HUH, WHAT??? YEP.........IT'S BATTLECHAETO!!!

[raultsu]

dang. I just ordered from another source a few days ago

 

[Battlecorals Verified Sponsor]

Can I get a pic of this chaeto grow tank? Just crazy to think of an 11' x 4' tank filled with chaeto.

Sure thing,

And as for Qt for those who had asked, I dipped the original ball I got from a good friend hard in expel, I mean really hard, then soaked in cold Freshwater a few hours. Then I kept it in a 5 gal bucket for about a month right next to one of my tanks where it received bleed over light. It broke up like crazy and definitely struggled, but I dipped a small final baseball-sized piece again just as hard in expel and FW before it went into my main.

Now the interpretation of the word "clean" as it pertains to macro, may not be the same for everyone, and I do not want to mislead anyone here. My main system has tons of pods. The chaeto tank is not isolated as a separate system. This will not be devoid of every and all moving critters. But will definitely be free of any fish parasites/diseases and coral pests for sure.


Here is the chaeto ball under 2 tropic 65ks T5s. Has a ways to go before the tanks full but it's about 4 foot long now and growing incredibly fast, which brings me to the other question that was asked.

I had a Triton test come back about early April with phosphate and phosphorous way high, so I finally dusted off the old hanna egg and tested myself. Sure enough. Phos was really high in all my systems actually, so I tested my SW reservoir and it was also reading high. My RO/DI tested at zero so I came to the conclusion, after making up a fresh 1-gallon sample of SW that it had to be my salt oddly enough. And it was/is. I've got over25 buckets left lol. So in an effort to combat these high nutrients, i reached out to my friend Therman for some macro, and he sent over a nice couple of balls.

Triton test pre chaeto. Early April of this year.

And again around mid June. Nutrients reduced significantly.

 

[BigJohnny]

After a lengthy and grueling internal conflict, I finally decided to add macro back to my system. A few months ago, I dedicated one of my entire 11' x 4' tanks to growing this stuff out and it has exploded.

Now, believe me, I don't intend to retire on the money I make selling off bags of macro, but I know there's a lot of folks out there who are looking for macro from a good clean system, and I have plenty to go around. And as I seem to like throwing my company name in front of anything I want to market, and not one to shy away from kitsch, here we a go-go!

Battlecorals, now serving um, cough, hand moves to forehead..... It's Ba Ba Ba Ba Battlechaeto Baby!

Watch your potassium levels brother. In certain conditions chaeto will crush potassium, in case you didnt know.

 

[Reef Dude]

Hey Adam, thanks for sharing the data and photos. Love it when you post stuff like this. Why do you think your phosphates were a little elevated in the first place? Do you dose anything, or is it just from feeding the fish and coral?

 

[Battlecorals Verified Sponsor]

Hey Adam, thanks for sharing the data and photos. Love it when you post stuff like this. Why do you think your phosphates were a little elevated in the first place? Do you dose anything, or is it just from feeding the fish and coral?

I think my salt was/is high in phos for some reason. no real explanation but NSW measured over 50 on the hanna phosphorous ulr egg, and the high phos was consistent in all three of my systems.

Watch your potassium levels, brother. In certain conditions, chaeto will crush potassium, in case you didn't know.

Hey, thanks a lot for the tip I did not know this at all. I normally run potassium a tad high, so it will, be very interesting to see if that fluctuates here. I really appreciate the post

 

[drawman]

I think my salt was/is high in phos for some reason. no real explanation but NSW measured over 50 on the hanna phosphorous ulr egg, and the high phos was consistent in all three of my systems.



Hey, thanks a lot for the tip I did not know this at all. I normally run potassium a tad high, so it will, be very interesting to see if that fluctuates here. I really appreciate the post

Good to know. That's pretty weird to me for it to be that high.

 

[bubbaque]

I remember your article about not worrying about phosphate levels. If I remember I think you posted a pic of your level being .14. Why did you decide to do something about it once it hit .22?

 

[Battlecorals Verified Sponsor]

I remember your article about not worrying about phosphate levels. If I remember I think you posted a pic of your level is .14. Why did you decide to do something about it once it hit .22?

Lol, great question I think honestly it was the higher phosphorous from the Triton test that prompted to efforts to pull it down. I don't know. I can't really say I'm chasing some arbitrary low number, but for some reason, that "off the charts" triton color indicator always makes me jumpy. And I'm sitting there thinking that every time I do a WC I am jacking up my phos, instead of diluting it, so the idea of managing that or attempting to at least, seemed to make some sense to me.

In truth, I am never really at a point of stasis with any of my systems. Aside from lighting, I can't seem to help from messing around with things. I think a part of me really wanted to see how fast it would actually grow.

 

[KrisReef]

Shoot just ordered some from another source.

Bummer. Your's doesn't have the pedigree or the cool name.

 

[pelphrey]

Take a look at this!! Thanks Adam!!

 

[drawman]

That's a pretty fat chunk!

 

[pelphrey]

That's a pretty fat chunk!

That’s the 8x10 bag! Solid amount for sure!!

 

[pelphrey]

 

[JustAnt]

Nice. I was gonna order some but shipping to NY is $25. Ouch. Almost double the cost of the Chaeto I was buying. So u should mail me some from Kentucky lol. You have plenty!

 

[pelphrey]

Nice. I was gonna order some but shipping to NY is $25. Ouch. Almost double the cost of the Chaeto I was buying. So u should mail me some from Kentucky lol. You have plenty!

I paid the same for shipping, the amount I got, the fact it was a nice ball and didn’t shred into pieces when I put it into my tank... and I trust Adam and his practices made it worth while!

 

[JustAnt]

Earlier in the chain it mentions Adam adding 2 day shipping priority mail(ie cheaper option) was added as option but that choice wasn’t there for me

Correction: the 25 $ option I got was 2 day flat air
I would like to buy too but just feel a cheaper shipping option should be available to ship a few ounces of cheato. Or Mayb I’m just cheap lol

 

[pelphrey]

Earlier in the chain it mentions Adam adding 2 day shipping priority mail(ie cheaper option) was added as option but that choice wasn’t there for me

Correction: the 25 $ option I got was 2 day flat air
I would like to buy too but just feel a cheaper shipping option should be available to ship a few ounces of cheato. Or Mayb I’m just cheap lol

I got the 8x10, it barely fit in a box I’ve received corals in before! He uses FedEx, priority boxes probably would be cheaper. I don’t know. He uses his branded boxes also!

I got chaeto from algae barn once. It came in a fancy cup. I had to rip it all apart to get it out. Once in the tank it made a mess!

 

[pelphrey]

Opened the Chaeto up! Didn’t realize how big the ball was!

 

[serwobow]

Hi Adam,
your corals look so awesome, so why are you trying to lower your phosphate levels? You even wrote a whole "Phosphate Ramblings" about your skepticism over the overly prevalent, and maybe not helpful phosphate lowering attempts that we see in the hobby.
Just curious as to what benefits/changes you expect for your system by adding this potentially massive nutrient sink. Are you going to switch to a high import-high export system with regards to nutrients?

 

[TheHarold]

I also got my ball of chaeto- thanks!!

Definitely pricier than getting it locally, but it didn’t cone with aptasia/flatworm/vermatid freebies xD