Chaeto Dying?

[WallysWorld]

I have a Red Sea Reefer 170 with a small sump. I divided a small section with an acrylic divider that I drilled with a lot of holes to provide good water flow through the sump. I put a small ball of Chaeto (Chaetomorpha linum) into the empty section, placed a goose neck light with a 12W TaoTronics Led Grow light Bulb. The light was positioned about 3 inches from the Chaeto and programmed it to be on 12 hours a day, out of cycle from the display tank light.

The ball of Chaeto significantly expanded is size, but after a week or so, the sump developed a bad "marine" odor, and my ammonia went from 0.0 ppm to 0.2 ppm and has stayed there now for 7+ days. The Chaeto on top was relatively green, but in the middle of the ball it turned gray and slimy.

I think the Chaeto is the source of my ammonia spike. Does that sound reasonable? I removed the Chaeto and disposed of it last night. What am I doing wrong? I thought that Chaeto was relatively easy to grow.

Thanks in Advance

 

[Neo Jeo]

My cheto turned white the disintegrated . My tank was only a few months old. I waited a little longer and got a led light off eBay the other light I thought was to powerful. Now it’s dojng fine. I got grape calerpa instead to feed my tangs with

 

[Jackony]

I would also love someone’s opinion on this. I have a similar situation happening- first ball of cheato I put in sump got very thin and slimy before I tossed it. The second batch is that really curly crunchy cheato and it seems to be degrading slowly- little pieces falling off and a dead whiteish area in the middle. Kessile H80 macro grow light 12+hours/night. ?

 

[THX1138CY]

12 hrs is too long, 6 hrs max was the longest time I could get without mine dieing.

 

[cracker]

Also there might not be enough nutrients , No3 & Po4 . That combined with too long of a light period?

 

[Scotty Buttons]

Did you have enough water flow around the cheato?

 

[WallysWorld]

Did you have enough water flow around the cheato?

I don't know? How do you determine enough water flow? My return pump is over sized, and I estimate that it turns over the entire water volume at least 15x per hour, but then again I don't know how to measure that, so I'm just making an educated guess based upon the specs of the pump, pressure head and plumbing size.

 

[WallysWorld]

Also there might not be enough nutrients , No3 & Po4 . That combined with too long of a light period?

I'm dosing with Red Sea NoPox, using the recommended dosage from Red Sea for my tank size. Algae in the display has reduced significantly since the Chaeto was added, but I also added 5 Trochus snails at the same time, so I was thinking that maybe the CUC was really on top of their game. I don't have a kit to measure PO4, but my N03 is low, less than 5 ppm.

 

[mcarroll]

Also there might not be enough nutrients , No3 & Po4 . That combined with too long of a light period?

+1

You're growing a plant so (not unlike for your corals) these nutrients are required.

I'm dosing with Red Sea NoPox

I don't have a kit to measure PO4, but my N03 is low, less than 5 ppm.

Dangerous messing with your tank's nutrient levels without even being able to measure.

I'd say get your PO4 tested before you do anything else with your tank.

With NO3 testing at 5 ppm it's unlikely that carbon dosing is helping your tank – and it may be hurting things.

 

[WallysWorld]

+1

You're growing a plant so (not unlike for your corals) these nutrients are required.





Dangerous messing with your tank's nutrient levels without even being able to measure.

I'd say get your PO4 tested before you do anything else with your tank.

With NO3 testing at 5 ppm it's unlikely that carbon dosing is helping your tank – and it may be hurting things.

I knew that a PO4 tester was probably in my future, looks like that time has come. Which one? I've heard people have problems reading the color chart testers. Is the digital Hanna's much better? If they are which one the Phosphate ULR or the Phosphorous tester?

 

[PatW]

For Chaeto, you need phosphate and nitrate and a light source that can compete with the display tank’s lights. Bulk Reef Supply has some good videos on this. I would think that you might not have enough phosphate. You should have a fair bit of nitrate left over from the cycle.

For measuring phosphate, the Hanna ULR tester is the only one I would recommend. Phosphate levels work well at .01 to .03 ppm which is below detection for most. Hanna ULR goes down to ppb or .001.

 

[OriginalUserName]

I don't know? How do you determine enough water flow? My return pump is over sized, and I estimate that it turns over the entire water volume at least 15x per hour, but then again I don't know how to measure that, so I'm just making an educated guess based upon the specs of the pump, pressure head and plumbing size.

From my experience you want enough flow through it so that it doesn't collect a bunch of detritus and slime.

It sounds like not enough nutrients or maybe even light. When I've given mine too much light it bleaches out rather than dying from the inside. If you don't know if you have excess nutrients you may not even need to grow macros.

 

[mcarroll]

For measuring phosphate, the Hanna ULR tester is the only one I would recommend. Phosphate levels work well at .01 to .03 ppm which is below detection for most. Hanna ULR goes down to ppb or .001.

If you have the "normal range" meter (which I kinda prefer), I just think of it like this:

If you test a sample that reads at the bottom of the meter's range, then you know that you need go no further in "reducing nutrients".

If anything your concern with such a reading might be the opposite in assuring that nutrients gets reduced no further.

Another aspect of this is that testing for PO4 (like other tests) is supposed to be symbolic – PO4 is only one form of phosphate that can be in the tank, but it's easy to test for.

If we go throwing phosphate levels out of whack with specialized filtration, then it's possible for a meter to read 0.00 when the total phosphate levels in the water or on calcium carbonate/aragonite surfaces are still significant. Seeing a high PO4 reading and then reacting by trying to reduce PO4 directly is actually the wrong thing to do. It seems logical, but only on the surface...thanks to that symbolic thing with the test results.

Check out @Dana Riddle's Feature Article: Types of Phosphorus in a Reef Aquarium and Comments and Observations of Removal by Protein Skimming for a very interesting phosphorus breakdown.

 

[mcarroll]

Also, here's a good one from Hanna's vendor forum here:
Phosphates in the Reef Tank: Understanding the HI713 and HI736 (Free Conversion Table)

 

[DEWreefing]

I light my chaeto 24/7 w/ 50watt grow led 6 inches off the water I keep my nitrates and 6 to 8ppm and phosphates at .03 I also dose a lil iron for color and growth.