cheato

[jose hernandez]

so ive noticed that my cheato is not growing like before but when i test phosphates are .20 nitrates 1.0 total tank is 200 gallons mixed reef with fish i have 5 tangs 3 anthias 3 wrasses 2 cleaner shrimp couple of snails tank is barebottom im using a philips 150 par 40 bulb that i got from home depot its on 24hrs a day i feed 2 frozen cubes of brine shrimp with couple of drops of oyster feast as well as some pellets seaweed 3x a week have i use filterfloss in my media cups as well as bag of carbon have a huge skimmer its rated for 500 gallons its on 24hrs a day i add 40ml cheatogrow by brightwell once a week dont know what it is do i need to change the bulb for something stronger or just get a better fixture ai fuge or neptune gro any help will b appreciated

 

[Wasabiroot]

Many macroalgae preferentially uptake nitrogen vs phosphates by a significant margin, like 10:1 or 15:1 for example. It could be because of your nitrates being at 1.0.
Or, because of the 24hr cycle, perhaps your chaeto is now uptaking most of the nitrate as it appears.
Chaeto does sometimes stall out. As it grows denser it is important to thin it out so that the light can hit as much as possible.
You could try feeding more pellet and turning cycle to 30 min after dark and off before main tank turns on, giving your nutrients a bit of time to build up over the day.

 

[jose hernandez]

ive tried more pellets to bring up nitrates but phosphates gets much higher noticed the cheato is not as dense not as green i see alot of white and brown on top its hard when i touch it so i pull it out then cheato just falls apart really dont know

 

[Auquanut]

Macro algae's consume a lot of trace elements (some of which your corals need as well). Iron being high on the list. Could be that the chaeto has depleted these elements and is now struggling. Might try replenishing with ChaetoGrow or a similar supplement. I use RedSea trace, and the corals and chaeto seem to respond favorably. Just a thought.

 

[salty joe]

Could it be that your bulbs are old?
The only thing I dose for my Cheato is iron, so far so good.

 

[Auquanut]

i add 40ml cheatogrow by brightwell once a week

Sorry. I missed this part.

 

[Lucas815]

Macro algae's consume a lot of trace elements (some of which your corals need as well). Iron being high on the list. Could be that the chaeto has depleted these elements and is now struggling. Might try replenishing with ChaetoGrow or a similar supplement. I use RedSea trace, and the corals and chaeto seem to respond favorably. Just a thought.

I agree, it most likely depleted iron.

I have to dose Chaeto Grow weekly to keep up and its working well so far.

 

[Lucas815]

Sorry. I missed this part.

Haha same here

 

[Uncle99]

Maybe your phosphate test is not reporting correctly at .2ppm.
Maybe it’s much lower starving the chaeto.

 

[jose hernandez]

Gonna change the bulb no see what happens apart from cheatogrow I also dose two little fishes coral amino and tropic Marin a n k trace elects once a week

 

[Susan Edwards]

once I started using chaeto gro my chaeto took off. Pic in June. Since, has filled that entire area of sump, have cut it in half 2x's. Tossed some in my observation tank and tossed equal amount out and it is now filling section again. Using the AI Prime fuge light

 

[jose hernandez]

Gonna change the bulb and see it what happens thnks everyone