how to kill cheato in display tank

[elmatth1]

I tried to search for an answer and didn't come up with anything. The cheato in my sump grows very fast and so I pull a huge chunk out every month. It seems that over time, some of the cheato has migrated to my display tank and attached itself to my live rock and is growing well there too! I have tried to manually remove it, but it grows back and is starting to show up all over the place.

How do I kill the cheato in my display without killing it in my sump? Are there any inverts that will eat the cheato? Emerald crabs, maybe? My tank is small, being a 20" cube Solana, so I'm limited on fish selection. I've also read that the cheato is bad for tangs and other fish to eat, so I wouldn't want to go that route anyway.

Any suggestions?

 

[bru65]

This doesn't really help you, but my Blond Naso and Regal Tangs love this stuff. They finished off a basketball size ball of it over about 6 weeks. No ill affects on my tangs have been noticed other than them being fatter. ;-)

 

[elmatth1]

Bru, I've heard that cheato can clog up the digestive system of fish if eaten and they can actually die as a result. Of course, I don't have any personal experience with that. I've read about it on the internet though, so it must be true! lol

Seriously though, I can't believe I am the only one with this problem.

 

[msmith619]

I have the opposite. I CANNOT grow Chaeto. I have added it to my sump on many occasions and it slowly gows away. I do grow Caulerpa, LOTs of it. I switched to Caulerpa because I could not grow Chaeto.
Tell me how you get it to grow!

 

[elmatth1]

I really don't know why mine grows so fast, but I assume I have enough nutrients and lighting for it to grow. I don't use any GFO or GAC on my tank, just a skimmer. Might have something to do with it. When I switched the lighting over my cheato in the sump to a red/blue only spectrum LED par38 bulb, my cheato growth exploded. I couldn't believe the difference in growth with just that one change.

I really wish I could get rid of it in my display though!

 

[radiata]

Bru, I've heard that cheato can clog up the digestive system of fish if eaten and they can actually die as a result. Of course, I don't have any personal experience with that. I've read about it on the internet though, so it must be true! lol

Seriously though, I can't believe I am the only one with this problem.

I think a Tang will fix your problem. I've recently had two Yellow Tangs and a Foxface eradicate a soccer-ball-sized clump of chaeto over a three month period. I'd like to know the internet source of your chaeto constipation rumor - there have to be other unreported factors in the fish deaths, like a hobbyist who is clueless when it comes to cause and effect...

 

[elmatth1]

radiata, I'm sure the tang constipation thing I read on here somewhere. I don't remember where, but it really doesn't matter for me right now. My tank is a 34 gallon Solana, so I can't really get any tangs for my tank anyway.

I am planning a larger tank build in the future, but who knows how long that will take. So, I really don't want to keep a tang in such a small tank, being as I don't know how long it will have to be in there before it can be moved to a larger tank.

 

[bigdookie]

I tried to search for an answer and didn't come up with anything. The cheato in my sump grows very fast and so I pull a huge chunk out every month. It seems that over time, some of the cheato has migrated to my display tank and attached itself to my live rock and is growing well there too! I have tried to manually remove it, but it grows back and is starting to show up all over the place.

How do I kill the cheato in my display without killing it in my sump? Are there any inverts that will eat the cheato? Emerald crabs, maybe? My tank is small, being a 20" cube Solana, so I'm limited on fish selection. I've also read that the cheato is bad for tangs and other fish to eat, so I wouldn't want to go that route anyway.

Any suggestions?

good question about any inverts that would munch on the chaeto. ive got some that got into my DT and im not looking forward to moving rocks around to clear the crap out.

emerald crabs only eat bubble algae from what ive read.

 

[AtomicMonster]

Cheato is a tumbling algae.. It will not thrive in a sand bed or attached to live rock. Prevent the suckers from tumbling and they are history. Nothing will eat it.

 

[tektite]

Incorrect, chaeto does attach to liverock and can live perfectly fine in zero flow with no tumbling.