chaeto in main tank?

[vickreyreef]

i don't have a fuge nor space for one (90 g corner unit) can i put it in the main tank? will it continue to grow? (20k mh with 150 w DE bulbs) do i have to have fuge to reap benefits??

 

[icy1155]

It works just as fine in the tank as in a refugium. One option is to make a wall of it using some egg crate. Here is a picture of the one that I helped my girlfriend make for her tank...

All it is is 2 pieces of egg crate attached with epoxy to one another in the shape of a flattened "V". Then we poked the cheato through the holes in the egg crate and pushed it into the sand a little bit so it stayed where it was. We also put the heater and the intake of the HOB filter behind it and the output of the filter in front so that there is good water flow across the wall which ive found increases growth. Hope this helps.

 

[karlyhui]

hi

but doesn't cheato need to be clean or it will return the nitrates back to the water.

I am just pick up info on cheato

thanks

 

[icy1155]

No, cheato just needs to be trimmed every so often for nutrient export... for us its about 1x a week. It sucks up all the nitrates/phospahte in the water to grow so there are non laying around in it. We have never rinsed the cheato in that tank because we didnt even consider it (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, 0 phospahte ) and we wanted to leave all of the little critters in it happy. There are tons of pods, mysis shrimp, and mini brittle stars living in there. Im not saying that this is a cure all for nitrate, but it certinally does more good than harm.

 

[karlyhui]

Hi

You sold me on Cheato with those numbers. I am battling a nitrate of 60 since a addition of a 4 inch blueface.

Thanks for the info

 

[smoney]

That's a good idea for the chaeto eggcrate, just one suggestion though, if you have tangs in your main tank they will devour it.

 

[vickreyreef]

do emerald crabs eat it as well?

 

[icy1155]

Cant speak for tangs, but our emerald crab only nibbled it a little... nothing really noticeable.

 

[jong101]

why not get a hang on refuge? i know its not gonna be giving you quite that much space, but at least it keeps it out of your display, personally it doesn't look like a natural sea scape to me