Chaeto disintegrating over time

[dkrupenn]

Hello,

I used to have chaeto in the sump, which was doing great. About a month ago it was overrun by cyano and it destroyed chaeto. I cleaned the sump from cyano, turned off the sump lights for several days and used Dr Tim's Waste- Away. Cyno was gone.

I put new chaeto into the sump and it seem that it is not doing great. When I bought it it was firm and like a bundle. After a week in the sump it started turning soft and separating into the individual strings.

I have Kessil H380 Light running 12 hours at night.
The Nitrate level is 1-2 ppm.
I feed chaeto with Brightwell ChaetoGro.

Video of the chaeto: Video1, Video2

Any suggestions what could be wrong?
Thanks!

 

[lapin]

not enough nutrients?

 

[dkrupenn]

What would you suggest? Higher level of Nitrate? Increase Brightwell ChaetoGro dosage? Anything else?
Thanks!

 

[lafarrow]

Iodine is important for macros

 

[Subsea]

Yes to more nitrogen. Also, what is your phosphate?Cynobacteria has adapted unique utilization methods for uptaking both nitrogen & phosphate.

Guaranteed Analysis of Chaetogrow:
0-0-1.30; Potassium (K) as Soluble Potash (K2O) (min) 1.30%; Boron 0.009%; Carbon 0.005%; Calcium 0.14%; Chlorine 0.39%; Cobalt 0.0004%; Iron 0.1%; Magnesium 0.4%; Manganese 0.0475%; Molybdenum 0.004%; Sulfur 0.16%; Zinc 0.002%.
Sources of Nutrients
Potassium sulfate, Calcium chloride, Magnesium sulfate, Potassium iodide, Iron EDTA, Zinc sulfate, Manganese chloride, Sodium tetraborate, Cobalt chloride, Sodium molybdate.

 

[Subsea]

What would you suggest? Higher level of Nitrate? Increase Brightwell ChaetoGro dosage? Anything else?
Thanks!

Run nitrates 5-10 ppm. Phosphates > 0.02 depending on sensitivity of your test kits.

Chaetomorphy biomass will consume nitrogen in a 30:1 ratio with phosphorous. Water is not required to have the same ratio of nutrients up-taken by macroalgae only that the nutrient is available.

 

[noobreefer2]

Also how old is your tank? I had this problem at the beginning of my tank

 

[moz71]

Check phosphate! Low to no phosphate was reason for my lack of growth.

 

[Reefer Reboot]

One other thing, it may be a visual illusion but in the videos there is some chaeto growing at the surface. Hopefully this is not blocking the light to the tumbling ball that is falling apart.

 

[dkrupenn]

Thank you very much everyone for all comments and suggestions! I will check them out.