Anybody running a SPS tank without chaeto?

[psykobowler]

i run zeovit , no need what ever gfo or chaeto. my po4 =0 tested with hanna

I ran probidio, mb7, vodka and warner marine biopellet at one time in this tank. Besides killing all algae including chaeto and having crystal clear water, all of my lps, sps and 2 of my clams became pale and died. I have one Maxima that survived and a few mushrooms. I don't think lps and softies do well in a mixed reef or sps dominated tank. I have acros now that I have had for 6 months and I credit this "success" due to kalkwasser, rowaphos, 2 part and mag additions and chaeto.

My approach to carbon dosing has totally changed. I use vodka to kick start a new system but i stop once i get a bit of cyano or black algae and then i rely on chaeto, reef crystals and kalkwasser to do its magic. Prodibio biodigest and mb7 are added during the first few weeks. One thing I did not realize about carbon dosing is that once you get near UNLS the alkalinity should not be higher than 7 or natural seawater. I have burned the acros and killed so much before.

I am liking the kalkwasser and gfo route. My acro sticks are actually branching now. alk at 10, cal at 500 and mag at 1500.

 

[psykobowler]

I am officially running my tanks without chaeto. Hope it works!

 

[LifeAquatic]

Ive always run Cheato in my SPS tank. About two months ago I removed all the Cheato and my nitrates started to rise. So far Ive lost two birds nest from what I believe to be nitrate issues. I have now added Cheato back to the system and am doing weekly water changes until nitrates are at zero again.

 

[psykobowler]

I siphon my sump weekly as part of my water change routine and I try not to overfeed my tank. No nitrate issue at all. I have a ton of live rock in my sump, no sand.

 

[allsps40]

No chaeto for me. Removed my fuge a while ago, no3 went up some but good husbandry keeps it low.

 

[M007]

Zip, zero, nada!

 

[64Ivy]

No cheato here either. Gfo, kalkwasser topoffs and water changes.

 

[prop-frags]

Never had any luck keeping Cheato alive. It always seems to wither away. I tend to agree with most of the feedback here; frequent water changes, no fad dosing, just keep detritus out, keep alk and ca steady, and success follows. I haven't given up on refugium though - going back to grape calurpa (sp). Never had any problems with it, and I don't think I like running this GFO - seems unnatural.

 

[coralreefhq]

No cheato here, I did run mangroves before.
Now it's just heavy skimming and a few reactors, carbon, gfo and lsm.

Didn't have much success growing it.

 

[blakers82]

No cheato here either. Gfo, kalkwasser topoffs and water changes.

What he said! I do have live rock in my fuge section of sump. Actually a soccerball sized GSP rock. LOL. I have a light on it when displays are off.

 

[allsps40]

^ I may do something like this in my drain section of my sump.