Chaeto put to the test: Going beyond our expectations! (Part 1)

GoVols · May 31, 2017

randyBRS said:
Hmmm.... It's been so long ago! All the Chaeto in these tests came from the BRS160. The BRS160 Chaeto ball came from the Clownfish Harem tank. And the Clownfish Harem tank Chaeto came from.... After this many years no one really remembers.

Personally, I have bought macro algae before from fellow hobbyists on forums just like these as well as from fellow local reefers!

-Randy

Randy,
How many of the new $1,200 Kessil fuge lights has BRS sold?

Thanks, Freddie

randyBRS · Jun 1, 2017

GoVols said:
Randy,How many of the new $1,200 Kessil fuge lights has BRS sold?
Thanks, Freddie

Haha! There's some new owners of that monstrous algae grower! ;-)

-Randy

Dennco2000 · Jun 1, 2017

Here is pic of my Fuge2 with chaeto. I just trimmed off a 1/3 and gave to another hobbyist about 2 weeks ago and a months before that I trimmed out another 30%. I do over feed my fish but i don't have a heavy bio load. No algae issues other than some dusting on the glass. Not sure why it grows like crazy but I may start running the light and night and see what happens?

Bruce Burnett · Jun 2, 2017

Love this. I am curious in comparing Chaeto Reactor (basic do it yourself, Skimz or the Arid) to Chaeto in refugium vs an ATS. I know an ATS takes a little longer to get started but I have read where so many people have used the ATS for their only export method. I have thought about getting an ATS since cost is not much higher that a DIY reactor but a lot less than an Arid. I am thinking either Turbo or 302aquatics. Anyone with input on others that are available would be nice. Maybe after the testing BRS may find one they want to carry that can be installed over sump or remotely.

GoVols · Jun 2, 2017

Bruce Burnett said:
Love this. I am curious in comparing Chaeto Reactor (basic do it yourself, Skimz or the Arid) to Chaeto in refugium vs an ATS. I know an ATS takes a little longer to get started but I have read where so many people have used the ATS for their only export method. I have thought about getting an ATS since cost is not much higher that a DIY reactor but a lot less than an Arid. I am thinking either Turbo or 302aquatics. Anyone with input on others that are available would be nice. Maybe after the testing BRS may find one they want to carry that can be installed over sump or remotely.

Bruce,
The only guy that I know that runs the Arid, Loves it. His only complaint is the time it takes to get inside of the reactor to mow back his Cheato over growth and re-assemble the Arid.

Freddie

Bruce Burnett · Jun 2, 2017

GoVols said:
Bruce,
The only guy that I know that runs the Arid, Loves it. His only complaint is the time it takes to get inside of the reactor to mow back his Cheato over growth and re-assemble the Arid.

Freddie

I did my own Chaeto reactor but the Cheato died fairly quickly. It did raise my PH and I tried to see if I could grow turf algae on a mat like in a ATS. It did seem to be working and my ph was better. It just started growing some algae mat but was also growing it on the inside of the reactor. When I cleaned the inside wall of reactor, pain in the butt, my power supply went out so I pulled it off and never restarted. For me a remote ATS seems so much easier and not have to get under the stand. I could do a remote refugium with either Chaeto or other macro algae. I am waiting for BRS to get more comparisons as I must keep my expense down. I am looking for better PH, Co2 reduction and pod population increase. If at the same time it helps keep my nutrient levels stable then that is a plus .

Urville · Jun 19, 2017

@randyBRS Any chance you could let slip if there is an update coming soon?! Dying to know more!

bif24701 · Jun 19, 2017

This is my Fuge of the Steroids #2, bigger and better than before! NO3 and PO4 don't stand a chance!! No, really. Only been running a few weeks with the new glass 40, it tripled the grow area for the cheato.

If I didn't dose NO3 and PO4 my corals would still be very pale and possibly stop growing all together. Food isn't enough, not at least until I get another 15-20 more fish.

This light kicks butt!

Also my POD population and density has increased 100x's from before the upgrades.

I also added an air stone to increase CO2, don't know if it's working but it can't hurt.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

clsanchez77 · Jul 15, 2017

@randyBRS, in the refugium testing, where did you all test the PAR levels? I have a PAR meter on hand this week for the tank but I wanted to compare my refugium lighting to those tested. I built DIY with Rapid LED 1.6" heat sink, 9 Photo Red LEDs and 2 Royal Blues and 1 cool white. After studying the spectrum spread on that Kessil, I think I need to swap the Royal Blues with Violets.

