How to solve floating cheato problem?

Nem0

New member
Water going into my sump is full of bubble, and when it travels through the refugium chamber, bubble are getting less and less and when water return to main tank, there is no bubble.

The whole system work ok except that my cheato in the refugium are floating because of the accumulation of bubble, and as a result, the top layer always get "sun burn" as it floats above the surface and dried up by my 24/7 T5 lighting.

Any suggestion how to get around this? I really don't want to put any cotton wool or filter socks as it will increase my maintenance work, and reduce the efficiency of my skimmer.
 
Tie the cheato down with fishing line to an anchor--a rock or something to weigh it down... It will grow over the fishing line and up toward the light--works like a charm...
 
I doubt the air bubbles are causing the Chaeto to float. Mine (huge clump) in my 30g fuge floats around or just under the surface. Rather, I think it's more a function of (i) the nature of Chaeto and (ii) mostly the fact that your Chaeto has overgrown your fuge and needs to be trimmed? if it's completely filling your fuge, then it's time to thin it out anyway.

First suggestion is to scale down your lights. You don't need 24/7 with Chaeto because it doesn't go sexual like Caulerpa. I run my fuge lights from 9 pm to 11 am and have great success. The fewer hours may keep you Chaeto from drying out as much.

Second suggestion is to put a rock over the middle or tie it down like the previous poster suggested.

Third suggestion is to not worry about it. Just keep thinning the dried parts--should actually fuel new growth/nutrient export. Of course, it's hard to tell how badly your Chaeto is being dried out without seeing it.
 
Chaeto floats and grows fast. That is what it does. That is part of the reason it probably will be banned in Florida and probably several other places soon. There are some places in Florida getting totally choked by the stuff.
Tie it down and when you trim it, please wrap it in a plastic bag and put it in the garbage or, better yet, put it in a compost heap.
 
Abulgin,

Running it for any less than 24/7 is not an option for me as I also have caulerpa in my refugium. As for tie-ing it down, it doesn't really work as the pieces do come off and since it is quite a big piece of cheato, it is hard to get all of them to be submerse.
 
What is you're flow like going through the sump. One of the benefits of a refugium is obviously nutrient export. The best nutrient export is done with slow flow through the sump. 3 to 5 times turn over rate of you're tank volume. I generally try to shoot for the lower end of that.
I am just wondering if maybe you have to much flow through the sump/fuge and that is actually what is causing you're chaeto to float. Only an assumption obviously, and JMO

HTH

Spleify
 
My flow is around 5-6 times over the tank volume. However, I don't use any cotton wool or socks and so the water coming down is full of bubbles.
 
Can you use a filter sock on the inlet to the sump?
I would also think if you put a rock in the bottom and tie some fishing line around the rock and the center of the chaeto, like mentioned before, it will hold it down also.

Spleify
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12871649#post12871649 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Nem0
Abulgin,

Running it for any less than 24/7 is not an option for me as I also have caulerpa in my refugium. As for tie-ing it down, it doesn't really work as the pieces do come off and since it is quite a big piece of cheato, it is hard to get all of them to be submerse.

I would keep one or the other. Keeping multiple types of macroalgae is not a good idea. They will compete against each other for the nutrients, and one will ultimately prevail causing the other to die/become toxic. The general consensus is that you should employ one type of macro only.
 
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