Cant grow chaeto?

[anthonyt987]

I have a IM lagoon 50 aio and using one of the smaller chambers as a refugium, but cant grow chaeto. Im using the IM fuge light that sticks to the back of the tank. The chaeo doesnt really grow and it just starts melting but also in that chamber alot of hair algae is growing along the chamber/baffle. Anybody got any advice or know what im doing wrong?

 

[SilverRanger]

It could be that the hair algae is out competing your chaeto. Physically removing the hair algae may give it a fresh start. Hair algae thrives off of excess phosphates. Check your phosphate level

 

[Willu]

How are your nutrients? Also I have read that dosing iron has worked very well for people who have trouble growing chaeto. Can't really confirm that snice I've never had to use it.

 

[Llyod276]

Need a pic. But what are you're params. And are you running another filter type? Have you tried cleaning the hair algea out. Doesnt have to be perfect but yeah...

 

[anthonyt987]

I have cleaned it out but it just grows back and the chaeto i just cleaned out but it gets a mushy transparent color

 

[Llyod276]

Experiment if you have another container, put the cheato in there with some tank water and see if it grows, could just be bad cheato Keep the light on it. Or try tumbling the cheato. If it's bad cheato. If you live in the greater northern Chicagoland area hit me up and I got plenty you can kill, Stalin! I have the opposite problem, not really. My cheato grows like a weed and only, cheato in my fuge. No other algea and I have pest algea in my tank, which is under critter management, except for the bubble.
Another thing to try is fertilizer, and also your flow, in the fuge.

 

[MarshallB]

How old is the tank, what are your nitrate/phosphate levels, and how long are you keeping the grow light on?

If you dont have a lot of nutrients in the tank, lower the fuge lighting period. It could be that there just isn't enough nutrients in the water. The chaeto starves out and releases nutrients which in turn feeds other algae. It wasn't until around the 6 month mark till my fuge stared to show signs of life. Other things in the tank were just sucking down the nutrients before the chaeto.