I fail to mention that the cheato was under the display tank light for a long time till I got the new light. Which the display tanks light is a nicrew 100w and the tank is 2 years old with a good amount of fish.
Was it left in the dark for days at a time once you moved it to the sump before you got the other light? If so then I still think the darkness killed it. If not, based on the tank age and amount of fish my other guess would be a mineral deficiency. I've read a lot of people talk about dosing iron and other supplements, but I have no experience in that. But to answer your original question, I don't think the chaeto will improve in time. I've never had luck bringing it back from that state. Hopefully someone else on here has and can provide a better answer.
It has gotten light since I got it and i have been dosing cheato gro for the past 3 or 4 days. But is there still a chance itll pull through?
It's definitely possible. Keep it in there and turn it over once a day. If it starts falling apart like crazy then I would pull it out and try a new ball of chaeto.
This is what it looks like now. Some of the tangs got to it when it was in the display.
It was in an egg crate cage as u saw in the first picture. And it was at the top of the tank to prevent tangs from getting into the cage and parameter nitrates are high at 50, phosphate 0.03, alk 9, magnesium 1500, calcium 490, and ph 8.3.
Update on the chaeto
Looks like it's grown since the last picture. Hopefully a good sign.
I moved it yesterday and it had some algea growing on so its had to say if itll make it or not hopefully it does pull through
My chaeto has GHA and cyano growing on it all the time. Just keep tossing it around every now and then; it knocks most of that stuff off and gives the whole plant an opportunity to get some light.
Last time I looked at it after I moved it around. It was pushed against the return cage so that should help with getting the algea off it