I am currently measuring 600 at the surface but I would have to remove my chaeto mat to get any values lower than that. Makes me wonder if I should double up

watdachuck · Jul 16, 2017

I drank the Kool-Aid and now have the H380 over the refugium of my 160....

Looking forward to more updates from BRS on the investigation and hope to share some feedback of my own!

clsanchez77 · Jul 16, 2017

watdachuck said:
I drank the Kool-Aid and now have the H380 over the refugium of my 160....

Looking forward to more updates from BRS on the investigation and hope to share some feedback of my own!

Thanks, how many gallons is that fuge? Any change you measured PAR on it? My fuge is only 6 gallons so I DIY'd the 22W fixture to mimic the Kessil spectrum (Chlorophyll A really). Chaeto growth has been good, but I think there is room for improvement. Between what I spent so far and what I would need to spend to upgrade it, I will have paid for an H80...has me wondering how it would compare.

watdachuck · Jul 16, 2017

clsanchez77 said:
Thanks, how many gallons is that fuge? Any change you measured PAR on it? My fuge is only 6 gallons so I DIY'd the 22W fixture to mimic the Kessil spectrum (Chlorophyll A really). Chaeto growth has been good, but I think there is room for improvement. Between what I spent so far and what I would need to spend to upgrade it, I will have paid for an H80...has me wondering how it would compare.

This fuge is 13 gallons. I have not measured any par readings. I have had a baseball sized clump of chaeto from AlgaeBarn in there for the past three days 24/7.

Ryanbrs · Jul 16, 2017

GoVols said:
Randy,
How many of the new $1,200 Kessil fuge lights has BRS sold?

Thanks, Freddie

We are about to put one on a tank this week. Will let you know how it goes : )

Reef man 89 · Jul 16, 2017

Will cheato out compete nuisance algea like GHA for nutrition or will it be the other way around? I ask because I had a cheato reactor set up and was working well for awhile then I got a GHA bloom and it ended up killing my cheato. But the GHA was thriving.

XNavyDiver · Jul 16, 2017

I think this light is gonna make me start dosing no3. The cheato takes all the nitrates!

clsanchez77 · Jul 16, 2017

Reef man 89 said:
Will cheato out compete nuisance algea like GHA for nutrition or will it be the other way around? I ask because I had a cheato reactor set up and was working well for awhile then I got a GHA bloom and it ended up killing my cheato. But the GHA was thriving.

Depends on several other factors. It can be done, but is not automatic.

Reef man 89 · Jul 16, 2017

clsanchez77 said:
Depends on several other factors. It can be done, but is not automatic.

I have been manually pulling it out on a daily basis which has helped and doing several w/c and spot treating with h202 and it seems to be having a good impact on it. So my thought was to set my reactor back up. But change the LED strip I have on it. Right now I have the warm white light strip from MD on it. But was thinking about getting the red and blue spectrum one from Amazon. I have seen a couple of people useing them on this thread. Do you guys think the plain white or red/blue led grows cheato better?

Ryanbrs · Jul 16, 2017

Reef man 89 said:
Will cheato out compete nuisance algea like GHA for nutrition or will it be the other way around? I ask because I had a cheato reactor set up and was working well for awhile then I got a GHA bloom and it ended up killing my cheato. But the GHA was thriving.

Hair algae is a rapid growing beast and will take over a fuge if you let it. I found if you see GHA you to just remove it by hand for a couple weeks to let the cheato do its work and become the dominant form of algae in the fuge.

clsanchez77 · Jul 17, 2017

Reef man 89 said:
I have been manually pulling it out on a daily basis which has helped and doing several w/c and spot treating with h202 and it seems to be having a good impact on it. So my thought was to set my reactor back up. But change the LED strip I have on it. Right now I have the warm white light strip from MD on it. But was thinking about getting the red and blue spectrum one from Amazon. I have seen a couple of people useing them on this thread. Do you guys think the plain white or red/blue led grows cheato better?

Id go with the red/blue, but don't just take my word for it. First off, the chlorophyll A peaks correspond to violet and Photo red LEDs and the chlorophyll B peaks correspond to red and royal blues. Be ware of cheap LED strips, you want the correct red and blues, not just any. Second, check out the BRS videos - the light that kicked everyone else to the curb focuses on red and blue/UV spectrum. Also, in my tank, I run photo reds and royal blues. I am putting out 700 PAR at the surface of the water with only 22 watts! I have more chaeto in a 6 gallon fuge than will fit in a bucket without packing it down. I need to pull it out but have not because Im on here instead