Question on Chaeto growth

[Porcupine Reefer]

Bought chaeto algae and have been dosing brightwell aquatics ferrion iron by the capful once every other day by the instructions, how do I know if my chaeto is growing?

 

[KrisReef]

Do you have nutrients, fish that you feed, in the tank? I put mine in and it didn't seem to grow for at least a few weeks and then boom the sump was full. I don't add iron, just feed the fish and my nutrients are high on that tank. I'm not sure what in the Brightwell product but I didn't need any additional elements for my tank to grow chaeto. It grows tons/week now.

 

[floridareeflabs]

Bought chaeto algae and have been dosing brightwell aquatics ferrion iron by the capful once every other day by the instructions, how do I know if my chaeto is growing?

You will know your chaeto is growing, if growing well it will double in size every 1-2 weeks. If it is getting tight and dark green its stunted. It "can" rebound but you need to then find out why its stunted. Dosing iron you want to be very careful, some Tangs for example are sensitive to iron supplements and you can kill them quickly.

That said, Iron is needed, nitrates and phosphates (never run a low nutrient tank and expect chaeto to grow, best to run high nutrient tank in general) as well as borax (we dose borax every 1-2 months depending on chaeto color and growth and fish waste.