Algae in Sump Refugium

[Papio]

I recently upgraded to a 100G tank with a 30 gal sump. I partitioned the sump into three sections, skimmer section with Coralvue, Extreme Reef octupus 160 skimmer; a refugium section and return section with exterior mag-12 return pump. The Refugium section contain live rock; miracle mud and caulerpa. I am using a fluorescent lights that I was using for my old ten gallon setup. Its been about 6 wks now since my set up and the caulerpa doesn/t seem to be taking and I am noticing green hairy algae build up on the refugium walls. I'm afraid this could get out of control. My nitrates and phosphates levels in the main tank are okay. Should I be concerned?Comments and/orAny suggestions?

 

[Almondsaz]

The hard part about a refugium is to leave it alone. It isn't supposed to be pretty, just functional. The green hairy algae that you have noticed, is it on the walls of the fuge and it is more of a branching? or is it in specific clumps? The branching kind has come and gone in my fuge and I would suspect that with the miracle mud you have a lot of nutrients in that compartment and that is feeding the growth. As long as it isn't in your display your fine. Mine stays contained in the fuge.

Since you are using caulerpa in the fuge are you going to leave the light on 24/7 to offset the macroalgae from going sexual? or what is your plan? Before I changed over to chaeto only, I used caulerpa prolifera and just left the light on 24/7....grew like a weed and thinned it out every three weeks.

Sounds like you have a nice setup...pics always welcome.

 

[Papio]

Some of the growth is branching and in some in clumps; The light is on for 10 hours opposite the main tank. Don't want to leave it on 24/7 to conserve energy. My sister tells me that I squeak when I walk because I'm so tight. Pics coming soon.
Thanks for the input.
Glenn