Growing Macroalgae/Pods

[omgzloljk]

My LFS was giving away some of their extra macroalgae today, I'm pretty sure it's chaetomorph. It was full of pods and I thought I'd try to experiment with growing some. So this is what I came up with.



I have the chaeto floating in a 2 gallon hex tank with some rubble and a smaller piece of live rock from my main tank. The only water movement comes from a small bubbler, and the lighting is just an bulb from a 10 year old aquarium that I found.

Is this going to do anything? Hahaha, I really have no idea what I'm doing, but it looks like a nice little science project, I had to throw it together on short notice so I didn't have to time to plan it properly.

Also I was wondering if it was possible to try and grow more chaeto in my emperor 400 HOB tank. I was thinking of removing two of the activated carbon inserts, and filling the area chaeto, then putting a lamp over it that would run 24/7. Is this possible?


Thanks

 

[lancer99]

IME you can't kill chaeto with a stick, but it may need more flow than just what it gets from a bubbler....

I'm not familiar with the Emperor 400, but it's probably fine. Be careful with the Chaeto escaping though, as it can be invasive if it gets in your main tank.

HTH,
-R

 

[graveyardworm]

Cheato does like flow, the bubbler will need to be to be replaced with at least a small powerhead. Placing it in the hang on filter would probably work, many people do it, mostly those with nano tanks. Not a whole lot of room for growth though IMO. If it does escape to the display cheato is one of the easier to remove macros. It doesnt form attachments to the substrate, but the curly cue growth does help to anchor it.