Chaeto for Phosphate Control?
- Thread starter Ultraman
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It does work very well.
If you are a water changer, then you are all set with growing macro. If you do not change water, then most types of macro algae will deplete the system of iron and you might need to supplement just a bit.
If you are a water changer, then you are all set with growing macro. If you do not change water, then most types of macro algae will deplete the system of iron and you might need to supplement just a bit.
Most reefers I know have the opposite problem and don't have space big enough to grow enough cheato. I had a friend who had a 300 gallon Rubbermaid tub full of cheato, that was the most I have seen, healthy as can be as well.
The amount of chaeto you need for effective export depends on the flow rate and lighting. With low flow and lighting you need a lot. With high flow and lighting, very little.
My chaeto ball ranges from softball to soccer ball size, depending on how recently I've trimmed. But its 4 inches below a very bright CFL and experiences about 1000 gph flow through the chamber. It sucks down so much nutrients I have been dosing nitrate for many months without any detectable nitrate in the system, and am about to start dosing PO4 for the same reason.
My chaeto ball ranges from softball to soccer ball size, depending on how recently I've trimmed. But its 4 inches below a very bright CFL and experiences about 1000 gph flow through the chamber. It sucks down so much nutrients I have been dosing nitrate for many months without any detectable nitrate in the system, and am about to start dosing PO4 for the same reason.
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As said above, set up correctly it is a very efficient nitrate and phosphate remover. It keeps both of mine at near undetectable levels 
Maybe, I can't wait to start a new system so I can use cheato again. I just got tired of the detritus building up in the cheato tank last time. I had maybe 50 fish at that point though, definitely not going to keep so many next time.
I know this is an old post. But I’m runnning into the problem of my chaeto depleting my phosphates completely. I’ve reduced my skimmer run time from 24 hrs now down to 8 hours. Do you run a skimmer? I’m wondering if I should just turn my skimmer completely off or up my dosing. Thank you for your help.
Macbalacano
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I've read that controlling the total amount of time your chaeto gets light is how to finetune it. Maybe reduce the lighting on the chaeto for a few hours?
This is an old post, but for anyone searching - I had my coral start to bleach out, I have had this happen from nitrate limited but this time it was from phosphate limitations which I thought impossible if feeding the tank, but I was proven wrong. I took out my chaeto (laundry basket full in Rubbermaid 150g sump) and am in the process of building phosphate levels back to be detectable. My situation is unique as the sump also contains 2 hippo, a squammy, a gigas, and two derasa clams so it’s possible they have gotten large enough to make the macro too much export for the system. I now dose phosphate and ammonia (nitrate) for the clams as the display is only 70g.
