Cheato = Phosphates????? *EXPERIMENT*

[cashman95]

Unfortunatly, some of you guys dont get it! So I am going to go off topic and explain it!

Its not that I want my water to be better than natural sea water, and as we all know, at least those of us that read ALL of "the post" ...Salifert test kits are not real accurate down low, so with that said for all "you guys" 0 is my goal on my salifert test kit!!!!!!

Now if I was to "say" test with a colormeter, I can almost guarantee that my water will always have phophate in it, EVEN though my salifert test kit says 0!!!!!

Now lets get back to the topic of this thread!!! I welcome any comments to my original post, but please no more replys about whether or not my tap water is phosphate free or whether or not I have better than NSW!!!!!


DOES THIS PUT ALL OF THE READERS THAT DONT START A BOOK FROM THE BEGININNG BACK ON TRACK???????

 

[HBtank]

You need to chill man. Lay off the caps and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Questioning the source water is perfectly valid and does not warrant the attitude.

You have barely addressed any of the posts that were "on topic" anyways.

You seem to think that all cheato needs to be healthy and growing is a bucket of salt water. I beg to differ. I am not surprised it may leech when in less than optimal conditions and not growing, regardless of the other factors that could have come into play, like detrius.

In the end, I can't see how you can think that a cheato ball that has doubled in mass over the course of a month has done anything but reduce phosphates, regardless of any short term leeching. It is pretty straight forward..

 

[AquaReeferMan]

Wow, angry man... No more help for you...

 

[davidryder]

Way to ruin the thread

Nobody was attacking you - just trying to figure out what you're doing

 

[Roy G. Biv]

Re: Cheato = Phosphates????? *EXPERIMENT*

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11002482#post11002482 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cashman95

I put the cheato in a bucket of freshly made up salt water.

Was this bucket clean when you started? Some times if you use a bucket that you mixed concrete in, you will get phosphates.

 

[greenbean36191]

Not to mention the plasticizers from the bucket itself may have been the source.

 

[snuggle2me]

Maybe you could repeat the experiment again but add the cheato to the bucket of water after the water has aged with a powerhead and heater and a light source just like if it were actually in your tank or referum. And then see if it has increased phosphates. The reason why i am saying to add a light source and heater is because if you placed anything into a bucket of saltwater without the above mentioned things wouldnt it have die off because its not reproducing the same conditions as it would if it were in your tank.

 

[funlap]

I think the problem could be that this guy isn't harvesting often enough....causing his macro to leech

 

[Roy G. Biv]

Maybe he can do this experiment in a 10 gallon glass tank instead of a used spackle bucket.

 

[pezcubano]

Funlap - What is "harvesting enough" and how do you harvest? Do you cut off the bottom layers of cheato and leave the upper part which is fresh growth?

I like where Pmolan is going with this (replicating the same conditions as the tank).

 

[Nano Chris]

Interesting! I trimmed back my cheato and it cleared up my algae problem, i guess it had deturis in it.

 

[llama72]

could I wash my chaeto with tap water and put it back in my fuge?

 

[neepsync]

This maybe a stupid question.... Does chaeto actually absorb phosphate or does it consume and process it into something else? Kind of like the nitrite/nitrate cycle. Because if it actually consumes and processes the phosphate how could the chaeto leach phosphate back into the water? Unless it is just full of detritus.

 

[HBtank]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11041331#post11041331 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by neepsync
This maybe a stupid question.... Does chaeto actually absorb phosphate or does it consume and process it into something else? Kind of like the nitrite/nitrate cycle. Because if it actually consumes and processes the phosphate how could the chaeto leach phosphate back into the water? Unless it is just full of detritus.

Ding ding ding

 

[barrman]

afaik, chaeto doesnt 'leech phosphates' back into the water. that's like saying that plants leech co2 back into the air if you don't trim them.

chaeto uses phosphates, co2 and nitrates as fuel for its structures to grow. it doesnt suck phosphates out of the water and store them in little pouches until it's old, only to spit them back out. once the phosphates and nitrates are used, they arent coming back... at least not from the chaeto.

... and while trimming chaeto is a means of nutrient export, the more chaeto you have, the more phosphates, co2 and nitrates that it'll need to use to maintain its existing structures and for new growth.

the most likely cause is that, first off, you probably had trapped detritus in the chaeto, and the decay of that detritus added phosphates. second, if you left the chaeto in a bucket with no light, then the chaeto was unable to photosynthesize, which means it couldnt really use the phosphates in the water anyways.

 

[Jimbo327]

Ummm...so what becomes exactly (chemicals) of dying chaeto???

 

[JonnyD91]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11003952#post11003952 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by davidryder
You may have killed some of the chaeto putting it in water not established - whether it shows signs of die-off or not.

Besides that every type of food you feed contains phosphates - it's unavoidable.

How can you tell if Cheato is dead?

 

[barrman]

i'm assuming that dead/dying chaeto would release the same things that many dead organisms would release in our tanks... phosphates, nitrates, etc, but that's dead or dying chaeto. old chaeto won't release anything back into the tank, unless it too is dead or dying.

dead/dying chaeto looks brown, and breaks apart very easily.