Trouble growing macroalgae

[Ethan27]

Hello everyone,
My dad has a 150g FO and is trying to get into adding corals eventually. He has very high nitrates so he got some macroalgae last December to help, but it hasn't been doing much. In the 3+ months he's had this macroalgae he has not had to harvest any and nitrates are still very high. I'm wondering if there is anyone who has tips to help grow some macro. Also, we were sold "chaeto" but it does not look like chaeto at all, if someone could help identify what macroalgae he has that would be awesome!
He runs KessilH80 for 10 hours of red light opposite of tank lights.
SG-1.0215
pH-8.4
Ammonia-0ppm
nitrite- 0ppm
nitrate- 160ppm
calcium-520ppm
alkalinity- 10dKH
phosphate- 0.5ppm
magnesium- 1230ppm

 

[AlgaeBarn]

We would be happy to help you with that! It looks like you might have have been sold grape caulerpa and definitely not Chaeto unfortunately. Caulerpa is still good at removing nutrients, however too high of nutrients and the algae can become dormant and/or die. How often are water changes being done?

 

[Ethan27]

We would be happy to help you with that! It looks like you might have have been sold grape caulerpa and definitely not Chaeto unfortunately. Caulerpa is still good at removing nutrients, however too high of nutrients and the algae can become dormant and/or die. How often are water changes being done?

Water changes are done about every 2-3 weeks since December but before then he never did them.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Is there a skimmer on the system? Is the 160 what the nitrates are constantly staying even after the water changes or is that just what they are at currently from bringing them down from a high level?

 

[LegendaryCG]

Brightwell Chaetogrow really boosts growth without adding nutrients

 

[Ethan27]

Is there a skimmer on the system? Is the 160 what the nitrates are constantly staying even after the water changes or is that just what they are at currently from bringing them down from a high level?

Yes, there is a skimmer, ice cap 130. Nitrates are constant as of now, I use API to test and the levels are 160, 80, 40, 20, 10, 5, 0 ppm so they could be slightly lower than 160. The readings and color scheme for API are hard to read so it could be less than 160 ppm, but still high.

 

[Ethan27]

Brightwell Chaetogrow really boosts growth without adding nutrients

Would that work even if the maco algae is not chaeto?

 

[Ethan27]

Would that work even if the maco algae is not chaeto?

 

[LegendaryCG]

Would that work even if the maco algae is not chaeto?

yea

 

[Waydeo]

Do you have a light over the macroalgae?

 

[N.Sreefer]

IME grape Caulerpa does best if it has a substrate to attach to try tying it off to some liverock

 

[Ethan27]

Do you have a light over the macroalgae?

Yes, KessilH80 running 10 hours of red light

 

[Ethan27]

IME grape Caulerpa does best if it has a substrate to attach to try tying it off to some liverock

Yes, there is a rock under neither it, just not tied down, maybe I will try that

 

[Subsea]

@Ethan27
you have correctly been told to use chaetogro to add trace minerals consumed by grape Caulerpa. Iodine is one trace mineral not in ChaetoGrow and I feel it should be dosed or made up during water changes.

 

[Ethan27]

@Ethan27
you have correctly been told to use chaetogro to add trace minerals consumed by grape Caulerpa. Iodine is one trace mineral not in ChaetoGrow and I feel it should be dosed or made up during water changes.

Thank you for the advice!