Does high mag stunt chaeto growth

[ramraider]

As per title . I have e 200l mixed reef and my chaeto seemed to have stopped growing my stats are as follows
Nitrate 2ppm
Phos 0.04ppm
Kh 9.0
Cal 420ppm
Mag 1480ppm
Sal 35ppt
Temp 26c
I am only dosing kh and cal atm via dosing pump but this is really bugging me as before i used to harvest every week

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I've not heard or seen evidence that it does, especially at your level.

If you are harvesting less now, did you make some sort of change, such as a salt mix change?

Other things may limit growth, such as iron.

 

[ramraider]

Nothing has changed the chaeto just crumbles when squashed in you hand instead of springing back

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So the magnesium was always at this level?

 

[ramraider]

Magnesium was off the scale and is coming down slowly . I did overdose mag a few months ago due to dodgy test kit, but if i put fresh chaeto its still the same

 

[DFW]

Chaeto is fine in my sump with magnesium at 1700 ppm according to a Seachem test kit. Chaeto likes a lot of water movement in my experience.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, I know some folks who have killed bryopsis with Kent Tech M magnesium additive, and their chaetomorpha was OK.

So while I can't be sure what the problem is, I might look elsewhere than the magnesium.

 

[Eric81]

I once overdosed my Mag (Kent Tech M) and killed all of my chaeto in my sump (was trying to kill off what I thought was bryposis). It had been growing great for a year, then a day or two after I added the Mag, I noticed that it had turned brown and kind of disentegrated in my had when I touched it. I ended up just pulling it all out once I was sure it was all dead. A few weeks later I added another small ball of Chaeto and it has been growing great every since. The Kent Tech M (which I am sure now that I added it too fast) is the only thing that I can attribute it to.

 

[ramraider]

Eric81 i have ordered some today i think this is the way to go

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I once overdosed my Mag (Kent Tech M) and killed all of my chaeto in my sump (was trying to kill off what I thought was bryposis). It had been growing great for a year, then a day or two after I added the Mag, I noticed that it had turned brown and kind of disentegrated in my had when I touched it. I ended up just pulling it all out once I was sure it was all dead. A few weeks later I added another small ball of Chaeto and it has been growing great every since. The Kent Tech M (which I am sure now that I added it too fast) is the only thing that I can attribute it to.

Do you know how much you boosted magnesium with the Tech M?

 

[Eric81]

@Eric81 i have ordered some today i think this is the way to go

Yeah, I think once your Mag balances back out, your new chaeto should be fine. I was pretty confused when it happened to me, but the Kent Tech M is the only thing that made sense to me for why it melted. I don't have a fraction of the knowledge that Randy has, but that is what happened in my experience.

 

[Eric81]

Do you know how much you boosted magnesium with the Tech M?

I don't, as I didn't have a a mag test back then. I had a bad case of hair algae that I had tried everything on with no success. Someone suggested to me that it might be bryposis so I went the Tech M route with guesstimating how much to add (rookie mistake). Luckily the chaeto was the only thing that it killed.

It ended up being hair algae and I was able to remedy it with Algaefix. I have practiced better husbandry and phosphate removal techniques since then and haven't had hair algae since.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don't, as I didn't have a a mag test back then. I had a bad case of hair algae that I had tried everything on with no success. Someone suggested to me that it might be bryposis so I went the Tech M route with guesstimating how much to add (rookie mistake). Luckily the chaeto was the only thing that it killed.

It ended up being hair algae and I was able to remedy it with Algaefix. I have practiced better husbandry and phosphate removal techniques since then and haven't had hair algae since.

OK, thanks.

Happy Reefing.

 

[Eric81]

OK, thanks.

Happy Reefing.

You too! I also dumped the large quantity of Kent directly into the chamber of my sump that houses my chaeto, so not sure if the sudden concentrated spike of Magnesium in that particular chamber for a few minutes had anything to do with it melting or not. In hindsight, I would distribute it gradually.