Chaeto in sump with high flow?

[lagatbezan]

i was wondering if i would be able to put chaeto in my sup for my 240g to help lower my nitrates.
My sump is 46g and has a water flow of about 1000 gph. now is that too much flow for them?

 

[silverwolf72]

I see no reason why not.

 

[papagimp]

I see a reason why not, if the water is flowing to fast by the cheato, it may not be able to properly absorb nutrients as needed. Couldn't say if 1000gph is too much or not though, since I haven't experimented with this. Just an educated assumption though, may work just fine. I"ve never gone beyong 700gph in my fuge and when I went from 300gph to the 700gph pump, the effectiveness of my fuge went way downhill. No longer keeping my nitrates at 0, but there may be other factors involved.

 

[lagatbezan]

would it be harmful if i tried it?
i don't know if it is Chaeto or not, but i read somewhere where some release toxins into the system if the was too much flow or too little light.

 

[papagimp]

I doubt it would hurt to try at all. Give it a go and let us know. Cheato is really easy to identify, looks like a big balled up "green yarn ball". I've never heard of cheato realeasing anything toxic. When it dies, or any macro algae for that matter, it can release the nitrates and phospahtes back into the water, and decaying plant matter is a large source of phsophates. Other types of macro, like caulapra can go assexual (where cheato does not, at least not often) this can cause lot's of fun little problems.