Chaeto is turning white

fixedpoint

New member
I recently setup a 27 gallon reef tank with a 13 gallon fuge. Two weeks ago, the tank finished its cycle and I added a small clean up crew to the tank as well as macroalgae and pods to the fuge.

Unfortunately, my chaeto began turning white/translucent and decaying. I read a number of threads and it seems like the best guess is that either there is too much light or too little flow.

I run my fuge light on a reverse schedule with 12 hours of light from a little LED light. Originally, I had it on full brightness, but I just dialed it back to the dimmest setting last night. Also, I have ulva in my fuge as well.

Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: 7 ppm, Phosphate .02 ppm, Calcium: 365 ppm, Alkalinity: 6.3 dKH, Magnesium: 1200 ppm, Salinity: 1.025 SG, pH: 8.3 (As a side note, I began dosing baking soda today to bring the alkalinity up.)

Here is an image of the sump/fuge that may help. If you look closely you will notice that some clumps of chaeto are turning white.

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/38664265/fuge.jpg" width="800" />

If you look too closely, you will notice that some of the gadgetry that was velcroed or otherwise stuck to the lacquer finished stand has fallen off. :sad2: If you have ideas about how to get sticky things to stick to lacquer, I would love to hear it.
 
looks like you have everything in place for good chaeto growth...in my humble opinion I would suggest dosing iron and potassium
 
You should be able to find them readily available in liquid form. Go SLOWLY with any additions or dosing!
 
My best guess, is that you do not have sufficient waste for the Cheato to process yet. You just finished cycling two weeks ago and only list a small cuc as the tank inhabitants. Cheato needs waste to grow, no or little waste means die off until it reduces to a maintainable size.
 
Great. I'll not worry about it until I finish adding my first two fish. Then if things are still withering I'll look into testing/dosing.
 
Could be insufficient nutrients, but your lighting could also be too strong.

Also, chaeto always dies on me. I don't know why. I grow dragons breath and caulerpa like a champ, but chaeto always craps out on me
 
I had to come back to this post to study your plumbing. I use a lot of PVC in my line of work and must say I am very impressed with your very clean and well thought out joins. Kudos.
I'm curious to know what kind of reactor you have towards the back.
 
Your Ulva looks healthy. I would not worry about the Chaetomorphy, nothing eats it. Everything eats Ulva, including people as it is a main ingredient in Nori. Ulva can be used as nutrient export or nutrient recycling by feeding it to your fish.
 
@Boom:

Thanks! There is definitely a lot that I could improve.

The reactor is a <a href="http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-gfo-carbon-reactor-single-1.html">BRS reactor</a> running a mix of carbon and GFO. It has been great.
 
The GFO coming off the reactor might be a little harsh on your chaeto. Is it still blanching?
 
Most of the chaeto has died back, but the ulva is doing fine. I've got two more fish in QT right now that I will be adding in a few more weeks. After adding the other fish, I will try chaeto again.

Will I need to just run carbon (and stop the GFO) to get any sort of growth out of the chaeto?
 
Well, I have four fish and a bunch of corals now, but my second attempt at chaeto went about the same. I added it, it did okay for a week and then starting bleaching and dying back. My tank parameters are:

Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: <1 ppm, Phosphate .05 ppm, Calcium: 380 ppm, Alkalinity: 8.064 dKH, Magnesium: 1240 ppm, Salinity: 1.025 SG, pH: 8.3

Maybe my nitrates are too low now or maybe my little LED light isn't good for chaeto. Thoughts?

The real idea is I want a place to grow copepods. Any other suggestions?
 
I would try switching the light to use cheap CFL bulb, a little potassium chloride (imitation salt 1/4 tsp), and turning off the skimmer for 8 to 12 hours at a time when you feed the tank. I agree that macro in a fuge is a great addition to any tank system to build up the microfauna. Mine processes nutrients very quickly.
 
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