Chaeto No-go

[cnordstrom]

I'm a big believer in trying to make a tank as "natural" as possible and because of that, was dying to try use macros to help control the nutrient levels in my tank. I originally tried caulerpa (actually made the mistake of putting it in my main tank... it took weeks of effort to remove it all!) and then found out about chaeto. After a long search process, I was finally able to obtain some.

Unfortunately, within three weeks, the clump had shrunk down to virtually nothing. The only thing I can figure is that it wasn't getting enough light. My "refugium" is an old 29 gallon tank that is filled up about halfway before it returns to the main tank. Is it possible that the lights are too high off the water? How much light is required to keep chaeto going? The lights on the tank are actually designed for a planted freshwater tank (I'll have to dig around to find out exactly what the specs are), and always worked well when it housed my freshwater plants.

Any input would be appreciated!

 

[rekn]

check your parameters. mine is dieing after a few weeks with a huge squamosa clam sucking the nutrients out of my tank. even the spots of hair algae i had are melting

 

[cnordstrom]

Thanks, I'll double check them tonight. It would suprise me that there would be a lack of nutrients for the chaeto, though, because this is a really well established tank (six + years) and because my caulerpa had flourished so well in the main tank. I'm due to check the levels, anyhow, so we'll see what turns up!

 

[graveyardworm]

How much light is over the cheato? How much flow in the cheato tank? Is there any nuisance algae in the system?

 

[rekn]

i feed alot and before i introed 3 clams my trates were 1-5p.

before my macro would grow like crazy, cut it in half and it was back in a week, was very tough to rip apart and a forest green shade. now, it falls apart on me.


i have a 60w reptile lamp over my fuge

 

[cnordstrom]

David,

The lights were originally used on a freshwater tank. There are two 65 watt 6700K compact fluorescent lights. Again, it worked great for freshwater plants, but maybe the spectrum is wrong for saltwater algae?

As for flow, I have a magdrive pump returning the water from the sump to the main tank; I think it's rated for 950 gallons per hour.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[graveyardworm]

Sounds like plenty of light ( and a good spectrum for macro growth ), and plenty of flow. I would be considering that some nutrient is lacking. Have you done any testing yet?

 

[piercho]

Chaeto grows very well in some systems/conditions but not in all, IME. Your type of light, level of light and flow rate sound adequate to grow Chaeto to me and I've grown Chaeto under similar conditions. Dosing a little iron chelate may help but I doubt it. My opinion is that when Chaeto fades its generally due to low available nitrogen. I've had 2 cultures of Chaeto and both did better at what I would call slightly elevated nutrient levels. Under very lean dissolved nutrient conditions, such as when I was running an algae turf scrubber, the cultures faded and disappeared.

 

[rekn]

everything, including phosphates are 0. im blaming my clams.



it figures, throw cheato in to help with nutrient problem and it dies due to lack of nutrients

 

[cnordstrom]

I haven't had a chance to test my parameters yet (work is a PITA lately). It's one of five things to do this weekend

One thing I wonder about was the shipping. The chaeto arrived here in Chicago during a brutally cold spell in January. Even with a heat pack, I wonder if it just got too cold during shipment. It looked fine when it arrived, but maybe there was damage at that point?

rekn, sorry to hear you're having the same problems. I suppose it's better to have no nutrients (and therefore no chaeto) than having too much, right?

 

[PSam]

You should post on CMAS thread. Get it locally for free.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=180

 

[cnordstrom]

PSam, thanks for the info, I'll check into that!

I just got done checking the chemistry. Nitrates are a high, around 20 ppm, which doesn't expecially surprise me as I'm a few weeks overdue on a water change. This also implies that the chaeto SHOULD have had plenty to keep it going, both nutrient, light, and flow-wise.

I guess I'm going to just have to try to get another bunch and see what happens. I may put some in the main tank (PLENTY of light there!) and the rest in the sump, and see what that does. I'll write more when I've had a chance to test things out!

 

[bobbet43]

i've had my cheato die completely last year in a 4 day period which caused a major crash on my system. lost 90% of my sps and 1/2 of my fish. all of my lps and softies made it through fine. anyways i cleaned out all the died cheato and after numerous water changes and 3 weeks it started to grow again

 

[owenb01]

I've got chaeto in my tank that is growing like mad. Tank has been set up for about a year, lighting is two 65 watt actinics and 2 65 watt 10k's, running a skimmer rated for a 220g (my tank is a 75), I've got about 100 lbs of rock in there, a lot of crabs and one big angel, two smaller fish, and a blenny. The funny thing is that my chaeto has been pretty much buried under live rock in the back of the tank (not in the substrate, just stuffed into a huge gap across the bottom of the back), where it hardly gets any light. I have 200gph powerheads on each side blowing through the chaeto.