Does chaetomorpha take up Alk and Ca?

fishbox · Mar 2, 2018

I was battling very high Po4 and No3. Both were too high for my test kits to read. So I added a DIY cheato reactor on a reverse light schedule of 12hrs on and 12hrs off. At the same time I had started using felt filter socks. Now my Po4 and No3 are a little lower than I'd like them to be but I've also noticed that my Alk started to drop as well. I just started testing Ca and noticed that it's a bit low also. So I'm just wondering if the drop in Alk and Ca could also be related to the Cheato reactor? If so should I completely remove it or just cut back on the lighting schedule?

Lasse · Mar 2, 2018

Do you have any stony corals in the aquaria ?

Sincerely Lasse

saltyhog · Mar 2, 2018

I would think the Ca, Alk use by chaeto to be negligible....halameda, another story.

I have seen Alk (and Ca to a lesser degree) decrease in my nano when the only inhabitants were a single fish and a few snails. The reason I think is precipitation. Check your pumps for deposits every so often.

It's not critical to worry about Alk and Ca until it's time for corals. Then you need to be more diligent in monitoring/dosing them.

fishbox · Mar 2, 2018

I have a small 3" birdsnest
A lepto frag the size of a quarter
A small two head hammer
A small favia size of a quarter
A small Blasto size of a quarter
A 5" BTA
A small rock of zoas
And a tiny Goni with like 6 polyps

Most of the above I've had for 6mos with very little growth. I really want to start focusing on corals more now. So hence the testing.

jda · Mar 2, 2018

Coralline is one of the largest consumers... especially when it is in a growth spurt.

fishbox · Mar 2, 2018

jda said:
Coralline is one of the largest consumers... especially when it is in a growth spurt.

I wish that was the problem. I don't really have any. Tank is over a year old but I started with all dry rock.

Richard the Reefer · Mar 2, 2018

fishbox said:
I wish that was the problem. I don't really have any. Tank is over a year old but I started with all dry rock.

If your rocks have a slight greenish tint it could be beginning to grow

jda · Mar 2, 2018

It will happen some day... so when it does, just be handy with the test kits to up the amounts.

fishbox · Mar 2, 2018

Dick Dangle said:
If your rocks have a slight greenish tint it could be beginning to grow

The green on my rocks looks like GHA [emoji23]

Richard the Reefer · Mar 2, 2018

fishbox said:
The green on my rocks looks like GHA [emoji23]

Same on most of mine where the coraline isn't blooming. Reefing is rough man!

fishbox · Mar 2, 2018

Dick Dangle said:
Same on most of mine where the coraline isn't blooming. Reefing is rough man!

If it wasn't rough it wouldn't be rewarding

saltyhog · Mar 2, 2018

Look on the underside of overhangs. Early on my coralline seemed to start on shady areas first.

Radman73 · Mar 2, 2018

I have a ~300gal total system volume with 1 stick, and 7 small LPS frags and noticed my pH taking a dive a couple of months after adding the coral but weeks after adding a bunch of cheato, so maybe there is something to the cheato. Sure enough, alk and calc were both low. Most likely cheato brought P04 and Nitrate down to reasonable levels and the coralline and corals responded. Using nearly fully saturated kalk has brought parameters back in line. And yes, the coralline definitely has started its growth spurt. It's surprising how much a few frags and coralline can demand. Fun times hitting a moving target when you have a young system.

fishbox · Mar 2, 2018

Again my N & P were off the charts maybe two months ago but the chaeto reactor and filter socks now have me with 0 No3 and 0.012 Po4. Which is low for my liking. My Alk was always around 10 but has now dropped to 6 if I don't dose. I'm wondering if there isn't enough N & P left for the chaeto so it's going after the Alk and Ca? Either way I'm going to either remove the reactor or cut it's photo period back because of what its doing to my N&P. I'm just curious on the Alk and Ca consumption.

Radman73 · Mar 3, 2018

fishbox said:
Again my N & P were off the charts maybe two months ago but the chaeto reactor and filter socks now have me with 0 No3 and 0.012 Po4. Which is low for my liking. My Alk was always around 10 but has now dropped to 6 if I don't dose. I'm wondering if there isn't enough N & P left for the chaeto so it's going after the Alk and Ca? Either way I'm going to either remove the reactor or cut it's photo period back because of what its doing to my N&P. I'm just curious on the Alk and Ca consumption.

Gotcha, mine weren't off the charts, but they were high. The macro definitely brought things down. I just shortened my fuge lighting period to try and get nutrients back up as my lone SPS is getting rather pale. But, like you, when I added the macro is when my pH dove, which is when I noticed my Alk and calc had dropped significantly. So my experience is somewhat similar to yours, though I also have coralline starting to grow quite a bit in my case.

Lasse · Mar 3, 2018

IMO -its unlike that the Chaeto itself can consume Ca and Alk as you describe it. However - there could be som secondary reactions that we not fully understand. I haven´t seen this in my aquaria but I have a steady growth of stony corals - any secondary effects can be hidden behind this growth. But - which secondary effects - not a clue.

Sincerely Lasse

fishbox · Mar 3, 2018

Yeah.... It hasn't done anything to my Ph which holds steady at 8.2. I'm gonna reduce the photo period from 12 on to 8 on and keep an eye on things.

fishbox · Mar 5, 2018

Well just in the 2-3 days that I've reduced the photo period of the chaeto reactor, my Po4 has increased from 0.012 to 0.061 which is more my liking. But to early to tell if that's where it's going to stay. But no changes in my Trates, Alk or Ca yet. So I can't say that the chaeto played a roll in reduced Ca or Alk.