Why my Chaeto is not growing?

[Chris C]

Got my Chaeto a month ago, but it hasn't been growing. Some of the stands turned brown and look like dying. All the water parameters are good. So is it cos the nutrients are too low?

 

[Dtackett]

what kind of light do you have over it? normally when chaeto doesn't grow its because you don't have enough nutrients but in some cases it could be the light or the flow. but with your parameters reading good, it could just be there isn't enough nutrients.

remember, when you have any kind of algae in your tank you will get false readings. the algae can absorb the nutrients as fast as theyre produced, and the algae will only grow as much as it can based on the available nutrients. I would trim the brown off and just watch it every few days. if you have a low bioload feel free to add more or feed more food based on the needs of the tank.

 

[Chris C]

Thanks @Dtackett
The Chaeto is in my sump with a T5 on for about 12 hrs a day. I test my water from the DT so it should be accurate. So if I am to put some fish food by the Chaeto. What would be good? Some cheap flakes?

 

[DeniseAndy]

How long has the system been running? Sounds like you have no nutrients for it. I could never get cheato to grow when I ran an sps system.

 

[LostInTheDark]

How old is your tank? How much bio-load do you have? Algae needs food like any other growing organism. If its a relatively new tank with few fish, it may not have enough organics to grow.
I don't think its your lights as I have t5s over mine also as many others do.

 

[kendavjac]

Saturday, I just removed what was left of my chaeto from my sump because it was slowly dying. It went from a ball about 6 " in diameter to smaller than a golf ball. I rarely test my water anymore for phosphates and nitrates, but this made me start to wonder why. So I tested and had 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate. I concluded that it died because it starved. Now I am worried that my nutrients are too low for my corals. I think I am going to increase feeding and see if my corals respond positively. If I start to get unwanted algae, then I may replace the chaeto.

 

[Chris C]

Mine is only about 3months old. Yea its got a small bio load, about 7 fish, 3 shrimps, 1 clam, and 3 LPS corals. Maybe I'll throw in some flakes and see how it's doing in a few days.