JustPoprocks
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Last few weeks I’ve noticed my chaeto just like melted. There’s ton of little 1/2 inch strands. Is it dead? Take out all those strands? What should I do?
Chaeto exploded?
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That looks dead (at least in my experience). Chaeto crumbles and falls apart when its dead. Could have been a few things (lack of trace elements, lack or nitrate or phosphate, etc.). I would remove it before it pollutes your tank.
espinobj
Community Member
This happened to me. It’s lack of food for it. I started to dose neonitro and chaetogro both from Brightwell. Within 3 days I’ve noticed new growth. I dose at night when the tank lights are off and I’m monitoring nitrate every other day. I’m still getting a 0ppm.
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JustPoprocks
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Crazy thing is I’m 40+ nitrates,
I think maybe vibrant is the culprit here
I think maybe vibrant is the culprit here
Sierra_Bravo
Valuable Member
Out of curiosity, why are you supplementing nutrients for chaeto? If the point of chaeto is to remove the very nutrients you are putting in to feed the chaeto, isn't that counterproductive? Why not just eliminate the chaeto and see how your tank reacts? Not being a smart-butt - I'm just missing the reasoning. Thanks.
jeffrey750750
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I agree, lack of food.
espinobj
Community Member
You defiantly can remove it. However I have a Mandarin that needs pods and 5 chromis that also eat a ton of pods.The chaeto is where my pods live and breed. I also have 5 additional fish in quarantine and will be added to the DT in the up coming months which will naturally raise the nutrients I'm dosing. No nitrates and phosphates can lead to algae as will as low coloration/ growth in corals. Im aiming for 2-5ppm for nitrate and 0.1 phosphate.
So you are right mildly counterproductive. I need/ want the chaeto but I also need the nutrients for my corals. Dosing gives me solid control over my overall levels, its more accurate and cheaper than just dumping in food IMO.
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espinobj
Community Member
Vibrant has been said to kill chaeto so thats probably why it died.
Vibrant and cheato
I'm a huge fan of the stuff, obviously. It seems like a very unique product in that it often causes people problems because it is too effective in some cases. I agree And, one needs to proceed with caution :)
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Reefrats
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My chaeto is pretty clear and not growing well. I see positive reviews for chaetogro. My question/concern is if I am fertilizing my chaeto wouldn’t I also be fertilizing / encouraging algae growth in my display?
Dr. Jim
Valuable Member
I had a similar experience recently with my 60 gal cube and hang-on-back refugium. The Chaeto had been growing nicely, in fact, a couple of months ago I had to harvest 1/3 of it. More recently I had to move 1/3 of my rock and all livestock to a temporary 29 gal tank with no skimmer or filter (just circulation, aeration, the hang-on refugium and daily 10% WC's). (I dismantled the 60 gal while trouble-shooting a tin problem). The algae did fine. Three weeks later, I filled the MT with TMPro salt and put everything back. Three weeks later I noticed the chaeto turned to mush. (It was healthy when I put the refugium back on the MT).
My NO3 and PO4 pretty much stayed the same throughout all of this, in both tanks: around 10-15 and 0.06-0.10, respectively. Since the salt was "new", it's hard to believe trace elements became depleted so quickly. And, I dose all of the elements that are in Brightwell's product, Chaetogrow (with Triton and KZ additives), but dosed very little during these 3 weeks because of using newly mixed salt.
One major difference between the tanks, besides the volume of water, is that there was no skimmer on the temporary tank, but I don't see how this could have made a difference since the PO4 and NO3 stayed about the same. (Although, the pH is much lower when I don't use a skimmer: 8.1-8.3 with skimmer on main tank; didn't measure pH on temporary tank without skimmer).
So....rather baffling. (I ordered more chaeto today .....glutton for punishment, I guess!)
My NO3 and PO4 pretty much stayed the same throughout all of this, in both tanks: around 10-15 and 0.06-0.10, respectively. Since the salt was "new", it's hard to believe trace elements became depleted so quickly. And, I dose all of the elements that are in Brightwell's product, Chaetogrow (with Triton and KZ additives), but dosed very little during these 3 weeks because of using newly mixed salt.
One major difference between the tanks, besides the volume of water, is that there was no skimmer on the temporary tank, but I don't see how this could have made a difference since the PO4 and NO3 stayed about the same. (Although, the pH is much lower when I don't use a skimmer: 8.1-8.3 with skimmer on main tank; didn't measure pH on temporary tank without skimmer).
So....rather baffling. (I ordered more chaeto today .....glutton for punishment, I guess!)
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Reefrats
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Wouldn’t be concerned = don’t add chaetogro
Or wouldn’t be concerned about fertilizing algae in the display tank if I do add chaetogro?
when I test I don’t see any nitrates but there must be some because there is some algae accumulation on the back wall.
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Wouldn't be concerned = add chaetogro
It isn't a fertelizer. It just adds trace elements that can be rapidly taken out of a taken via corals,macro algae, etc that are important to macro algaes. Algae in the display is going to be more of a problem if you have high phosphates and some nitrate. I wouldn't have gone through almost 2 liters of this stuff if it caused algae in the display
