Cheato dying

[Vorog]

My 75 gallon has been up and running for a little over 6 months. It's new and maturing, this is not my first tank. However a lot of the live rock and corals came from my old nano I had running for 3 years (not my first tank either). I've always been a fan of refugiums, the bigger the better. On my 75, I chose a 40 breeder as my sump to hold my large skimmer and large refugium. I do have a few mangroves that are doing well. I have eco systems miracle mud, and rubble rock. The cheato was under a grow led light for a while and was doing very well. However my mangroves were slowly withering away. So I put my 6500K light back over them and the cheato. I noticed a bit of cyano growing in the tank and as the days go on I noticed my cheato looking like slimy wet hair, that's the best way I can describe how it looks. Even the feel of it is weird. Before it was dark green and crisp like to the touch. When I would pull it apart it felt firm and like a fresh veggie so to speak. Is it dying because of the light change? My water chemistry is for the most part solid. *knock on wood*. I know my phosphate is higher and nitrates sit about 1-2ppm. Never higher on the test. Which cyano shows yes I have nitrates yes I have phosphates, my concern is the cheato dying. Corals, fish, look fine. Sps looks great. But I don't want this to start something big which it can. I've dealt with cyano before and it's not fun but it is something we all deal with from time to time. I e cut back on feedings and have been doing several large water changes. Which I did change my RO water. I was getting RO that was about 35TDS from a local fish store now I get it at about 1-3TDS. That I know is a huge factor to my phosphate and everything. Anyone good with cheato? Or telling me what happened?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Vorog]

Anyone?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RobZilla04]

I put a 6500K LED Grow light/lamp over mine in the sump and it doesn't appear to be dying but there is a lot of "funky" green growth on and around it. As I've been battling to reduce phosphates & green hair algae I've noticed increased growth in the sump.

What kind of flow do you have around or through the chaeto? I've read different opinions on flow and lack there of with regard to chaeto.

Do you have a bunch of green hair algae in the tank that is soaking up phosphates the chaeto needs?

 

[Vorog]

Well at first I had just a red and blue led grow light on the cheato and it was growing fast! However my mangroves looked like they did not like the red grow light. So I went back to the 6500K bulb that I used to have over the cheato and worked great in the past. The only thing I have changed is I did put a small power head in the refugium to add small flow circulation in there. The cheato seem to grow fine with the added flow and the grow light. I have not noticed much GHA in the sump a few small patches but I've since plucked them out and have slowly been reducing my feeding and changed RO water to lower TDS. I also performed my quarterly cleaning on my skimmer and it is pulling out some good skimmate, so that may help. I also have a GFO reactor and the GFO was changed out about 4 weeks ago which should be good still I let the GFO go for two months on average.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AboutAcans]

Looks like a pile of green snot, that sound about right? Your cyano is getting into it and starting to suffocate it's ability to take in what it needs to survive. Dense harmful algae like cyano and dino, one of it's favorite places to reside is on macro. Main reason is because your macro is like a buffet for it. Think about it. It's primarily made of what it sucks up, which is an ideal environment for algae like cyano because it can just drain it out of the chaeto and it isn't real picky if it suffocates it in the process.

 

[RobZilla04]

Looks like a pile of green snot, that sound about right? Your cyano is getting into it and starting to suffocate it's ability to take in what it needs to survive. Dense harmful algae like cyano and dino, one of it's favorite places to reside is on macro. Main reason is because your macro is like a buffet for it. Think about it. It's primarily made of what it sucks up, which is an ideal environment for algae like cyano because it can just drain it out of the chaeto and it isn't real picky if it suffocates it in the process.

Yup, big piles of green snot with bubbles on top. Time to ball it up, toss it, and replace with good chaeto.

Thanks

 

[Vorog]

That makes sense to me. I have had cyano before and it didn't not cause the cheato to die off in the past for me. However, I am hoping with my water changes and maybe reduce the white lights some it will kill the cyano. I do not want to use chemi-clean unless it gets worse. I am hoping I do not have dino either. That I have never dealt with before and I've seen videos how to combat them. I have heard of people not doing any water changes with Dino to let it starve itself out. But that will not work with cyano from what I remember,correct?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AboutAcans]

That makes sense to me. I have had cyano before and it didn't not cause the cheato to die off in the past for me. However, I am hoping with my water changes and maybe reduce the white lights some it will kill the cyano. I do not want to use chemi-clean unless it gets worse. I am hoping I do not have dino either. That I have never dealt with before and I've seen videos how to combat them. I have heard of people not doing any water changes with Dino to let it starve itself out. But that will not work with cyano from what I remember,correct?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Your water will eventually get skunky and create more problems then it's worth. As long as the cyano has a constant food source on it, it will just waste away. The safe bet is $15 worth of chaeto

 

[Vorog]

Your water will eventually get skunky and create more problems then it's worth. As long as the cyano has a constant food source on it, it will just waste away. The safe bet is $15 worth of chaeto

I agree, what is sad is when I had the grow light on I would pull out 5 gallon buckets full of healthy cheato a month. Now I have non, but I can pick some up from a local feeding buddy for free. When you say as long as the cyano has a constant food source on it, it will waste away. You are talking about the cheato out eating so to speak of the cyano?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Vorog]

Picking up cheato today, also going to do a few water changes this weekend to help combat the cyano


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Vorog]

Ended up getting caulerpa algae for the refugium


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RobZilla04]

Let me know how you like it. I just picked up fresh chaeto yesterday. Guys at the shop said to keep the flow up since chaeto gets dense.

Anyhow I cleaned out all the nasty green gunk, time for a fresh start.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Ended up getting caulerpa algae for the refugium

Are you aware of the issue with caulerpa spawning or going sexual?

It happened to me. I had a 35g display refugium tied to a 75g mixed reef and one morning I woke up to a tank full of green water and about half of the caulerpa had turned translucent white. What a mess. That's why chaeto is so popular.

 

[Vorog]

Are you aware of the issue with caulerpa spawning or going sexual?



It happened to me. I had a 35g display refugium tied to a 75g mixed reef and one morning I woke up to a tank full of green water and about half of the caulerpa had turned translucent white. What a mess. That's why chaeto is so popular.

I am aware, what I did do is change my refugium light to 24/7 to hopefully not let that happen. I will let you know how it goes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk