I would remove most of the chaeto but not all of it. Leave enough of the chaeto to do it's work in case there is something else going on that is preventing the scrubber from growing right.
But I also have to ask what is going on with that chaeto. It is 90% out of the water, how does it grow/survive like that? Does it get system water dripped over it or something? I wasn't following your explanation
Don't let the throw you off. The cheato is completely under water. Hope this picture helps understand my floating refugium.
I'd still remove it. It's acting like a giant ball of nuisance algae that the scrubbers are trying to remove; thus, lots of nutrients flowing into the scrubbers, and thus dark slimey growth.
We'll did remove 3/4 of the algae. You also don't see the ditrus that has settled in my sump alway. Going to work on trying to remove that as well. I drop the the lighting time to 16 hrs on because I am seeing white on the bottom of the scrubber and was thinking the light is too bright to allow the algae to grow at the moment.
With chaeto or any macro that is grown in a fuge you need to trim it almost daily or every other day in order for it to be truly effective. For chaeto you need to rotate it to avoid shading. So having a giant ball does you little good, you want a small, mobile, fast growing ball that is constantly harvested. So yes trim the chaeto ball back to about softball size and once a day turn it over and give it a pull apart. Again, don't remove until the scrubber has proven itself.
With the white spots in the scrubber, this does indicate a lack of nutrients. What are your N and P readings?
White on the bottom is shading from the growth at the top. Needs more light.
I will do a test this weekend and let you know.
I will also go ahead and increase the light again to see it that helps.
Is the a sigh of lack of light or lack of nutrients?
The dark growth shows plenty of nutrients.
What about the beige I am seeing now
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