Chaeto keeps dying

[Hitchhik3r]

I am struggling to get a refugium going. This is my second try and my chaeto immediately disintegrated after one week. My first try I attributed it to putting it in with undetectable nitrates and very low phosphates (silly I know). Now my system has been running longer and my phos has been climbing, 0.5-0.6, and nitrates around 5. On the day I got my chaeto, bad timing but I was also battling a bad case of cyano and had dosed chemiclean and shut off my skimmer and such. Could this have nuked my chaeto? I run the neptune GRO LED every night from 9p-3a.

 

[Dan_P]

I am struggling to get a refugium going. This is my second try and my chaeto immediately disintegrated after one week. My first try I attributed it to putting it in with undetectable nitrates and very low phosphates (silly I know). Now my system has been running longer and my phos has been climbing, 0.5-0.6, and nitrates around 5. On the day I got my chaeto, bad timing but I was also battling a bad case of cyano and had dosed chemiclean and shut off my skimmer and such. Could this have nuked my chaeto? I run the neptune GRO LED every night from 9p-3a.

If the Chaeto disintegrated within a week, you probably purchased dying Chaeto.

I have not heard any claims that Chemiclean or its use harms macro algae.

 

[Pistondog]

Raise the chaeto (eggcrate or rock) to the surface to maximize par.

 

[Hitchhik3r]

If the Chaeto disintegrated within a week, you probably purchased dying Chaeto.

I have not heard any claims that Chemiclean or its use harms macro algae.

That's unfortunate, but also ironically makes me feel better. The chaeto was from algaebarn though so I'm surprised by that .

 

[Dan_P]

That's unfortunate, but also ironically makes me feel better. The chaeto was from algaebarn though so I'm surprised by that .

Algaebarn is good by me.

They sent me crappy Ulva and replaced it immediately after I sent them a photograph of it. Shipping can be rough even on algae.

 

[kboogie]

I have chaeto which has shrunk by 66% in a month. I'm confused. I have 58 ppt nitrates. I give it 16 hours of red and blue light a day. I don't know what is going on.

 

[Dan_P]

I have chaeto which has shrunk by 66% in a month. I'm confused. I have 58 ppt nitrates. I give it 16 hours of red and blue light a day. I don't know what is going on.

I assume there is sufficient phosphate. A good water flow is important for macro algae. If it has this, my next guess is depleted trace elements. I perked up my Ulva with CheatoGro with one daily dose per week. Sometimes just iron is needed but I just guessed about needing them all.

 

[kboogie]

I use chaetogro as well. I think my light is not intense enough. I'm buying something that does 12K lumens.

 

[Alan Sunshine]

I have run my refugium for 5 years and have been battling phosphates the whole time. Phosphates only run at 0.1-0.2 with Nitrates at 5. All of a sudden I have gotten a bloom of green slim algae in my regugium only and it has killed the cheatomorpha and has resulted in a further algae bloom(only in the refugium-not in my display tank). I have a Kessil H160 running for 12 hours a day. Any ideas what caused this?

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

I use chaetogro as well. I think my light is not intense enough. I'm buying something that does 12K lumens.

I am using a 12 dollar amazon grow light. Got it in mid october as a smaller than golfball, now its about football sized.

I do shake it twice a weekand added flow to the sump. Sometimes it tumbles, sometimes it ends up stuck in a corner

I got lingbya pretty early into having it and had to shake it a couple times a day until I added a powerhead. 6 gal fuge. 20gal sized sicce ac powerhead.

I was dosing the min biweekly recomended chaetogrow, and had bottomoed out nutrients.

Now because I am stubborn and want the PH boost through the night, I am dosing 15ml neophos and 5ml neo nitro daily, instead of harvesting it. I only have 2 clowns, an algae blenny and a mandarin for fish, and a kenya tree, 5 headed duncan 3 headed octospawn and 7 inch tall kenya tree that I feed heavily. I think its a pretty small bio load for the amount of chaeto I am cultivating.

 

[Dan_P]

I have run my refugium for 5 years and have been battling phosphates the whole time. Phosphates only run at 0.1-0.2 with Nitrates at 5. All of a sudden I have gotten a bloom of green slim algae in my regugium only and it has killed the cheatomorpha and has resulted in a further algae bloom(only in the refugium-not in my display tank). I have a Kessil H160 running for 12 hours a day. Any ideas what caused this?

Are you dosing trace elements to your system?

 

[Alan Sunshine]

I do water changes every 10 days and assume they get them there. I have noticed on ICP analysis that my Fe and I have run low and supplement intermittently for those. Otherwise I have not been adding additional trace elements.

 

[Dan_P]

I do water changes every 10 days and assume they get them there. I have noticed on ICP analysis that my Fe and I have run low and supplement intermittently for those. Otherwise I have not been adding additional trace elements.

Macro algae can deplete a system of trace elements. Your system might just be at the point where the normal routine water changes and feeding can’t keep up the trace elements.

I always assume that when hair algae, slime and other photosynthetic organisms start to proliferate on and around macro algae it is sick and possibly dying.

 

[Screwgunner]

Algea turf scrubber you will not have that problem. You just have to ajust light intensity. To your bio load. It takes out toxins ,phosphates,nitrates. Adds pods to your system. So does chaeto .But

 

[Seansea]

Macro algae can deplete a system of trace elements. Your system might just be at the point where the normal routine water changes and feeding can’t keep up the trace elements.

I always assume that when hair algae, slime and other photosynthetic organisms start to proliferate on and around macro algae it is sick and possibly dying.

Ya chaeto cant keep up with the nutrient uptake of hair algae and cyano. But as long as its not in your display just remove it every couple weeks and who cares.

 

[Screwgunner]

True it is basically a algea scubber.

 

[Nemo&Friends]

Chaeto and Uva never worked for me either. Chaeto 3 times from algae barn, Uva from algae barn and once from Gulf Coast Ecosystem. However, most other macro algae I got from gulf Coast are doing fine. As my other algae are much nicer to look at than Chaeto, I will not try again.

 

[s_miles]

I’m using two Tunze submersible LEDs (not the pink refugium model). One under, one over my Algae Barn Chaeto. 10 hours of light at night. I toss a softball size piece away about twice a month. All flow through my sump passes through the refugium, egg crate divider upstream, overflow weir down. If I don’t remove Chaeto, the refugium area fills completely packed with nice green Chaeto. Much nicer than what I’ve seen sold at my LFS. I bought Chateo Grow when I started, haven’t used it in months.

I dose Brightwell to keep detectable levels of nitrate/phosphate.

 

[TokenReefer]

I'm finally seeing some chaeto growth after dosing iron (from the drug store). It never died for me but just kind of has been maybe slightly growing. After the iron I'm seeing more growth than ever (nothing crazy but I don't want crazy lol)

 

[olonmv]

I started dosing manganes (for a goniopora) and it also made my cheato explode in growth.