Hello. If you ever have questions about Chaeto please reach out to us, we love to talk shop! That said, Chaeto is one of our specialties and we grow A LOT of it. There are many misconceptions when it comes to chaeto and how to grow it and how to keep it thriving, we have tried them all over the years and found what works and we stick with it. Tumbling for example, is just not needed. You just need to "fluff" it every week or so, this ensures center will get some light but in the end it really self regulates meaning, it will thin itself out to get more light as needed and tighten back up if gets too much or enough etc. The other big thing with chaeto is stability of parameters. Alk/calc/mag all need to be in check, alk run in the 8's. You also want nitrates and phosphates and never let reach 0. Also, ammonia is important and you want some but not unhealhy levels of course. Iron is needed but hard to test for so you want to dose it and things like chaeto gro are good or you can dose it seperately. The nitrogen cycle in your tank is important as well so ensure you have proper substrate and if clean bottom tank then hopefully sump is loaded with stuff to create habitate for bacteria etc. If its too good then ammonia is always low and could even be required to dose ammonia or feed heavier etc, lots of moving parts. Lighting is important but not as much as most think. Some can maintain chaeto with a led white cheap bulb and others use expensive grow lights, each has its pros and cons and you just need to find what works. We recommend full spectrum led bulb(s).
Chaeto falls apart, turns white, or gets brittle when any of these things are out of whack, its a great indicator that something is wrong or just too clean (which really is wrong). If chaeto is breaking off and getting into display then its not happy as it should not do this. Once params are off for extended perior chaeto goes into shock, and it takes a few weeks of things being right for it to rebound and bounce back. Just last year we almost lost an entire crop of Chaeto from params being off, long story but we found it after 2 weeks which was enough time to shock it. It turned to mush and fell apart. We cleaned it up, got params right and kept the debrie at bay for 3 weeks and then no more falling apart but not major growth, by week 5 it was doubling in size again and happy.
Moral of story, chaeto is amazing at reducing nitrates/phosphates and ammonia but it will do so to the point it starves itself and you will need to either feed heavier or dose specifically for the chaeto to be happy. Most hobby tanks just feeding alone "should" be enough but everyones sytems are different and some are good with overall nitrogen cycle and others it barely exists and others keep things too clean while some keep very dirty so lots of variables.
