cultivating Chaetomorpha??

Blizz · May 10, 2016

I am building a large refugium and in the mean time trying to cultivate some Chaeto .. I received a soft ball size piece of Chaeto and place it in a 10 gal salt tank with a power head and small light to give it a jump start in growing,,, problem is,, the tips are turning brown and I get the feeling that it is actually starting to die off..

Oh yea I have a heater in with it that is being kept at 80 deg..

Any ideas from members as to what I'm doing wrong??

blizz

McMullen · May 10, 2016

Cheato will need nutrients to grow.

Could the light be burning it?

No need to jump start it either.

Blizz · May 10, 2016

Thanks for the reply McMullen... I used water from my main display tank which has always had a problem with nitrates... I figured that would be the nutrients it need to grow on... Is there a product I should by to help with this??
Also the light is just a small 12 flourient light that I keep on 12 hrs. per day.
blizz

McMullen · May 10, 2016

I think to answer appropriately we (reefe2reef) would need to know nitrate and phosphate levels. Cheato can absorb nutrients rapidly!

The brown tips still has me questioning being burnt by light. Usually with lack of nutrients Cheato begins to pale and turn white in color. It becomes brittle and withers away.

CodyRVA · May 10, 2016

How long was it in the 10G tank before it started to do this?

Blizz · May 10, 2016

Phosphate .5 but nitrate 60-70.. it's been in the tank for about 5 days but I just started to notice it 3 days ago... the ends of the Chaeto are slightly brown and fuzzy for a lack of better term..

blizz

Blizz · May 10, 2016

pic.... concerned with the tips..

CodyRVA · May 10, 2016

CodyRVA said:
How long was it in the 10G tank before it started to do this?

Blizz · May 10, 2016

Hi Cody,, was in the tank about 2-3 days before I noticed it. Also I noticed when I put it in the tank a lot of Copepods came out and died off. I don't see any active life left in the Chaeto at this point.

Something is wrong I feel.

blizz

CodyRVA · May 10, 2016

Have you tested the water for ammonia, just curious?

Blizz · May 10, 2016

no I didn't since it came from my main tank which has 6 very healthy fish in it I only check for Phos & Nitrates. I just looked and found that I don't even own a test kit for ammonia any longer...

blizz

CodyRVA · May 10, 2016

Well, simply using water from your main display isn't going to do much. Eventually the chaeto will absorb all the nutrients from the water as previously mentioned. Once that happens it'll have nothing to feed from and slowly die out. You may also have a improper lighting. Make sure you're test kit isn't expired and you're testing properly.