Refugium not working... should I create a DIY ATS

[Brady4000]

Sounds good. I’ll get it raised up and get on that dosing regimen. They make it so hard to raise those lights, only thing I hate about it
Thank you for all the help!

Also I have it a foot away from the cheato, not the water. Everyone’s tank is different, it’s not the magic number, it’s just what’s working for me.

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

My guess is you have too much light. My cheato used to look great and I throw out about a 5 gallon bucket once a month. The bottom side was always dying off, so I added some DIY underwater lights, and it all turned white and died off. I had to turn the lights way down to get it to stop dying off, then brought them back up slowly over ~ a month.

I would also suggest a water change. It may help with your cheato, but would definitely help with your current nitrate and phosphate.

I'm also a fan of an algae scrubber and I run both. So I would encourage you to build the scrubber too.

 

[Staghorn]

What is your nitrate and phosphate level? That scrubber may just be out competing the cheato.

 

[JosephM]

What is your nitrate and phosphate level? That scrubber may just be out competing the cheato.

I don’t have a scrubber yet. I’ll admit I haven’t tested in a while. My nitrates were ~15ppm and phosphates were 0.07ppm 2 weeks ago. I think they’ve fallen since because I was feeding heavy and feeding corals every other day and haven’t been feeding as much

 

[User]

Why are you adding nutrients to the tank for the sole purpose of growing chaeto in order to remove nutrients?

I have a 3 year old 180 with 125 sump and don’t have a chaeto fuge. I have to dose nitrate and phosphate to keep corals happy, so why would I then add a plant that sucks it out? Seems kinda pointless.

chaetonos for EXCESS nutrients. Not ADDED. if you need to add nutrients to support it- don’t, and enjoy a chaeto less system.

 

[Brady4000]

Why are you adding nutrients to the tank for the sole purpose of growing chaeto in order to remove nutrients?

I have a 3 year old 180 with 125 sump and don’t have a chaeto fuge. I have to dose nitrate and phosphate to keep corals happy, so why would I then add a plant that sucks it out? Seems kinda pointless.

chaetonos for EXCESS nutrients. Not ADDED. if you need to add nutrients to support it- don’t, and enjoy a chaeto less system.

The simple answer “Everyone’s tank is different.”

1- If I didn’t have cheato in my reef tank, nothing would be happy due to high nitrates/phosphate and I don’t want to change the way I feed. I also don’t run a skimmer and don’t plan on it. By adding more nutrition into the tank for the cheato (not nitrate in phosphate), it helps my cheato grow. By helping it grow, it will start to remove nitrate and phosphates faster.

2- On my fish only tank, it’s the only thing that keeps the nitrates down. My mantis is sensitive to nitrates, and since I do water changes 1 time a month. It will eat all the nutritions out of the tank, but I will end up with high nitrates and phosphates.

3- And the most important to the thread, the OP doesn’t do water changes. Adding stuff back into the tank is necessary.

I am guessing you do water changes?

Edit: added stuff

 

[User]

The simple answer “Everyone’s tank is different.”

1- If I didn’t have cheato in my reef tank, nothing would be happy due to high nitrates/phosphate and I don’t want to change the way I feed. I also don’t run a skimmer and don’t plan on it.

2- On my fish only tank, it’s the only thing that keeps the nitrates down. My mantis is sensitive to nitrates.

3- And the most important to the thread, the OP doesn’t do water changes. Adding stuff back into the tank is necessary.

I am guessing you do water changes?

I was asking the OP specifically, because, like you said- all tanks are different.

If he’s having to dose nitrate just to keep chaeto alive- he doesn’t have excess nutrients naturally through feeding, so he doesn’t need the chaeto

Dosing back into the tank because he doesn’t do water changes is for micronutrients and elements. Not nitrates.

I don’t do water changes, and my nitrates never get past zero unless I dose it to keep my corals happy. I can’t feed enough to make my nitrates rise through feeding. I don’t understand the point in dosing nitrates to make stuff happy, then sucking out excess with chaeto?
Just don’t add as much in the first place and he won’t have to suck out the extra with chaeto

 

[Brady4000]

If he’s having to dose nitrate just to keep chaeto alive-

Where did you read this?

 

[User]

Where did you read this?

I went back and reread. I assumed chaeto grow included nitrate .

Edit- I re-re-read it and it’s literally in the first paragraph. He was dosing nitrate because his chaeto was growing so well

 

[schuby]

Where did you read this?

It was the third sentence in first post:
"I started my tank about 4-5 months ago. At the start chaeto was doing great. So great I was having to dose N03 but now it’s just always dying off on me."

 

[schuby]

IME, once chaeto has died (turned white/grey and limp), it doesn't come back to life with either better light or nutrients/elements. You must get new, fresh, alive chaeto if you want to grow it again.

When your chaeto died in your refugium, it released all of its PO4, NO3, and Iron back into your tank. If your readings didn't skyrocket, then you don't have excess nutrients.

I agree with @neilp2006 . I would never run chaeto/macro-algae to remove PO4 & NO3 while, at the same time, dosing either of those nutrients.

 

[User]

It was the third sentence in first post:
"I started my tank about 4-5 months ago. At the start chaeto was doing great. So great I was having to dose N03 but now it’s just always dying off on me."

