Anyone having success growing Chaeto in "Hang-on" Refugium?

[Dr. Jim]

I set up a Red Sea 170 a few months ago with this Hang-on Refugium:

I also added this light on the back, toward the bottom (since the LED light on top doesn't penetrate thru the chaeto mass):

I added 1/2 cup of Chaeto from RUSALTY which arrived in excellent shape. I have the fuge lights on for 10 hours at night. After 2 weeks, the Chaeto turned into mush and I got rid of it.

I initially cycled 60lbs of artificial rock (Carib Sea) in a different tank (so as not to start with nitrate-laden water). Two weeks ago, I replaced 25lbs of the rock with 25lbs of live rock from the Gulf of Mexico (from Live Rock N Reef; excellent rock!). I have a Radion XR15 with plans to grow SPS and a GHL Controller with all the bells and whistles.

My parameters:
-NO3 about 18
-PO4 about 0.09
-S.G 1.026
-Redox 223 (for whatever it's worth
-pH 8.1-8.2
-Ca, Mg, temp- normal range
-Lot of fish (probably too many for this little cube)

I just added 9 SPS frags last week (from Cherry Corals Live Sale). They haven't changed any in this short time. Many look brown in this next photo but that's how I got them:

Side Note: check out the two lobophyllia that arrived on the live rock (lower right quadrant is nicest one) and two clams as well.

What has amazed me is that after 2 months, there is no algae growing on the rocks. I use a magnet cleaner on the glass everyday to remove green algae, but that is the only place it is growing so far. This surprises me considering the level of my nitrates and phosphates. (I know someone will say it is too early for SPS frags, but I'm giving them a try, after many years of experience with them. So far, so good). The Chaeto is what is new for me. This is the first time I've ever used it! I'm wondering if the reason for it dying is:
-too much light
-water moving too slow thru refugium
-not enough nutrients (other than NO3 and PO4). But I don't want to start adding nutrients just to make the chaeto grow; SPS is the goal.

I should also say that once the SPS frags arrived I started all of the following (but at a very low dosage):
-Triton 4-part
-Kalk (in top-off water when pH is below 8.2; controlled by GHL controller)
-Zeovit additives: SPS AA; Coral Vitalizer; Pohls Xtra; Sponge Power

I recently watched the BRS video on their conclusions about their ULM systems. They didn't have any success with chaeto either. I believe they feel it is due to too much light and/or too small a volume allowed by their cube tanks' sumps.

Any ideas or comments will be appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[kireek]

It's seems to me that Cheato should have grown like a weed for you.My only guess would be inadequate flow.Cheato tends to collect a lot of detritus and particles which can block the light it receives or just cause it to rot.Maybe it just didn't acclimate to the tank.

 

[Chris Spaulding]

I have done exactly the same same thing for my Redsea reefer 250. I found that I wanted/ more flow though the fuge so I Put a larger pump in for the fuge , max jet 1200 I think. I still had issues keep Caeto going well. I changed from Caeto to Ulva and this works great for me

 

[Entz]

Iron maybe? Possible your tank is taking up the nutrients some other way and starving the Chaeto or its the lights?

I say if you can't grow it and your nutrient levels are where they are supposed to be just take it offline. Feeding extra to create a nutrient imbalance to save the Chaeto seems counter productive.

I have the opposite issue. I am using the ATO container (about 1/2 that size) with a MJ900 and a Kessil H80 and I need to remove half the container ever 2 weeks or it starts to push up out of the water.

 

[Dr. Jim]

Recently, my phosphates have been low (0.01) and nitrates low (0.5). I've been dosing NaNO3 and Na3PO4 like crazy, turned down the skimmer and reduced light in the refugium. There are a few strands of Chaeto still alive and a lot of some kind of macroalgae that came with some Gulf of Mexico live rock that I want to keep alive in case I want to crank up the refugium lights/functionality some day.

I'm dosing a lot of Zeovit additives, including Fe, but 1/4 the recommended dosages since my tank is only 4 mo old and 20 new SPS frags are tiny.

I've got a lot of hair algae growing (finally) ….no longer like my original photo. I removed all the fish 3 weeks ago to treat them for various problems. They are all going back in tomorrow and hopefully the tangs (1 kole; 1 yellow tang) will clean up the algae. I'm sure all this algae is consuming the nitrates/phosphates.

 

[Entz]

I'm sure all this algae is consuming the nitrates/phosphates.

Yeah. Your tank lights are much stronger than your fuge lights so the stuff in the tank will have the strongest up take. I would remove as much as you can manually (toothbrush etc).