LouH
LouH
I can't argue with you there. Well played sir.
Should I just get rid of chaeto?
- Thread starter LouH
- Start date
I can't argue with you there. Well played sir.
Take half your cheato with WC water and put it in a bucket with a heater and a light by itself. Run it for a month and see if there is any growth.
I got some cheato a while ago and it sits in a 2 gallon bucket on my desk with a heater and a desk lamp with a 6500K 27 watt bulb and it has continued to grow unlike other times when my cheato simply died in my sump even though I had more light etc.
There is no water movement and I turn it over once a week. I feed pellets for the bristleworms and that is it.
I got some cheato a while ago and it sits in a 2 gallon bucket on my desk with a heater and a desk lamp with a 6500K 27 watt bulb and it has continued to grow unlike other times when my cheato simply died in my sump even though I had more light etc.
There is no water movement and I turn it over once a week. I feed pellets for the bristleworms and that is it.
LouH
LouH
I like this idea and I will probably try it, but I have an experiment currently in play that also does not grow Chaeto despite the fact that Bryopsis is growing all over the place. I have a 30 gallon tank (no sump) that houses a bunch of soft corals that I removed from my main display to get rid of the alleopathic chemicals that might inhibit growth of SPS.
This tank has several large (>5" dia) Sinularia colonies as well as several finger leathers, a toadstool and several Xenia. I hate to admit that this tank gets neglected as far as water changes go (5 gallons every other week), and I don't do much in terms of harvesting the Bryopsis, but temp and salinity are well regulated (both on controllers), and the tank is lit with a 150W MH. Anyway, the last time I bought some Chaeto I threw a wad into this tank and it has never grown either. It too has shrunk in size and lost some color despite the lush Bryopsis growth all around it. I have no luck with this stuff. The corals, on the other hand, grow like weeds. :rolleye1:
elegance coral
They call me EC
I have a system similar to what you describe. It's a three tank system with clown fish and other corals/critters I don't want in my display. This system never gets a real water change with new salt water. I use the water I pull from my display during water changes as new water for this system. I feed the system very heavy, and do little maintenance. Hair algae started growing on the back glass, so I picked up some chaeto. That was about three years ago. What's left of the chaeto is still alive but it has shrunk to about 1/4 the size it originally was. A couple of months ago, I added some Caulerpa prolifera, and it is growing like a weed. I have a 400W MH on this algae and still can't grow chaeto. I've never been able to grow chaeto. I don't know why.
Rocky_Mtn_Reef
In Memoriam
I pulled mine out. The best cheato growth I have seen is from people balling it w/ lights on opposite of there display. You need a empty chamber to ball in though. No sand, rocks etc. Then place a strong power head near the bottom to get the cheato rolling. This way everyside has an equal time under the light, and should grow alot better.
JSeymour
New member
+1 Most macros grow better this way.
FWIW, I see people posting they change their bulbs out every so often to keep the light temp. the same for growing chaeto. I'm doing great with just this LED unit under my fuge. I light it opposite my tank and tumble it with the returns from my gac and gfo. So far so good, won't have to replace it for many years.
http://www.ledliquidatorsinc.com/PAR30-LED-Dimmable-14-Watt-Cree.php
http://www.ledliquidatorsinc.com/PAR30-LED-Dimmable-14-Watt-Cree.php
JSeymour
New member
For lighting, I use two "cool white" 23 watt CFL per cubic foot of refugium. Most of my refugiums have two or three. With chaetomorpha, I'm usually forced to harvest once a week because it starts catching on the piping and sides and stops spinning. The Gracilaria doesn't have this problem. Even in huge amounts it continues to spin. I've converted most my macros over to Gracilaria and still harvest once a week.
My best producing refugium is only 7 gallons with two 23 watt CFLs ran for 18 hours with ~500 gph of flow. I pull about a pound, maybe more, of Gracilaria a week, leaving 3-4 pounds. Nitrates and phosphates undetectable with no algae issues in the refugium or DT.
My best producing refugium is only 7 gallons with two 23 watt CFLs ran for 18 hours with ~500 gph of flow. I pull about a pound, maybe more, of Gracilaria a week, leaving 3-4 pounds. Nitrates and phosphates undetectable with no algae issues in the refugium or DT.
