My chaeto keeps dying

[mskvarenina]

A while back I tried to grow chaeto in my refugium with no luck. Now I'm trying again, and it seems my chaeto is dying once again.

I've got a 110g FOWLR tank with nitrates over 75ppm. My fuge is lit by both a Fluval A3980 full spectrum light and a Tunze 8831 refugium light. I've got decent water flow through the fuge. I've been dosing Brighwell's Chaeto GRO.

I introduced some very nice "clean" chaeto from Algaebarn several weeks ago and also some clean chaeto from my LFS but what I see is the nice green clump is breaking apart, some turning white and breaking off into the water column, some turning black and loosing the nice green color.

There definitely is enough nutrients in the water, the dosing of Chaeto GRO should be adding in any missing or low trace elements (mainly iron and cobalt) and the lighting should be sufficient (the fuge is approx. 18" long x 6" wide and 9" deep. The 2 lights are quite bright covering this small fuge.


Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[JohnL]

Any thoughts or suggestions?

I have the same experience. My nitrate and phosphate is very low. I was thinking that my low no3 and po4 was the issue.

 

[kharmaguru]

A while back I tried to grow chaeto in my refugium with no luck. Now I'm trying again, and it seems my chaeto is dying once again.

I've got a 110g FOWLR tank with nitrates over 75ppm. My fuge is lit by both a Fluval A3980 full spectrum light and a Tunze 8831 refugium light. I've got decent water flow through the fuge. I've been dosing Brighwell's Chaeto GRO.

I introduced some very nice "clean" chaeto from Algaebarn several weeks ago and also some clean chaeto from my LFS but what I see is the nice green clump is breaking apart, some turning white and breaking off into the water column, some turning black and loosing the nice green color.

There definitely is enough nutrients in the water, the dosing of Chaeto GRO should be adding in any missing or low trace elements (mainly iron and cobalt) and the lighting should be sufficient (the fuge is approx. 18" long x 6" wide and 9" deep. The 2 lights are quite bright covering this small fuge.


Any thoughts or suggestions?

Where is it turning white, top, bottom, middle? Are you rolling it or otherwise spreading it out so the light can penetrate it?

You can also overlight a scrubber and the algae won't grow, so I would assume you could overlight a fuge too.

 

[JohnL]

Where is it turning white, top, bottom, middle? Are you rolling it or otherwise spreading it out so the light can penetrate it?

Mine isn't turning white but the mass continues to decrease.

 

[JohnL]

This is a small hob refugium with slow flow. When nutrients were higher, chaeto was much more dense.

 

[kharmaguru]

I have the same experience. My nitrate and phosphate is very low. I was thinking that my low no3 and po4 was the issue.

Likely.

 

[griss]

Yep, I’ve never had luck w/ chaeto. Caulerpa is another story

 

[floridareeflabs]

Hello. Chaeto needs Nutrients, light and flow. You want a high nutrient system in general for your coral and Chaeto will knock it back down per nitrate and phosphate so usually you can feed heavy and regular if you have Chaeto growing. Chaeto also likes iron so keep eye on iron levels, but most dry foods have it so should be good there. If you have too much hair algae in your refugium or other reactors etc then it will starve as hair can consume what the chaeto wants so keep that at bay. Per lights full spectrum LED lights are great and work the best though people have used and are successful with cheap CFL bulbs or very high end expensive grow lights. Flow, you want turbulence to keep the Chaeto clean and expose it to as much nutrient as possible.

 

[369Augold]

Macro algaes Dying? A friend of mine had a small piece of Rhodophyta ( dragon's breath, tongue ?) , he gave me half', my half grew quickly into a huge mass , as did my Chaetomorpha sp .and several species of Caulerpa . His all died as you described happened to you , as did mine before , I fed those macro-algaes , clams, corals ammonium chloride (ammonium supplied the much needed Nitrogen) that they "Feed" on out on a REAL coral reef! He had an otherwise very nice aquarium reef system and nice corals: after he lost his dragon's breath, he ask me what was I supplementing , that he was not??? I answered him, then he started using ammonium chloride and ALL his dragons breath, chaetamorpha , caulerpa and all his other photosynthetics , took off like a rocket !!! ..... You might want to read 369Augold's article in the " NEW "Reef Chemistry Forums",of Reef Central Online, for further information.

 

[JohnL]

before , I fed those macro-algaes , clams, corals ammonium chloride

What dosage do you use?