How do you keep your Chaeto from getting nuisance algae growing on it?

[PAXpress]

I have a refugium with chaeto that has a Kessil H380 Light mounted about 8 inches over it. Recently a thick mat of hair like algae has been growing on the chaeto and all over where the light is. Is this because I dont have enough chaeto to outcompete it? How can I keep the chaeto clean? Is this an attribute of too much light? I raised the kessil a bit higher to see if that would help.

 

[zcedric]

do you have enough flow to clean the cheato thru? is it a new tank?

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Clean chaeto helps, GHA will out-compete if it grows over the chaeto and blocks it from receiving light. In this instance I would try to separate the heavily covered chaeto from cleaner chaeto and toss the covered stuff. It may take a couple of tries to get it under control.

 

[Mengchhorn Chhun]

i got mine running in chaeto reactor and sometimes i do see that hairy green algae growing so i just clean it under running water and toss any that has algae on it.

 

[Darryl]

clean it and more flow

 

[PAXpress]

do you have enough flow to clean the cheato thru? is it a new tank?

Clean chaeto helps, GHA will out-compete if it grows over the chaeto and blocks it from receiving light. In this instance I would try to separate the heavily covered chaeto from cleaner chaeto and toss the covered stuff. It may take a couple of tries to get it under control.

i got mine running in chaeto reactor and sometimes i do see that hairy green algae growing so i just clean it under running water and toss any that has algae on it.

clean it and more flow

Ok obviously I'm hearing more flow... How do you keep the chaeto from being sucked up by the flow etc? I can put a powerhead in there with it but was afraid I'd get a tangled mess...

 

[Thomas B]

use a powerhead with a sponge filter

 

[PAXpress]

The way my sump is laid out this will be a bit difficult I'll see what I can do.

 

[Thomas B]

The mj series pumps are tiny

 

[PAXpress]

I'm more worried about directing the flow in a way that it wont send the chaeto to the return pump...

 

[vanpire]

I have a big mat in one area and i manually turn the Chaeto over every 3 or 4 days. I also have a section where a small clump rotates and it doesn't have HA growing it at all. Same water quality and lighting.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Iron dosing may help macroaglae at the expense of microalgae.

 

[Thomas B]

If you point the pump up on the side that goes on to the next section the flow will keep it in.
I wish I could draw you a picture

 

[PAXpress]

If you point the pump up on the side that goes on to the next section the flow will keep it in.
I wish I could draw you a picture

Kind of like push the water the wrong direction in the sump?

Iron dosing may help macroaglae at the expense of microalgae.

I'll have to look into this. Think I might have some iron leftover from my FW days. How much and what type is recommended?

 

[Thomas B]

It just kind of creates a curtain of water to keep it from going over.

 

[PAXpress]

Looking back at this I have to confirm that having A TON of chaeto helps. Now that the chaeto has grown out (a lot!) I have no algae on it at all.

 

[bdejong1112o]

I would agree with most all of the recommendations here. I had similar issues when starting my new tank. Hair algae was rampant in the refugium and choked out the Cheato. I added a small nano power head pointing the opposite direction of flow. This was done to also help disperse the Triton liquids since I have them dosing into the refugium section. This has helped but I also had to remove the excess hair algae on a regular basis to keep it from covering or getting in the way of the Cheato. I let it be where it is not causing issues since multiple types of algae are good and it is absorbing nutrients. I would assume that once the desired algae, Cheato is more established I will not have to mechanically(hands) remove the hair algae. I also banished a few snails to the refugium and I know they are munching on the hair and green surface algae.

 

[Marconis]

I had issues with blue green algae growing on mine. I was able to stop it buy running a couple of air stones underneath the cheato. Just got to make sure your light is high enough that it doesn't get wet from all the bubbles poping.

 

[christwendt]

Iron dosing may help macroaglae at the expense of microalgae.

I’m having the same problem. I nearly killed my chaeto and I have one little piece left. I have fixed my elements that initially killed my chaeto ( way to much rox carbon) but the GHA keeps out competing my chaeto. What can I do ?

 

[Dan_P]

I have a refugium with chaeto that has a Kessil H380 Light mounted about 8 inches over it. Recently a thick mat of hair like algae has been growing on the chaeto and all over where the light is. Is this because I dont have enough chaeto to outcompete it? How can I keep the chaeto clean? Is this an attribute of too much light? I raised the kessil a bit higher to see if that would help.

Heathy macro algae keep themselves clean. The GHA overgrowth seems to indicate that the Cheato is not doing well.