Anybody running a SPS tank without chaeto?

[psykobowler]

I have been running a mixed reef system with high magnesium for a while now and I noticed most algae don't grow and my chaeto appears to be dying. Do you know anybody that has successfully ran a large sps tank without macroalgae, refugium, etc and simply rely on water changes, skimming and gfo to control phosphates? I am also excluding unls and any bacteria driven systems. I am looking to rid of the chaeto and lighting a fuge. Less maintenance and less electric bill. Thanks.

 

[Pallobi]

i have no cheato or any macro in my system... even when i did try, there were no nutrients for it... i dont run any macro, or any sand, or any form of bacterial or carbon dosing at all for that matter... jus high flow barebottoms, powerful skimming, and a fair amount of acitivated carbon in dual reactors... this is jus me however...

but i say, that you do no NEED cheato at all...

 

[mrk88]

Same in my tank cheto doesnt seem to thrive.

 

[psykobowler]

Chaeto was thriving in my system until I increased the magnesium to rid it of a few hair algae clinging in a rock. The hair algae eventually died off but my chaeto also began to deteriorate. The other thing I noticed is that my glass is growing a lot of coralline algae. I do use rowaphos in a reactor and an Sro xp-3000 cone skimmer on the 200 gallon system. I am now thinking that the fuge is not necessary and that if I want to maintain high mag level in the sps dominated reef I should just get rid of the chaeto all together.

 

[psykobowler]

I also want to add that I skim wet and I use ozone for about a hour at night.

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

I prefer chaeto over gfo. GFO can be very messy and overdosed easily causing ph issues. I always try to go with the natural way in this hobby. hth Maybe you don't have enough nutrients and should be feeding more perhaps? If you don't have gfo your chaeto should take off. Try cutting back on mag and rely on just waterchanges if possible. I rarely add mag to my tank. WC's usually take care of it.

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

I prefer chaeto over gfo. GFO can be very messy and overdosed easily causing ph issues. I always try to go with the natural way in this hobby. Maybe you don't have enough nutrients and should be feeding more perhaps? If you don't have gfo your chaeto should take off. Try cutting back on mag and rely on just waterchanges if possible. I rarely add mag to my tank. WC's usually take care of it. hth

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

You also want good flow going over your chaeto it doesn't like stagnant water. What time cycle are you running for your chaeto? 24/7 is a good way to go..

 

[msp307]

I run no cheato just wet dry and skimmer

 

[msp307]

And calcium rxx and phosban reactor

 

[Western_reefer]

I don't have chaeto either...

 

[ColaAddict]

"SaltwaterAdict" how often do you do water changes with the chaeto?

 

[psykobowler]

My chaeto is located in the first section of the sump that is bombarted by the overflow water. There is definitely no issue with flow. The chaeto actually thrived in this section because the flow prevented the chaeto from clumping. I harvested enough chaeto here to put in my 500 system. The deterioration occurred after the magnesium was added. My other systems have healthy chaeto but receives no mag addition.

Maybe I'll just lower the mag level to around 1300 and go from there.

 

[psykobowler]

You also want good flow going over your chaeto it doesn't like stagnant water. What time cycle are you running for your chaeto? 24/7 is a good way to go..

I run my fuge light from 10pm to 4pm set on the apex controller.

 

[chercm]

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

 

[msp307]

I need zeovit

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

"SaltwaterAdict" how often do you do water changes with the chaeto?

I strive for weekly waterchanges, but sometimes go every 2 wks when time is tight. I'm a big proponent on small frequent wc's because of the numerous benefits, stability being the big one.

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

My chaeto is located in the first section of the sump that is bombarted by the overflow water. There is definitely no issue with flow. The chaeto actually thrived in this section because the flow prevented the chaeto from clumping. I harvested enough chaeto here to put in my 500 system. The deterioration occurred after the magnesium was added. My other systems have healthy chaeto but receives no mag addition.

Maybe I'll just lower the mag level to around 1300 and go from there.

Sounds like a good setup and plan!

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

I run my fuge light from 10pm to 4pm set on the apex controller.

I find the chaeto grows and does best for me with lights on 24/7. If the mag decrease doesn't work then maybe you could try this. Just a thought..

 

[ColaAddict]

I strive for weekly waterchanges, but sometimes go every 2 wks when time is tight. I'm a big proponent on small frequent wc's because of the numerous benefits, stability being the big one.

Do you do 10% or 20% water changes every week? With weekly water changes, you probably don't need to dose anything, right? I'm contemplating whether to do weekly or every 2 week water changes VS buying a cal or kalk reactor. of course use chaeto.