more surface agitation is the key to mitigating a carbon overdose. I like the refugium approach since is allows for copepods other life to populate in the tank, its just an annoying amount of maintenance to prune and manage coralline algae in the sump. Carbon dosing is a nice and easy way automate the nutrient export, however, it does come with it's own set of risks.

— Stay Salty

@BackbayReef

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Aug 25#6

As always, it depends on the tank size and level of effort required. For effective nutrient reduction, one will need at least 20-30% of total water volume. Otherwise, the refugium will just serve as a home for copepods and macroalgae food source for your fish. Besides, it can get nasty after a few years. Understood that the OP isn’t concerned about aesthetic but eventually it will look/smell nasty. I personally like the chemical approach since it’s more controllable, lower maintenance, and less messy.

— /yolo

Preferred algae type for nutrient export.

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