Don't know why my Chaeto is dying

[rachelcb80]

I'm fairly certain that my chaeto is dying and I have no idea why. I don't have a real fuge, just a little section of my sump that I've thrown some LR rubble and a ball of chaeto in. (I'm having some cyano trouble so I was hoping the chaeto would take up some excess nutrients) I use the 5100k light that melev suggests on a reverse cycle from my display lights. But the chaeto is no longer coarse and matted but soft and falling apart. Tank params, 80-81 degrees, 10 dkh, pH 8.0 and 1.025. I know the pH is low and that's another issue I haven't been able to solve. I use the baked baking soda for the two part solution, I use limewater for 100% of my top off and I run fans 24/7 to cause more evap for more top off.

My first question is should I go ahead and remove the cheato before it totally falls apart in my sump and secondly why would it be dying? The cyano is getting worse in my tank and I have now noticed it starting to grow in my sump. The chaeto has a little on it that I noticed last night. I've cut back my feeding to once a day with pellets, cut my lighting time back to a total of 11 hours but only 7 of that with daylights and I put in a phosphate reactor. Someone help please!

 

[AMIFL]

Is there any flow on it?

 

[rachelcb80]

Not much, a little from the output of the phosphate reactor. I had read that it should be tumbling but I asked the person I bought it from if he had his moving and he said his just sat there, and had never heard that it should be tumbling. Would lack of flow be the sole reason it was dying?

 

[oct2274]

chaeto thrives in flow. make sure the light is not too close to the chaeto. I've found that with that light it should be no closer than 9 inches and the chaeto does best if it is 10-11 inches away. You can also dose something like kent iron, but I would does at 1/3 the strength it says. Mine grows so fast that i have to throw out a pound or two of the stuff every week or so.

 

[Rekonn]

Maybe the water coming out of the phosphate reactor is too clean. In terms of sump flow, can you put the refugium ahead of the reactor? I've had good success with chaeto and my flow goes from skimmer section, to refugium, to return section. I have a pic of my sump in my gallery.

 

[rachelcb80]

Right now I have an AGA Megaflow sump (#4 model) and the big middle section is where my skimmer is, then return pump and in that last little section is where I have the LR and chaeto. I want to get a new sump with built in fuge sometime down the road but right now this is what I've got to work with. Would it help if I put a powerhead in that area of my sump to cause more flow? Would that probably cause bubbles going in to my return pump though?

I did some searches and found several threads recommending iron so I thought I'd give that a try. I really need this chaeto to thrive because I'm having issues with cyano and my overflows are full of bryopsis.

 

[techreef]

I lost my chaeto the same way; it went mushy and slowly disintegrated. I added a PH to my sump for additional flow, to no avail. I also use Melev's light, but it's right on the edge of my sump, so only about 5" away from the ball of chaeto. maybe that was it. Would like to try again.

 

[bhdmc]

Are you dosing Iron supplement?

 

[Rouselb]

How long has the tank been running, how stocked is it?? I have T5 lighting 5 inches from cheato and it grows crazy. It does need to have a lot of flow, it likes to tumble around. There may not be enough load on the tank for it to grow well.

 

[rachelcb80]

Rouselb, I'm pretty sure I've got a high enough bioload for the chaeto to do well. My tank is a year old with the following livestock;

Powder Blue Tang
Purple Tang
Pair of Clarkii's
Pair of Firefish
Pair of Yellow Tail Damsels
4 Chromis
Lawnmower Blenny
Green Spotted Mandarin

I've got cyano taking hold and bryopsis growing like crazy in my overflows so the excess nutrients are definitely there. I'm going to try adding some iron and see if that helps.

 

[champscorner]

make sure the light is not too close to the chaeto. I've found that with that light it should be no closer than 9 inches and the chaeto does best if it is 10-11 inches away.

Not to hijack but is this right? i run the same light from melevs site and only have it 3" off the top of the water and my cheato won't grow either. I've went through 3 softball size pieces in 4mons.

 

[NirvanaFan]

My cheato doesn't tumble at all, but every couple days or so I move it around a flip it over so the bottom side is now on the top. It's doubled in size in about 2 months.

 

[CruzinKim]

for some reason, not everyone does well with cheato. i got rid of mine and switch to a sulfur denitrator.

 

[Rouselb]

Have you tried adding a PH pointed directly at the cheato?

 

[gcfiend]

rachelcb80,
I have the same problem as you, cheato started out softball size, now down to tennis ball size. I also have my fuge upstream and I was using my proteim skimmer to return water up to my fuge. I also had cyano growing the same as you

I posted the same question and not enough flow seemed to be my problem. I bought a MJ1200 and placed in in my return area of the sump and had it pump back into my fuge. It's been about a week now and it seems like my cheato is growing back.

Hope that helps.

 

[2thdeekay]

Have had similar problems with chaeto in the past. In my refugium, rapid growth always came back when I realize it had been a year since I changed the flourescent lamp, and replace it. Now, I try to change the lamps after 6 months, and I haven't had problems with my refugium macroalga since. I use 23 watt CFL's. Also, my cheato seems to grow faster when there's enough current to make the ball tumble.