HOB fuge flow

[pchromis]

I have been running a HOB Aquafuge PS made by CPR. It has live sand, chaeto and some lr in it. The chaeto has been growing fine and water parameters are all good. It uses a Maxijet 1200. However, there is some algae looking gunk just sitting on top of the fuge water surface. I can only attribute this the flow rate as this fuge just overflows into main tank.
Does anyone have any suggestions about moving the fuge water somewhat more!

 

[brucoh]

What size is your aquafuge? I have the med. size and run a maxijet 900 on mine. A 1200 seems like alot of flow. I had cyno algae growing on top of my chaeto so I bought some ROWAphos phosphate remover, put it in a filter bag and placed it in the inlet tube section of my fuge. The water flowing into the fuge from the aquarium flows right through it. This cleared all the cyno out and also keeps my fuge and aquarium alot cleaner. I don't have to clean the glass nearly as often. I also try to flip my cheato over every couple of days just so the water doesn't stagnate on top of it. ROWAphos made a huge difference for me. I love that stuff.

 

[pchromis]

I have the large size,,,4.5 gallons. The thing is mine has the built in PS and it owuld be difficult to put in that inlet chamber...Maybe I can put it in the cannister filter?

 

[corally]

pchromis, are you using the light that came with your HOB? I have that same fuge but I cannot get any chaeto to grow. I'm using the light that came with it though.

 

[pchromis]

Yea, its the 20w light. I run it opposite the DT lighting and the chaeto is growing fine. I probably have a phosphate problem as stated here.

 

[brucoh]

You can set a bag of ROWAphos on your sand bed of your fuge and it wouldn't hurt anything. Putting one in your canister filter would be a great idea though because you'd get a very high flow of water through it. If you put it in your fuge just know that your chaeto won't grow as fast because it will be competing with the ROWAphos for nutrients. That's not a bad thing though, just means your fuge is now a really good phosphate magnet. I used to pull a big handfull of chaeto out each week. Now I have a good chunk that doesn't grow a whole lot but looks very green and healthy. Just make sure dunk and turn over your chaeto so it doesn't have crap stagnating on top of it and if it looks like you have cyno or something growing on top, pull it off by hand.
Corally, not getting your chaeto to grow is not a bad problem to have. It means you have water that's low in phosphates and nutrients, which is the point of a fuge anyway. If it's growing like a weed like mine used to, it means your water quality isn't so great. My chaeto was growing so fast and my tank still had a bad hair algae problem. The light that came with your fuge is good enough. I think mine is only about 15w and it works great.
Take it as a sign of good water quality.