Cheato is not growing

[alazo1]

Cheato is in remote fuge. I don't know what the light bulb is but it's one that has been recommended here. Looks like a spotlight but has florescents tubes inside. My nitrates are high now (20ppm). Should this not be enough to kick start the cheato?. I do have good flow going through the fuge. Fuge is 16x16x12 high. Flow I would say is about 300gph.

Seems like the only time that the cheato ever grew was when I had Miracle mud. I took out the mm a few weeks ago. Reason is we had some blackouts some months ago. Shortly after this I started detecting nitrates (for the first time in a long time). I took out the 10lbs of MM along with about 1 1/2 inches of oolitic sand that was under the MM. There was alot of black sand (hydrogen sulfite) in between the MM and the sand. I've replaced the sand with 30 lbs aragamax (oolitic sand).

Anyways, I understand when nutrients are very low that macro may not grow but I have high nitrates now. BTW, phosphates are reading about .06 on hanna photometer.

If I can't get the cheato to grow soon I think I'll add another 20lbs of oolitic and try dsb in a bucket.

thanks,
Albert

 

[Billybeau1]

Try supplimenting Iron. Macroalgae likes Iron. I use the Kent super chelated Iron.

 

[Maximus]

Hey Albert,
Nice to see you here Here is the link for the bulb that Melev uses. Strangely enough, my cheato doesnt grow either. I suppose being bare bottom and having 2 skimmers could be a factor. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showt...&perpage=25&highlight=melev bulb&pagenumber=1

Please check your pm

Oops, you already have the bulb. Sorry, I misread your post. I know that cheato grows better when it can "tumble" in your fuge. Mine just sits there, squeezed against the baffles.

 

[Hef]

Chaeto is a very strange thing. Very similar to Xenia. Your tank can be infested with Xenia, to the point where you look at it like a weed. Couple months later it could all be gone, at the same time you can bet that your Chaeto would have all disapeared also.
I've given away trash bags filled with beautiful green chaeto. I had pounds of it. I decided I didnt want it anymore, it traps too much garbage in it, and I gave it all away, all except for a small little cupful.
Now I cannot grow the stuff. The best lights in the world will not help that situation. I still have about a cupful of it, a couple of months ago it grew to about 3 cups, now it's allmost all gone again.
I started skimming very agressively, I run a lot of GFO & Carbon, and I do a lot of water changes, and dont feed very much.

Not having healthy Chaeto is a double edged sword. It's not really a bad thing, If you have a lot of soft corals, you may want to be able to grow it, just to show that you have the right amount of nutrients in your system...I cant grow it, and I'm happy about it.

Hef