Chaeto reactor working to well?

[Z0RN]

I installed a diy chaeto reactor on my 20 gallon reef tank about 10 days ago. When I installed it, my nitrates were around 20 ppm. I tested my water today and it’s stripped my nitrates down to nearly 0! I’m worried that it’s working a little too well on my tank. I currently have my lights running every night for 7 hours.

Would it kill my chaeto if I only ran the lights for 6 or 7 hours every other day? Also, should I be dosing chaeto grow in order to ensure it doesn’t strip other nutrients from my tank?

 

[KrisReef]

Chaeto seems to thrive with less light than we normally give it, ime. Try 3 hours each night, feed more, and monitor closely.

 

[Salty2021]

Wish mine did that. The cheato I have loves phosphate. Just have to add some nitrate. Brightwell make a good one.

 

[dansyr]

Commiserating with you! 20 gallons is a really hard size for nutrients. you do nothing and nutrients skyrocket, or else you have a single clump of macro that sucks everything up.

For what it's worth I'm still yo-yoing a bit on nutrients in a 20 gal mixed reef + chaeto/macros, if I do nothing it drops to zero so I try to dose but it's a bit of a tightrope. I've had the most stability with more regular pruning to keep the macros at a roughly constant size since their uptake feels roughly exponential.

 

[Oiseaufeu]

Chaeto seems to thrive with less light than we normally give it, ime. Try 3 hours each night, feed more, and monitor closely.

I give my chaeto rizome sunlight all day. It’s so small that I can’t prune it or have it in a reactor. I got chaeto for free as an hitchicker from my rocks. I hope it’ll grow bigger soon! I’m not even sure if sunlight is good for chaeto algae.

 

[Z0RN]

Commiserating with you! 20 gallons is a really hard size for nutrients. you do nothing and nutrients skyrocket, or else you have a single clump of macro that sucks everything up.

For what it's worth I'm still yo-yoing a bit on nutrients in a 20 gal mixed reef + chaeto/macros, if I do nothing it drops to zero so I try to dose but it's a bit of a tightrope. I've had the most stability with more regular pruning to keep the macros at a roughly constant size since their uptake feels roughly exponential.

What’s your lighting schedule for the chaeto? I just reduced mine to every other day for 4.5 hrs. Hopefully just enough light for it to survive, you really don’t need much in a 20 gallon.

 

[dansyr]

What’s your lighting schedule for the chaeto? I just reduced mine to every other day for 4.5 hrs. Hopefully just enough light for it to survive, you really don’t need much in a 20 gallon.

Same as my DT because it's AIO, no external refugium, just tucked against AIO false wall. Lighting is pretty strong since I have full mixed reef, couple different macros (including halimeda, my favorite), zoas, lps, sps, clams. So everybody get a lot of light, chaeto is a dimmer area but still on same schedule as tank.

 

[Oiseaufeu]

What’s your lighting schedule for the chaeto? I just reduced mine to every other day for 4.5 hrs. Hopefully just enough light for it to survive, you really don’t need much in a 20 gallon.

I have it in a tiny container out of the tank just because I’ll loose it in my main display. SoI, I’d say it gets around 6 hours of daylight per day if the morning isn’t very dark at 7 am.