Why can't I keep Chaeto alive?

[khmer_reefer]

I was having the same issue as you with my first batch of chaeto. It started turning white nad dying off. When I got my second batch, I started dosing 5mL of Ferrion every other day. Recently, I had to sell some of my chaeto as it was growing too much in my refug. It's been about three weeks now and I have to do another trimming soon.

 

[gideon2086]

it could definitely be your iron. You should post some pics of your setup! ~Shaun K

 

[S2G]

Heres a good iron recipe

 

[Nick428]

While i dont have solid evidence for this. high organics either dissolved or particulate seemed to give me a problem with growing it. Had a alot of the dusty grey-green detritus and it wouldnt grow until i manually cleaned things up.

I guess some forms of organics can be very inhibitory.

 

[Letterkenny]

Just checked my N&P last night and both are fairly high (N at 10ppm and P at .33ppm). Funny that corals seem very happy so won’t do anything crazy but chaeto still won’t grow in my Tunze reactor after dosing a full bottle of chaeto grow.

 

[gideon2086]

Providing an update here.. I followed the advice of many and dosed Iron - didn't help. I've given up on Chaeto. I switched to Sea Lettuce and it has been growing LIKE CRAZY.

 

[S2G]

The problem I have is I keep running across the thick strand dark green vs the stringy bright green. The bright green stringy grows like crazy the thick stuff grows very slow.

 

[jbilliel]

Count me in as another frustrated refugium owner. I have tried both sea lettuce and Chaeto with no luck. I have a Kessel H80 on for 8 hours a day with the nutrient levels below. My latest experiment with Chaeto has it coming apart and all the strands getting stuck in the bubble trap between the baffles. What are we doing wrong?

Salinity - 35ppt
Alk - 9.0
Calcium - 435
Mag - 1425
Nitrate - 2.5
PO4 - .15 (I am always fighting to keep this down)

 

[schuby]

Count me in as another frustrated refugium owner. I have tried both sea lettuce and Chaeto with no luck. I have a Kessel H80 on for 8 hours a day with the nutrient levels below. My latest experiment with Chaeto has it coming apart and all the strands getting stuck in the bubble trap between the baffles. What are we doing wrong?

Salinity - 35ppt
Alk - 9.0
Calcium - 435
Mag - 1425
Nitrate - 2.5
PO4 - .15 (I am always fighting to keep this down)

I specifically dose iron to keep my chaeto alive and growing. It seems to consume all the trace amounts from water changes pretty quickly. Had a big die-off over a year ago, before iron dosing (had run chaeto for a few months with great growth). No die-off since with new chaeto.

If you run out of nitrate, your chaeto will die, too. Seems to require phosphate, nitrate, and iron.

 

[Pistondog]

Count me in as another frustrated refugium owner. I have tried both sea lettuce and Chaeto with no luck. I have a Kessel H80 on for 8 hours a day with the nutrient levels below. My latest experiment with Chaeto has it coming apart and all the strands getting stuck in the bubble trap between the baffles. What are we doing wrong?

Salinity - 35ppt
Alk - 9.0
Calcium - 435
Mag - 1425
Nitrate - 2.5
PO4 - .15 (I am always fighting to keep this down)

Ran the h80 for a week, not enough par.

Live rock supports a 3 inch mat at the surface to maximize par.

 

[jbilliel]

That’s an interesting theory. The Kessel is very bright, but chaeto stay in the bottom of the sump and doesn’t float at the top so maybe the light isn’t penetrating through the water enough?

 

[jbilliel]

Been dosing Iron with no luck... My Chaeto just keeps dying. The ball is coming apart and I am just getting brown strands of Chaeto all over the refugium

 

[schuby]

You may need some fresh chaeto. Dosing iron won't resurrect it from the dead.

 

[schuby]

I just looked up the Kessil H80. It is only 15 watts. The Kessil H160 Tuna Flora I use in my refugium is 40 watts. Your light may be insufficient to grow chaeto.

 

[khmer_reefer]

This is the light i use for mines and it works great. I got it off amazon

COB LED Grow Light 150w Grow Lights​

 

[\m/reefsnmetal\m/]

Since I haven't seen anyone else say this, try turning it over every couple of days. I've had great success with chaeto using a Home Depot grow bulb in a chicken light. I started with a powerhead in my fuge to toss the chaeto around. This allows all parts of it to get light. Once it got too big for that I had to start turning it over by hand every couple of days. This method worked to the point I had to start harvesting the chaeto to make space.

 

[mnreefer327]

I had issues with chaeto as well. I added a powerheard and the chaeto thrives tumbling in a ball! Maybe try adding a powerhead for some flow

 

[tritonpower]

I have a reefer 425 with same sump. I placed a small wavemaker on the left blowing opposite of the flow of water through the sump. This is making it tumble well.

 

[gideon2086]

I must again call out sea lettuce. This stuff is amazing. Grows fast. Keeps nutrients down. I have to harvest it weekly.

 

[ReefPig]

I struggled with chaeto in the past, but in the last couple of months I've implemented a Pax algae reactor, which has been growing it like crazy. I have to half the algae every week.

I do think flow is important and with something like a reactor this is perfect, as it's forced through the algae.

I tried putting a powerhead in a fuge in the past, but found it got blocked up with algae pretty quickly.