The trick to grow chaeto?

[kilnakorr]

yea i wouldn't stress about trying to run a refugium with those great numbers. whatever you're amount you're feeding and however you're managing the waste its working

Is what I want to see. Been running 'zombie' chaeto for a long time so have no idea if it comsumes or leaks nutrients.
I'm just tired of trying to get this stuff to grow, and I'd rather go with biopellets and gfo if needed. At least I can trust these things to do what they should.

 

[kilnakorr]

It seems my chaeto at least consumed some CO2 as my ph dropped about 0.1 this morning.
This does indicate some of it was alive and growing.

 

[kilnakorr]

I still cannot get this darn algae to stay alive.
I tried an AI fuge light, with same result.
Have been running a pacific sun macro reactor, and just checked how it was doing.
Pretty much white/brown decaying in the center where the lights are.

How hard can it be to grow algae!!???

 

[jt8791]

Worst comes to worst you could always try red ogo instead, depending on what type of light you use

 

[attiland]

I still cannot get this darn algae to stay alive.
I tried an AI fuge light, with same result.
Have been running a pacific sun macro reactor, and just checked how it was doing.
Pretty much white/brown decaying in the center where the lights are.

How hard can it be to grow algae!!???

How long you are running it for?
In the beginning when I had Dinos I could not keep chaeto alive but now o know I also had my parameters off too. Either way you may just have something in the water or not have in the water required by it. I know it is not much help :/

 

[kilnakorr]

Worst comes to worst you could always try red ogo instead, depending on what type of light you use

Macro algae is not something you can buy here. Even chaeto needs to be obtained from other reefers. UK is a good source but, since they left the union, they stopped selling internationally.

I've salvaged some chaeto, and will retry the fuge, but with much lower settings on the AI fuge light.
I have nutrients to feed it, but to much light could increase the CO2 demand to high.

 

[kilnakorr]

How long you are running it for?
In the beginning when I had Dinos I could not keep chaeto alive but now o know I also had my parameters off too. Either way you may just have something in the water or not have in the water required by it. I know it is not much help :/

Nutrients are high enough. 5 ppm NO3, 0.14 PO4, measured yesterday. Been dosing chaetogro also, but doesn't seem to have any effect.
The only thing I can think of, is low CO2 relative to the amount of light.
The reactor could however be an issue with heat, as only the chaeto close to the center was dead.

 

[attiland]

Nutrients are high enough. 5 ppm NO3, 0.14 PO4, measured yesterday. Been dosing chaetogro also, but doesn't seem to have any effect.
The only thing I can think of, is low CO2 relative to the amount of light.
The reactor could however be an issue with heat, as only the chaeto close to the center was dead.

I think your issue might me to do with flow if you think it is to do with heat. Tunze has 1,000 to 2,400 lph pump on it. I actually doubt it is actually doing the high end with all the turning on the pipe in mine but it gives you an idea.
5ppm is not that high for no3. The biggest grow in mine was when I had nitrates in 10-15 mark. For a while I had to keep dosing nitrates. It is now seems to settle 2-3ppm and po4 around 0.05 - 0.1 depending on how much chaeto I have in the reactor. I tend to liege only about a tennis ball size there and now every other week the reactor is full.

 

[kilnakorr]

I think your issue might me to do with flow if you think it is to do with heat. Tunze has 1,000 to 2,400 lph pump on it. I actually doubt it is actually doing the high end with all the turning on the pipe in mine but it gives you an idea.
5ppm is not that high for no3. The biggest grow in mine was when I had nitrates in 10-15 mark. For a while I had to keep dosing nitrates. It is now seems to settle 2-3ppm and po4 around 0.05 - 0.1 depending on how much chaeto I have in the reactor. I tend to liege only about a tennis ball size there and now every other week the reactor is full.

I actually thought about investigating the recommended flow for other reactors.
My reactor has a recommended flow of 500-1000 lph.
I could try adding more flow.

 

[kilnakorr]

@attiland
I did a quick test earlier, and looks like I had 360 lph. So pretty low.
Just bought and added a larger pump, which gives me approx. 1000lph - hard to tell, as I don't have any buckets big enough to do a decent test.
Will update in a week or two (if I remember to do it)

 

[kilnakorr]

Wow exactly 2 weeks since last post.
I did add a new pump to get some decent flow. A 2000lph tunze pump.

Checked the chaeto today, but hasn't really grown. It is not white or dead. It kinda look and felt like lettuce left out in the open for a while. A bit soft.

Not sure what else to try at this point...

 

[AlgaeBarn]

What are your water parameters today?

 

[kilnakorr]

What are your water parameters today?

Everything roughly the same.
Nitrate and phosphate a little higher than a few weeks ago, but still acceptable.

Salinity 1.026
Ph: 8.1-8.2
Alk: 8.2
Ca: 420
Mg: 1380
NO3: 10 ppm
PO4: 0.09 ppm

 

[attiland]

Wow exactly 2 weeks since last post.
I did add a new pump to get some decent flow. A 2000lph tunze pump.

Checked the chaeto today, but hasn't really grown. It is not white or dead. It kinda look and felt like lettuce left out in the open for a while. A bit soft.

Not sure what else to try at this point...

That is already progress I think. Wait and see in a few weeks. If it is still alive and keep your parameters at this level than you can say it is working.

mine is slower growing sometimes but now the no3 levels seems to be sapble at 5ppm and phosphate at 0.8(ish) ppm. I no longer have to dose nitrate too. I haven’t worked out yet why it is suddenly filling up the reactor and other weeks jus remaining the same size.
never dying though

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Like @attiland mentioned this could easily be some progress as a lot of times macroalgae with being dormant from stress and it might take a bit of time to start showing it exporting your nutrients.

 

[Brill]

I know I'm probably late to this thread but after reading through, I don't see anything mentioned about Iron. Ferrion is a solid product to dose that has been a God-send for people struggling with Chaeto growth and it was due to lack of Iron.

 

[kilnakorr]

I know I'm probably late to this thread but after reading through, I don't see anything mentioned about Iron. Ferrion is a solid product to dose that has been a God-send for people struggling with Chaeto growth and it was due to lack of Iron.

Haven't run cheat for a long time, but might help others.
I did use plenty of 'cheato grow', which I believe contains iron.

 

[Brill]

Haven't run cheat for a long time, but might help others.
I did use plenty of 'cheato grow', which I believe contains iron.

I thought the very same thing with the Chaeto-gro however, it's only like 0.01% Iron which isn't enough. I lost my first attempt to growing chaeto by thinking all I needed was Chaeto-gro before making the discovery about importance of Iron. You'd essentially need to dose both if you really wanted to jump start that growth process. I have been battling the same thing with Chaeto the last couple months and finally got things where they need to be using Ferrion and Chaeto-gro together with proper par (250) and adequate levels of both nitrates / phosphates. Was almost like a small science project .....

 

[kilnakorr]

I thought the very same thing with the Chaeto-gro however, it's only like 0.01% Iron which isn't enough. I lost my first attempt to growing chaeto by thinking all I needed was Chaeto-gro before making the discovery about importance of Iron. You'd essentially need to dose both if you really wanted to jump start that growth process. I have been battling the same thing with Chaeto the last couple months and finally got things where they need to be using Ferrion and Chaeto-gro together with proper par (250) and adequate levels of both nitrates / phosphates. Was almost like a small science project .....

I did dose iron also at a time, but not sure when and how.
I just decided cheato was to much work anyway.