I knew I wasn’t going insane

thanks

 

[Brady4000]

I started my tank about 4-5 months ago. At the start chaeto was doing great. So great I was having to dose N03 but now it’s just always dying off on me.

ok... apparently we are going to be nitpicky, so why not I’ll join in.

The cheato at this point was thriving, by the OPs account. So much he felt the need to dose. Which means he should have trimmed. But this is not his issue. This was 4-5 months ago....

“My N03 is 10-20ppm and P04 is 0.07.” But yet his cheato is not growing... in fact it’s dying. this is the whole reason for his post...

I do agree dosing nitrates while running Marco when you can just trim it is backwards. But again, not the reason for this post and he is currently not dosing nitrates.

Maybe the OP can chime in and tell me I am wrong and miss read this whole thread.

 

[Brady4000]

IME, once chaeto has died (turned white/grey and limp), it doesn't come back to life with either better light or nutrients/elements. You must get new, fresh, alive chaeto if you want to grow it again.

You can have part of your cheato die, trim it and the rest will recover quite well...

Yes if the WHOLE thing turned white then no. It’s dead

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Lol! Good stuff.
D

 

[User]

ok... apparently we are going to be nitpicky, so why not I’ll join in.

The cheato at this point was thriving, by the OPs account. So much he felt the need to dose. Which means he should have trimmed. But this is not his issue. This was 4-5 months ago....

“My N03 is 10-20ppm and P04 is 0.07.” But yet his cheato is not growing... in fact it’s dying. this is the whole reason for his post...

I do agree dosing nitrates while running Marco when you can just trim it is backwards. But again, not the reason for this post and he is currently not dosing nitrates.

Maybe the OP can chime in and tell me I am wrong and miss read this whole thread.

Being accurate with words is not nit picky.

he said he dosed. You asked where he said it. 2 people pointed it out

your tank is supposed to be salty- not your attitude.

im out.

 

[Brady4000]

Being accurate with words is not nit picky.

he said he dosed. You asked where he said it. 2 people pointed it out

your tank is supposed to be salty- not your attitude.

im out.

Sorry if you felt like I was trying to step on your toes.... that was not my intention. by saying something is nitpicky, is not a “bad attitude“. By saying (see he added nitrates 5 months ago)... is nitpicky.. especially when the whole reason for your post was because you thought nitrates and phosphate were part of the ingredients in Chaeto gro.

I assumed chaeto grow included nitrate .

Again not trying to ruffle your feathers.

I did like the one liner “your tank is supposed to be salty- not your attitude.” Lol, Can’t see myself using it, but it did give me a laugh. Which is why I liked your post.

Edit: I just wanted to point out, I even agreed with you in the post you pointed out.

I do agree dosing nitrates while running Marco when you can just trim it is backwards.

I just said it wasn’t the reason for this thread, and is irrelevant, since it was 5 months ago when everything was going great.

Going to add this too, because saying he is dosing nitrates, makes this thread confusing.

This was takin off the Chaeto Gro Website: https://www.brightwellaquatics.com/products/chaeto-gro.php


Potassium - Protein synthesis, water and charge balance, enzyme activation.

Boron - Chlorophyll production, flowering, root growth, cell function.

Carbon - Required for all organic compounds.

Calcium - Cell wall stability and permeability, enzyme activation, cell response to stimuli.

Chlorine - Water and charge balance, photosynthesis.

Iron - Required for photosynthesis, component of enzymes utilized in redox reactions.

Magnesium - Component of chlorophyll, enzyme activation.

Manganese - Formation of amino acids, enzyme activation.

Molybdenum and Cobalt - Required for nitrate reduction.

Nickel - Enzyme activation, processing of nitrogenous material.

Sulfur - Component of proteins and the coenzymes that are involved with nutrient utilization and growth.

Zinc - Chlorophyll production, enzyme activation.

ChaetoGro does not contain phosphorus or nitrogen”

 

[JosephM]

Just to clear up some things... everyone is right. Yes I did use to dose N03 and P04. Not anymore. Nitrates are now 10-20ppm and P04 is 0.06ppm. Chaeto isn’t dying anymore but isn’t thriving
Just wanted to clear the air lol

 

[Brady4000]

Just to clear up some things... everyone is right. Yes I did use to dose N03 and P04. Not anymore. Nitrates are now 10-20ppm and P04 is 0.06ppm. Chaeto isn’t dying anymore but isn’t thriving
Just wanted to clear the air lol

Might take a minute to bounce back. When I first added chaeto, It didn’t grow (well) for about a month. Only a “guess” but might just be recovering from shock. Lol.

 

[fish farmer]

Do you have excessive algae growth in the display that you are trying to get rid of via the chaeto? Or do you just want to drop the nitrate numbers?

I have a similar sized system that was high in nitrates(30ppm) and phos(1ppm). I put a 9 watt grow bulb over the sump and a fist sized ball of chaeto and it grew very well for several months and overtime with the chaeto and WC/cutting feeding I got my levels very low. I still have chaeto with a stronger light, but only have a grapefruit sized piece at any given time and I still have some algae in the DT which is manageable with snails.