Chaeto reactor growing green algae

[iamsamuel93]

Hi guy, s I've been running a skimz chaeto reactor since December. Instead of the seeded chaeto growing, it's been growing gha instead. I've cleaned off the gha once and replaced the chaeto again once in January but the gha is growing back again instead of chaeto. Anyone knows why?

I'm dosing AF np pro as well. Could the carbon source be the reason?

 

[lion king]

What lighting are your using. Red and blue lighting tend to contribute to the growth of gha. Also too much flow seems to diminish the effectiveness of chaeto. This is my experience, I use white lighting around 6000k and flow between 200 and 250gph.

 

[Akersta]

I have to clean my ARID reactor with bleach every few weeks to kill off any unwanted algae. Just make sure you rinse well and let dry completely before filling again. Running carbon or carbon dosing always seems to cause nuisance algae to kill off the chaeto from my experience.

 

[iamsamuel93]

Skimz chaeto reactor has white, yellow, and blue lights. Akersta, is it normal to have unwanted algae in the chaeto reactor?

 

[Akersta]

I’ve always battled unwanted algae when using my ARID. I usually throw it away and start over every few months once the unwanted algae takes over. I’d make sure to use the thick stalk chaeto. I’ve never had any luck with the fine stalk type.

 

[Eric23]

I had this problem when I first started using the arid... I've found that you cannot run the reactor lights 24/7, you have to take the chaeto out weekly and rinse it or shake it out to get all the detritus off of it, weekly water changes are still a must, and you definitely can't run any phosphate media... Any of the above will cause the chaeto not grow and hair algae to overtake it.

 

[Eric23]

I had this problem when I first started using the arid... I've found that you cannot run the reactor lights 24/7, you have to take the chaeto out weekly and rinse it or shake it out to get all the detritus off of it, weekly water changes are still a must, and you definitely can't run any phosphate media... Any of the above will cause the chaeto not grow and hair algae to overtake it.

Even if your nitrate, phosphate, alk, and calcium are good you still need to do water changes weekly because the chaeto needs certain trace elements to grow at the rate necessary to out compete other forms of algae.

 

[iamsamuel93]

Why are we unable to run phosphate media? I'm running a rowaphos in my phosban reactor. If I don't, my phosphates will shoot up

 

[EmdeReef]

I’ve been running an mbr157 since last September and there’s always at least some gha. I’ve played with all sorts of lightning schedules etc.

Did your cheato melt or did you see gha and other algae on top of cheato?

If there’s algae melting then that’s likely the aoyb of too much light, otherwise you should just be happy the algae is in the reactor and not all over the tank

 

[wiselyy73]

Unfortunately my gha grows in the display only. Chaeto in sump super health.

 

[Eric23]

Why are we unable to run phosphate media? I'm running a rowaphos in my phosban reactor. If I don't, my phosphates will shoot up

I had a long talk with the guys at pax bellum about this. They explained to me that the reactor is built to drive macro algae growth much faster then a refugium. The light is intense and there needs to be nitrate and phosphate available for the chaeto to feed on. There also needs to be really good flow through the reactor. I followed there advice and now I'm having pulling half the chaeto out weekly and it's full again before the end of the week. In order for me to keep nitrate and phosphate hi enough to keep my corals alive I have to feed at least twice a day and I can only run the reactor for 12 hours a day. My phos is steady at .06 and my nitrate is at 10. If I feed less or leave the reactor on 24/7 my nitates will fall to undetectable levels along with my phos and not only will the chaeto stop growing but my corals will start to fade and or die off. I recommend turning the reactor lights off and pulling the cheato out till you get your tank parameters in line with water changes and chemical media and then fill the reactor at least half way with chaeto and turn the reactor lights on a reverse schedule.