At wits end with chaeto

[Psychonaut]

Hey so I’m looking for some help with my chaeto.

Nitrates 10
Phos .04

Twice now I have bought chaeto, and it grew for a couple weeks, and then slowly starts to die off. Edges get all gray and whispy and slowly it just loses mass and falls apart

After the first time I was advised that it could be lack of Iron, or some other micronutrient, so I started dosing ESV B+ and still had the problem.

Under a 150w ufo, about 14” off the water and I hve a pump in the chamber for water circulation. I didn’t anticipate this was going to be the type of problem I had, and although I have a skimmer I was counting on this fuge to be my primary nutrient export. Having green hair algae, and turf algae in display, I assume because of elevated nutes. Tank is about 6 months old

What should I do!?!? Bout to just put a sand bed down there, scrap the light, use it as a copopod safe haven and start dosing NoPox. Just looking for some advice from someone more experienced than I am
Thanks

 

[teller]

Hi.
It can be lack of Boron, Molybdenum and/ or Manganese.
If you do water changes, Boron should be OK.
I advise you to dose Brightwell ChaetoGro, or Continuum Basis Chaeto Grow.
Does not help dosing just iron when MN and MO are depleted .
Hope it helps.

 

[Goodair]

Are you doing a reverse cycle with the lights?

 

[Hemmdog]

Put the light much closer to the fuge, 14 seems very high, mines about 4 inches off the water.

 

[Keesers]

Hey there completely understand this post . I can’t grow chaeto either I was always told it was a flow problem or needs to be tumbled or not enough nutrients in tank and changed my lighting. But couldn’t figure it out. Sorry Outside of your question cause I don’t have a suggestion there but have you tried any other macros? I really like sea lettuce and feather Caulerpa. Both grow like a champ in same situation that chaeto wouldn’t so I just made the switch

 

[Ly78]

I had same situation initially. But for past 3mths i have been rinsing the chaeto during every water changes to get rid of algaes growing on it and been able to keep it alive thus far. Light is ai prime fuge and i do not dose iron or those chaeto supplements. Nitrates @10 phosphate no idea didnt register on salifert

 

[lapin]

Try ulva. If you are like me, it is not in the cards for me to grow chaeto.

 

[Larry L]

Another vote for giving Ulva a try. For a long time I had mixed success with chaeto, either did great or mediocre, so I added some Ulva (without changing anything else), and it eventually totally overtook the chaeto and grows better than the chaeto ever did. If I'm remembering right, Sean at @AlgaeBarn also told me he thinks it does better at taking up heavy metals too.

One possible downside is that I've seen some posts from people who have had Ulva escape into their display - I haven't seen any in mine but I also have a pig of a Foxface so I'm not sure it would last long even if it made it there.

 

[Keesers]

Mine has totally escaped and actually took root on my return line. Lol I just leave it not causing harm and has covered up the lines lol any bit that falls off down is gone very quick from tang gang and emeralds. It never has a chance to take hold in display. Also the walls of fuge have it growing on it too. Which is kind cool that it’s reproducing down there and it still gives pods and bugs a place to hide. Side note My hermits won’t touch it though.

 

[Hemmdog]

My tank is currently overrun by ulva that escaped. I don’t recommend it

My tangs don’t eat it, cuc doesn’t touch it, vibrant doesn’t do anything to it. It’s a nightmare.

 

[lapin]

My tank is currently overrun by ulva that escaped. I don’t recommend it
My tangs don’t eat it, cuc doesn’t touch it, vibrant doesn’t do anything to it. It’s a nightmare.

I put some ulva in my tank and it disappeared.

 

[mikus]

Following...I've been having issues with my cheato as well. Tank is approx. 6 months, nitrate is consistently 1-2max, 0 nitrite / ammonia, unreadable phos w/ red sea, just recently added my first two coral frags (2 acans), calc @ 420, alk has been dropping from 8.4 down to 7.6 every two days (guessing from the macro) but have been dosing ESV alk 5ml/day and brings it back up to 8.4ish, mag has been consistently higher at 1540. I have not done a single water change, except for adding some fresh saltwater after maintenance tasks which has pulled water directly from the system (125 dis w/ 55 gal sump inc. skimmer, uv pump & sterilizer, kessil h380 on the fuge) I have approx. 120 lbs. dry rock (now liveish), 12 fish, 2 acans, 2 feeder shrimp, handful of emeralds... The system itself seems to be doing great, but the cheato….not so much. Started out with a "golf ball" size 3 months ago from algae barn. It has grown quite considerably, to maybe the mass of a volley ball or slightly smaller. In the process, hair algae has completely infiltrated the chaeto and is growing all over/through it. luckily the HA has not grabbed hold anywhere else in the system, fingers crossed. I have since installed a hydro basket (approx. 12 x 12) in the fuge to hold the chaeto with the h380 approx. 8" above, and is currently acting like an algae scrubber, but the HA is still taking that area over. I guess i'm ok with whatever algae is growing in the fuge, controlling nutrient export, and not taking over the rest of the tank, but had hope of only growing chaeto and still not sure if this is par for the course. just wanted to input my experiences...any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Psychonaut]

So I cut back all the dead edges and left myself a baseball sized piece from the middle and it has recovered and is adding mass again and I don’t see whispy grey edges. Maybe it just starts to die if I let the ball get to big? When it gets to be football sized I’ll cut it back again and re-post results

 

[rkpetersen]

Chaeto's finicky and ulva is definitely invasive. Neither is ideal, unfortunately.

 

[Sump Crab]

Chaeto is a mysterious beast IMO. I had one tank that it grew so fast I was trading in basketball sized balls of it to LFS for credit but in my other tanks I have never been able to grow it. I am adding Caulerpa sertularioides in my sump to try something different.

 

[RomoFL]

150w led?? I personally think anything over 20w is overkill. Maybe you’re burning your chaeto. Make sure you have enough flow in that chamber to keep the chaeto turning.

 

[EmdeReef]

My tank is currently overrun by ulva that escaped. I don’t recommend it

My tangs don’t eat it, cuc doesn’t touch it, vibrant doesn’t do anything to it. It’s a nightmare.

Foxface or rabbitfish will eat it. I have a bit that escaped and settled on my overflow on the inside. Fox wants to chew through the grid. I put some on a veggie clip and it’s gone in minutes.

 

[EmdeReef]

Agree that cheato is finicky and definitely not worth dosing stuff to have algae growing. Many other macroalgae out there to try.

I like ulva but as said above it can be invasive and does get stuck in pumps etc. I switched back to caulerpa.

Caulerpa gets a bad name but I’ve never had issues with it and have only moved away from it as it’s somewhat more difficult to get. Good idea to get certain caulerpa that will be eaten by your fish though just in case you have a runner escape.