Does it have to tumble?

[okinawafish]

Hello all,

I live overseas and am having some chaeto shipped to me from the states. My sump is just an extra tank I have so I don't have any bulkheads or bubble traps installed in it. I was wondering if the chaeto has to tumble around the sump/fuge to be healthy. I heard this somewhere and can't remember the concensus.

I was also wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to keep this stuff from getting sucked into my skimmer or return pump without draining the sump and installing bulkheads. Acrylic is not readily accessible to me so I don't really know how I would manage it. Thanks in advance for any help!

Josh

 

[orchidsnfish]

Mine doesn't tumble and grows very well.

Angela

 

[tgunn]

Re: Does it have to tumble?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7168559#post7168559 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by okinawafish
Hello all,

I live overseas and am having some chaeto shipped to me from the states. My sump is just an extra tank I have so I don't have any bulkheads or bubble traps installed in it. I was wondering if the chaeto has to tumble around the sump/fuge to be healthy. I heard this somewhere and can't remember the concensus.

I was also wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to keep this stuff from getting sucked into my skimmer or return pump without draining the sump and installing bulkheads. Acrylic is not readily accessible to me so I don't really know how I would manage it. Thanks in advance for any help!

Josh

Mine isn't tumbling either.

To prevent it from floating around and going where I don't want it I made a little platform out of eggcrate and just stretched out the chaeto over the platform and ziptied it down. The result is that it's filled in a lot quicker and doesn't get sucked into the pumps, etc.

Tyler

 

[Samala]

As everyone else said: it doesnt have to tumble. It will however grow a bit more quickly if it tumbles. Why? Well, two ideas: 1) You're getting light to all the sides of the ball of algae, so that the individual strands/cells are all actively growing, as opposed to 'dead' spots that dont get light. 2) Tumbling also discourages detritus and bacterial/algal biofilms that would otherwise clog the ball and inhibit light getting to the cells. So, it seems to work in two ways to encourage faster growth. But, its not a necessity.

>Sarah

 

[okinawafish]

Ok thanks everyone for the input about tumbling. I like the eggcrate idea to keep it from moving around too. Would anyone like to refute that idea or perhaps offer up another one? Thanks again everyone!

Josh