DIY Algae Reactor

beaslbob · May 9, 2017

Tomoko Schum said:
So, how is it doing?

My chaetomorpha in my fuge does not grow much at all...
I have a 18 inch Finnex Ray II light (7000K) on it.
It's pretty bright, but I just added an inexpensive LED grow light strip yesterday.
If the chaeto still don't grow, I might try converting my GFO reactor.

I could not grow Chaeto after installing a GFO and keeping the nutrient level very low.
It used to crumble into tiny pieces.

After seeing the BRS's video on Chaetomorpha taking up nutrients very well in their study, I am itching to try them again.

FWIW
Tomoko. I have three red blue led lights I just got from ebay. One is ~15 cm square 45 w and two are ~12" round with 15 3 watt leds. (Didn't say what the actual watts were-probably varies with input voltage. LOL) The round ones have a fan but not the square. I think I paid ~$25 for the square and $58 for both round ones. All three have hanging cables.

Obviously I'm not gonna use all three. So thought you may want one.

Just bob.

Tomoko Schum · May 9, 2017

Thanks, Bob, but I have the LED grow light strip, which I just installed. It has gaudy pink and blue LED's. I am going to try it for a while. If it does not work well, I may ask you to let me borrow one to see how it does before investing more money on a light fixture.

I stopped using GFO for a couple of months now, and my GFO reactor is sitting there under the tank, doing nothing. I can probably get a pink and blue 5050 SMD strip and wrap it around the reactor.

mattsreefadise · May 9, 2017

Tomoko, if you really wanted to make life easy, I have a premade cheato reactor I can sell you.

Tomoko Schum · May 9, 2017

Thanks Matt, but I have a hard time growing chaeto. I don't know why I cannot. I don't think the nutrient level is so low right now without a GFO reactor. I have a small ball of chaeto that is just languishing in my fuge.

I saw someone trying to grow chaeto in one of those commercially available reactor and failing miserably, with chaeto covered with cyano and other algae. I am afraid my chaeto may follow suite. So I would like to try to grow it without investing too much into the system first. If my chaeto starts to do well, I may consider using a better system.

mattsreefadise · May 9, 2017

Good point for sure. I think keeping a sustainable level of iron in your water is important for cheato.

Tomoko Schum · May 9, 2017

I was using iron and potassium supplement, but it did not make a difference. Caulerpa grew marginally better, though.

mattsreefadise · May 9, 2017

Interesting. Any reason you don't want to use caulerpa?

Tomoko Schum · May 9, 2017

I don't mind using caulerpa racemosa, but I don't have any access to it at the moment.

mattsreefadise · May 9, 2017

Gotcha. Surely someone would have some.

The best method for a fuge is to have an assortment of algaes (that's what Triton suggests anyways)

Tomoko Schum · May 9, 2017

Before I started using GFO (in 2006?), I had a mixture of macro algae. Chaeto & caulerpa grew well in my fuge, and I was growing halimeda and dictyota in my display. I also tried gracilaria, botryocladia, ogo, ulva, red dragons breath, turtle grass, etc. with varied success. I was a kind of a macroalgae collector back then. Dictyota was a bad mistake, but a Dolabella sea hare and a sea urchin took care of it. I kept a caulerpa prolifera in my clownfish growout container since it is thought to be beneficial to fry (it supposedly has a weak antibacterial effect.)

I don't know if a mixture of macroalgae is better or not, but my acropora did not like macroalgae touching them. Every so often caulerpa or chaeto broke off in the fuge and landed on an acro. The acro turned pale where a piece of algae was touching. I don't know if it was the phyto chemical in the macro algae or just the friction and shading the algae caused.

After I started using GFO, I can no longer grow chaeto or other macro macroalgae. Caulerpa racemosa and razor caulerpa still grow. Now that I stopped using GFO, I hope I can grow some chaetomorpha again.

beaslbob · May 10, 2017

back in the day I had two caulerpa's and chaeto in my in tank refugium. Depend on lighting I found the one type seemed to do better and out compete the other. Prolifera with lower lighting and grape with higher.

I also had a deep red/purple in the display I bought from ebay and advertised as fugia. It went like gang busters for a few months they died off. had Prolifera in the tank also that lasted linger.

litenyaup · May 12, 2017

Here is what I finished today. We shall see how it works.

eric.battani · Jun 11, 2017

Update

So even with the dimmer switch I still have a problem growing the red macro algae inside the reactor. So I replaced it with chaeto but still left some of the red macro inside. The chaeto grows remarkably fast and fills the reactor up in just a little over a week.

Tomoko Schum · Jun 11, 2017

It looks great, Eric!

I thought about changing my GFO reactor into a chaeto reactor, but I decided to first try growing Chaeto better in my fuge.

I changed out my fuge light, took my GFO reactor offline, and started experimenting with Chaetomorpha.
So far Chaeto is growing better, instead of getting brittle and dying out like it did when the reactor was on.

I replaced the fuge light again with a round (and hopefully more intense) LED light today to see if that makes any difference.
The BRS video below inspired me to try another light:
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/video...-best-refugium-light-and-what-is-coming-next/

I am going to install a different powerhead to increase a flow in the fuge to keep the chaeto tumbling.
Hopefully, I can keep chaeto growing well in this setup.

So far, I am happy to report that my SPS's are doing fine without losing bright colors in the process.

mattsreefadise · Jun 11, 2017

Great to hear. Did you switch to a Kessil?

Tomoko Schum · Jun 11, 2017

No. I went cheap and bought a 18W PAR 38 full spectrum light with red and blue peaks at the right ranges. It cost me only $29.
We shall see how it goes.

eric.battani · Jun 12, 2017

Tomoko Schum said:
It looks great, Eric!

I thought about changing my GFO reactor into a chaeto reactor, but I decided to first try growing Chaeto better in my fuge.

I changed out my fuge light, took my GFO reactor offline, and started experimenting with Chaetomorpha.
So far Chaeto is growing better, instead of getting brittle and dying out like it did when the reactor was on.

I replaced the fuge light again with a round (and hopefully more intense) LED light today to see if that makes any difference.
The BRS video below inspired me to try another light:
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/video...-best-refugium-light-and-what-is-coming-next/

I am going to install a different powerhead to increase a flow in the fuge to keep the chaeto tumbling.
Hopefully, I can keep chaeto growing well in this setup.

So far, I am happy to report that my SPS's are doing fine without losing bright colors in the process.

That was a very interesting video. Makes me want to switch my leds to red and blue ones.

mattsreefadise · Jun 12, 2017

eric.battani said:
That was a very interesting video. Makes me want to switch my leds to red and blue ones.

Like someone told you earlier??

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

Eddie7144 · Jul 21, 2017

guys, I'm looking to get a algae reactor, been looking at the kit from aquamaxx, I have a hospital 150 laying around, my question is, would a reactor the size of a 150 be ok for a 150 gal tank ??

eric.battani · Jul 21, 2017

Eddie7144 said:
guys, I'm looking to get a algae reactor, been looking at the kit from aquamaxx, I have a hospital 150 laying around, my question is, would a reactor the size of a 150 be ok for a 150 gal tank ??

When you say a hospital 150 are you referring to a 150g aqurium?