Trimming Chaeto

[JRPhd]

I have a DIY fuge w/ chaeto. It's been growing for a little while and seems to be filling up the fuge well. Question is When should I trim it back?
Thnx
Jon

 

[mhurley]

Whenever...There's no magic to it. If it starts to totally stuff the tank and grow above the water line..time to trim.

 

[Palancar]

I like to trim sooner. Keeping it between softball and football sized. The more I trim, the better it seems to grow, thus exporting more.

 

[Fast Fred]

I personally try to maintain a ballance. I like it to have room to grow, but I like to keep as much growing as I can, so I have the maximum amout of nitrate absorbsion.

When the surface area of my fuge is covered, I trim it back to 2/3 full.

 

[mhurley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6674906#post6674906 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Palancar
I like to trim sooner. Keeping it between softball and football sized. The more I trim, the better it seems to grow, thus exporting more.

IMO, that size is extremely relative to the size of the refugium and overall system size.

I have a dedicated 20L that is filled with chaeto. If I had a softball size piece in there, I'd be worred that it's not doing it's job.
Then there's the other extreme of npaden's 1100 gallon refuge that generates 5 gallon buckets of chaeto a week.

 

[SumoBlenny]

Regular harvesting of cheato will maximize its growth rate. There is no danger of letting it over grow because it will not go sexual like caulerpa.