Is there enough room for cheato to make a difference?

[rmorris_14]

Curious what people thoughts are on having a small refugium of cheato in the back of a biocube 32 chamber. I've seen mixed reviews on whether or not there is enough room, to grow cheato in a volume large enough that would help with nutrient export. Is it mostly only beneficial for housing pods?

Random side note. I don't know why, but when I'm typing and saying the word in my head. I say it as "cheeto". HAHA I know its not right but I cant help it. I do it with a lot of words.

 

[rmorris_14]

Apparently my brain wont' even let me spell it correctly!!! CHAETO LOL

 

[AlgaeBarn]

I think you can make that small refugium space work for you! It is going to depend on your bioload and feeding though as to how effective it is at that size. Either way it will be a great place for pods to also be in addition to your rock, sand, and media

 

[BAMatter]

My Biocube grows a decent amount of chaeto with the InTank fuge. This is about 2 weeks of growth. I feed my tank heavily and also rely on GFO and a PolyFilter to keep NO3 and PO4 in check.

 

[Andresnyc93]

My fluval evo 13.5 runs chaeto on the intank first chamber and bought a cheap Amazon plant grow light and it grows like it’s on crack

 

[rmorris_14]

My Biocube grows a decent amount of chaeto with the InTank fuge. This is about 2 weeks of growth. I feed my tank heavily and also rely on GFO and a PolyFilter to keep NO3 and PO4 in check.

I still have the stock media rack. I have the intank filter floss, then chemipure elite directly below. Nothing in the middle section and then marine pure balls at the very bottom. I was thinking about doing the chaeto in the middle. I dont want to mess with it though if it wont be enough to help lower nitrate and phosphates.

My fluval evo 13.5 runs chaeto on the intank first chamber and bought a cheap Amazon plant grow light and it grows like it’s on crack

do you think it helps with the nutrient export though?

 

[damsels are not mean]

Couple months ago I threw some in my nano cube 28 (similar sort of design). The light I had sucked and a lot of it melted but some survived and with a better light is now growing back. It is hardly even a "ball" yet but it seems to have had an effect on nutrients. I normally do small weekly water changes to reduce nutrients in this tank and based on my testing it's about the right amount of export for my weekly load however now that the chaeto is growing I had a 2 week stretch without water changes and nutrients actually decreased from the test 2 weeks ago.

This is pretty anecdotal still and there can be some other things explaining this. First off, I added some SPS frags a couple months ago which are now starting to grow. Corals are a big part of nutrient export and that might be it, but the chaeto is nearly doubling in size every day since I got the new light.

Secondly, this is only 2 data points that may be flawed in testing and it's possible I fed a little less on accident than usual.

 

[rmorris_14]

Couple months ago I threw some in my nano cube 28 (similar sort of design). The light I had sucked and a lot of it melted but some survived and with a better light is now growing back. It is hardly even a "ball" yet but it seems to have had an effect on nutrients. I normally do small weekly water changes to reduce nutrients in this tank and based on my testing it's about the right amount of export for my weekly load however now that the chaeto is growing I had a 2 week stretch without water changes and nutrients actually decreased from the test 2 weeks ago.

This is pretty anecdotal still and there can be some other things explaining this. First off, I added some SPS frags a couple months ago which are now starting to grow. Corals are a big part of nutrient export and that might be it, but the chaeto is nearly doubling in size every day since I got the new light.

Secondly, this is only 2 data points that may be flawed in testing and it's possible I fed a little less on accident than usual.

I appreciate the reply

 

[moorjames]

I also have a Bio 32- and I purchased the both the InTank boxes- though I only use 1 since my light holder prevents me from adding the InTank Fuge box- however I still use Chaeto- it just floats in chamber next to the filter box. Mine setup is

first chamber has all my probes like temp, ph, etc
second chamber is split into 2 sections- first has the Intank box for filters (top rack is 100 micron polish padfilter, under that is Chemi Pure, under that is bag of Seachem matrix.) Next to the Intank box is where I have Chaeto that grows really well- sits just fine in that spot
third chamber is the heater and return pump

I do believe it helps with the nutrients but also I like that it helps with Ph stability.

 

[Andresnyc93]

I still have the stock media rack. I have the intank filter floss, then chemipure elite directly below. Nothing in the middle section and then marine pure balls at the very bottom. I was thinking about doing the chaeto in the middle. I dont want to mess with it though if it wont be enough to help lower nitrate and phosphates.

do you think it helps with the nutrient export though?

It does, I’ve noticed way less GHA on the display and I just harvest it whenever I do the water changes

 

[reefer_evo5]

I have a small refugium in my 20 gal AIO fusion tank in one of the chambers with the innovative marine chaeto grow light and it grows it like crazy back there. i mostly have it for pods since i do frequent water changes as my main nutrient export chaeto still grows alot i run the like when my display lights go out and its been going for about 4 months now.

 

[rmorris_14]

It does, I’ve noticed way less GHA on the display and I just harvest it whenever I do the water changes

Thanks!!!