Chaeto?

[DetectiveTofu]

Hi all

I was wondering if anyone has ever kept chaeto in their main display tank. I do not have a refugium, due to lack of space. I am looking for ways to provide some sort of nutrient export in my system (in addition to the CPR BAK-PAK, and 30% weekly water changes). My tank specs. are located at the bottom of this post. My primary worry is that if chaeto is placed into my display tank, it will be become a detritus trap.

thanks in advance.

RF

 

[Kinetic]

chaeto will become a detritus trap regardless. Every water change I take out my chaeto and rinse it. Sure I lose a ton of pods, but there are still tons inside the chaeto / tank / fuge what have you.

Currently I have a big ball in my prop tank w/ no sump =)

 

[-=Zepplock=-]

I have chaeto in my tank. It hosts pods ;-)
I usually tuck a piece if ot in the back of the tank where light can't reach it.

 

[Kinetic]

but if the light can't reach it... doesn't that defeat the purpose?

 

[-=Zepplock=-]

Well I don't want it to grow. It's just where fish can't reach pods and they reproduce. I also usually get a bih pile of shells in the backk of the tank - where you can't see it. Pods love it and fish is happy too.

 

[Kinetic]

oh, you're using it as a refugium for the critters rather than nutrient export.

careful though, chaeto will die without light.

 

[650-IS350]

I was about to say that, some people just place em in the corner and just flip them around every now and then so that most of the cheato recieve light...

If you want a refuge, then I suggest using rubble rock and make a small mound so that the pods can hide inside the rubble without fear of predation while you don't have to worry about the cheato dying....

 

[Kinetic]

i would also recommend not using chaeto primarily as a refugium, it's really "porous" so pods live in it, but like charles says, you can achieve the same with rubble or porous rock, and probably make better use out of it.

chaeto is great for nutrient export, so keep it in the light, rinse it out, make sure it tumbles either via flow or your hands.

 

[650-IS350]

only thing I hate using it for Nut.Exp in a small fuge is having to clean that thing every freakin time.... I bet my sixline Im selling is happy in there, probly demolishing all the pods there.. Copepods, Ampipods, TigerPods etc.... hmmmmm

 

[raddogz]

I have put chaeto in the display before. It was a nutrient trap because it sat in the back and received little flow.

That's not the only downside. The threads have attached in pieces and wind all over the rest of my corals so I have to unwind them from the sps all the time - it's a pain in the snot to do so.

The chaeto is banished to the sump in a higher flow area where it gets tossed a bit so it never just sits there; however there are pieces that break off from it and seem to make it to the intake of the return pump all the time.

 

[DetectiveTofu]

I was thinking of anchoring a bunch of chaeto to a small piece of LR, and then putting that LR at the top of my aquascaping (closest to the light). Let me see if I can get it to live first =)