Chaeto Algae growing like crazy, what to do with it?

[Jetziel]

So i bought a ball less than a month ago, maybe 1/4 pond of it. Recently looked into the sump to turn the Algae and noticed its almost taking the whole middle part of my sump. i removed most of it and placed it in a bucket and it almost filled the whole thing!

What should i do with it? trash it? Try and sell it? Eat it? (Can you even eat this?)

 

[DLreef]

Trash half of it and repeat when it regrows.

Hoping mine grows that fast

 

[karimwassef]

give it to poor new reefers or give it back to the LFS for credit.

I decided to keep it in a grow out tank and then sell it

 

[Jetziel]

Trash half of it and repeat when it regrows.

Hoping mine grows that fast

I have a led reef light that i used on my biocube a year ago and have it on the sump, i run it 24/7

 

[Jetziel]

Ill try and give it away, not many people i know have reef tanks

 

[karimwassef]

there's probably a RI forum somewhere here or a local marine society. post and they will come

 

[Jetziel]

So from the 24th when i posted this, i got rid of almost a bucket full of the Chaeto, i sold a good amount and stayed with two small balls worth one for me and one for a friend. today the 28th i look at my sump to see why my ATO bucket was lower than normal and noticed that the Chaeto grew again pretty fast, its maybe half a 5 gallon bucket.

Should i be worried that its growing so fast in my sump? Also i am getting tons of hair algae growing in the sump, i do not see any on my Display Tank, heard having hair algae is good in the sump. should i put some snails and hermits down there? Should i give the sump/algae less light (Currently running it 24/7)

 

[dochoot]

Sounds like your fuge is doing what it should.

 

[Jetziel]

Recently did tests and my main tanks phosphate reads at 0ppm, how in the world is the Chaeto growing so damn fast, cant be just the lights lol.

 

[karimwassef]

that means that your chaeto is absorbing your excess phosphates... that's why it's zero.

Think of it like this: The phosphates is in your chaeto's growth. The light is the energy source to inject it into chaeto tissue. More growth = more phosphate is available and enough energy exists to convert it to new growth.

Here's another way to think of it: You have an open tap over a sink with an open drain. The sink never gets full because the drain is open - that doesn't mean that no water is running into it.

The water level in the sink is the phosphate level you measured. The open tap is the phosphate you're generating by feeding, etc... the open drain is the chaeto absorbing the phosphate.

 

[Jetziel]

Makes sense now that you put it that way. Figured the Chaeto would take all the phosphate and stop growing.

I did notice that it has gotten so big this time around that its almost taking up my middle sump compartment and it may be trapping food from the main tank that comes down from the overflow.