Do high nitrates and phosphates help Chaeto?

[Siberwulf]

New tank setup here, and wondering what to do.

Problem: There's some nasty stuff all over my chaeto, and I'm concerned it might suffocate it out. See picture:

This is a new tank, cycle is good now (Nitrites and Ammonia all down at 0. Nitrates are high (20ish), and I'm working on reducing with weekly water changes. Also, phosphates are high (.12 ish). Same deal on the WCs. This is getting 12 hours a day strong light (Prime Fuge), and significant water flow (triton method). I've also dosed in some EcoPods.

With that said, should I just let the Chaeto battle it out? Should I wash it off and remove any hair algae I can from it? I'm aware that patience is important, but it feels things are trending in the wrong direction and I'd like to not kill my macro. FWIW, the DT has only a few specs of green on the rocks, and things look actually pretty good up there...

 

[Vested]

Idk if its the right thing to do so please wait for more opinions, but personally I think id clean it off just to make sure its as healthy as it can be.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Idk if its the right thing to do so please wait for more opinions, but personally I think id clean it off just to make sure its as healthy as it can be.

+1 vote try manually cleaning it out of chaeto but understand this will likely be an ongoing forever task

Since your display tank is still clean and seems stable, I'd agree. Feel you are lucky right now. My suggestions going forward:
- work on your coral QT/dip process to prevent more nuisance algae(s)
- IF you lose battle with nuisance algae in chaeto, going Vibrant may kill chaeto too
---- IF you go Vibrant and try to save some chaeto from Vibrant, remember if you reintroduce THAT chaeto, you are reintroducing that chaeto's pesky problems...

BUT since you seem okay right now, only deal with those other problems (and resulting problems from those problems) if and when you need to do so... IMO no need to go more aggressive treatment now if manually you can keep this under control

 

[Siberwulf]

So I took it out and threw it in a warmed saltwater bucket in the garage, shook the living daylights out of it. Then I went through and picked off some of the pieces that looked like they were dead or really well attached to the GHA. Things look better, but I'm not sure I've won the war. Also, the amount of Chaeto I have now vs when I started a couple weeks ago...is impressive! Stay tuned!

 

[theMeat]

Looks like more flow on surface of fuge will do the trick. A light spectrum with more red/blue should help too

 

[Siberwulf]

Looks like more flow on surface of fuge will do the trick. A light spectrum with more red/blue should help too

I can look at the flow. It's very high flow in there, to the point it was breaking up the Chaeto into tiny pieces, hence the mesh to hold it together and keep it near the light. As far as light goes, this was a pic where I turned it to white for visibility. Here's what it looks like normally (prior to shaking):

 

[theMeat]

I can look at the flow. It's very high flow in there, to the point it was breaking up the Chaeto into tiny pieces, hence the mesh to hold it together and keep it near the light. As far as light goes, this was a pic where I turned it to white for visibility. Here's what it looks like normally (prior to shaking):

Try to direct flow across surface. Will keep it clear (less slime build up) to allow light down to cheato. Maybe try some caulerpra along with...

 

[tehmadreefer]

Best to wait until AFTER tank is cycled and the initial ugly stage has started or passed before using macro algae’s. Otherwise, that’s what happens, other algae’s will start to grow and potentially kill it off.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Try to direct flow across surface. Will keep it clear (less slime build up) to allow light down to cheato. Maybe try some caulerpra along with...

Agreed! You may have the amount of flow that you need it's just not directed where it needs to be