two of my sumps are ten gallons built into the sump with a 4inch sand bed. My show tank sump is about 14-15 gallons also with a 4 -5 inch sand bed. I have the refugiums plumbed off the drain lines with ball valves at different drains rates to see what works better.
All my levels are right on target expect nitrates. I thought nitrates were good for the cheato and I know are bad for the tank so I keep that hovering around 10-15ppm (salifert test).
My show tank, i gave up on that refugium since my nitrates are 10 or lower salifert test and cheato will not grow. It stays the same size ball (tennisball size) I really don't want to go and let nitrates get high since i have my acans, acros and millies in that tank.
I thought I read (probably wrong) but I thought that cheato will grow with lights also if nutrients were low. But would grow like a “weed” if right lights and nutrients were available to feed off.
Here is my chemistry as I run the test in my show tank down stairs
Temp 77 in tank (sump 79.5)
Ph 8.20 (all test salifert)
Salinity 1.26 refract
Cal 480 (reactor set on auto with ph monitor running co2)
NO3 15ppm also done with (pinpoint monitor reading 12)
Nitrites 0
NH4 0
I2 is between 0.06 >0.01
Kh/alk 9
I just thought of something as I was running my test and looked at my sump light (shop dome fixture w/65k pink dayglo bulb )
I have the light set up hanging over at an angle to the refugium at about 1ft away to avoid salt creep and splashing. Could that be to far away? All my sump lights are the same and at the same distance or greater.