Brightwell Chaetogro review

[DarkTonio]

Disclaimer: I do not have any tie whatsoever with the company and bought the product for myself. Honest review with anecdotal evidence.

I have been growing chaeto in a Tunze reactof for 2.5 years. The main issue was that each time after 2 crops, the remaining chaeto was slowly declining.
Despite stable NO3 around 20ppm and PO4 around 0.05, the chaeto would simply die and melt in the reactor over a couple of months.
It means I had to buy new batches regularly on the Bay. Until recently.
I have been using Chaeto gro for the last 6 months on a dosing pump for daily dosing, diluted in RO water (10 to 1) in a fully opaque black bottle.
Since then, nothing changed in my tank except that I can harvest chaeto each month and it would grow again without any issue.
It remains as healthy as the first day. I made an ICP test and all parameters are fine. Chaeto-gro has not increased undesired parameter.
I believe this product works great.

 

[therootcause]

Nice anecdotal review. Now that you're a chaeto farmer, how has this benefited your tank?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

FWIW, diy iron dosing is cheap and easy using Fergon tablets from a drug store.

 

[slingfox]

@DarkTonio How large is your tank and how much do you dose each day?

 

[Ordovician_Reef]

FWIW, diy iron dosing is cheap and easy using Fergon tablets from a drug store.

Do you have doses for that tablet?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Do you have doses for that tablet?

From a different thread:

My recommendation is a DIY:

Fergon tablets (from a drug store).

One Fergon tablet (ferrous gluconate) contains 27 mg of iron. Dissolve that in about 27 mL RO/DI (my recommendation, but other concentrations are OK, just don't dilute too much), the concentration is about 27 mg/27 ml ~ 1 mg/mL.

I dose ~1 mL to my tank with a volume of about 300 gallons once or twice a week.

 

[DarkTonio]

@DarkTonio How large is your tank and how much do you dose each day?

50g and according to the recimmended dosage i should add maximum 1ml per day. This is too little for my pumps that is why I decide to dilute 1 for 10. I am dosing 5ml of this mix per day and that is enough to get super healthy chaeto!

 

[Ordovician_Reef]

From a different thread:

My recommendation is a DIY:

Fergon tablets (from a drug store).

One Fergon tablet (ferrous gluconate) contains 27 mg of iron. Dissolve that in about 27 mL RO/DI (my recommendation, but other concentrations are OK, just don't dilute too much), the concentration is about 27 mg/27 ml ~ 1 mg/mL.

I dose ~1 mL to my tank with a volume of about 300 gallons once or twice a week.

Do you test for Fe or just assume all available will be consumed since it is generally such a limiting nutrient. I am curious because my chaeto is growing, but not great.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Do you test for Fe or just assume all available will be consumed since it is generally such a limiting nutrient. I am curious because my chaeto is growing, but not great.

I don’t believe it is necessary to test for iron. Natural levels can be below detection anyway, and the range of acceptable levels is extraordinarily wide.

Here’s a comment from an article of mine;

Iron (Fe). The natural iron level varies a lot with depth, but surface seawater may have only 0.006 µg/L. The Triton LOD = 0.3 µg/L. I dose iron, and when I dose it I boost iron to roughly 1-2 µg/L, which would be detectable. This sample was taken more than a week after the last iron dosing, and none was detected as it gets depleted in the meanwhile. I’ve not yet seen a Triton test result for a real aquarium sample that had detectable iron, but that doesn’t mean these tanks are necessarily deficient. Iron is also a case where the form is critical, and ICP cannot distinguish form. Binding to organic matter, for example, can alter the bioavailability of iron.

 

[DarkTonio]

From a different thread:

My recommendation is a DIY:

Fergon tablets (from a drug store).

One Fergon tablet (ferrous gluconate) contains 27 mg of iron. Dissolve that in about 27 mL RO/DI (my recommendation, but other concentrations are OK, just don't dilute too much), the concentration is about 27 mg/27 ml ~ 1 mg/mL.

I dose ~1 mL to my tank with a volume of about 300 gallons once or twice a week.

Thanks for the recipe. And you would say just iron is enough for heatlhy chaeto? You dont really need the other elements included in chaetogro ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks for the recipe. And you would say just iron is enough for heatlhy chaeto? You dont really need the other elements included in chaetogro ?

I'm not necessarily saying that, although many people dose only iron and grow lots of chaeto. It needs other trace elements, but may adequately get them from foods. Anyway, lots of folks like chaetogro, but if you want to save money or enjoy knowing exactly what you are dosing, then DIY may be a good option.

 

[Ordovician_Reef]

I don’t believe it is necessary to test for iron. Natural levels can be below detection anyway, and the range of acceptable levels is extraordinarily wide.

Here’s a comment from an article of mine;

Iron (Fe). The natural iron level varies a lot with depth, but surface seawater may have only 0.006 µg/L. The Triton LOD = 0.3 µg/L. I dose iron, and when I dose it I boost iron to roughly 1-2 µg/L, which would be detectable. This sample was taken more than a week after the last iron dosing, and none was detected as it gets depleted in the meanwhile. I’ve not yet seen a Triton test result for a real aquarium sample that had detectable iron, but that doesn’t mean these tanks are necessarily deficient. Iron is also a case where the form is critical, and ICP cannot distinguish form. Binding to organic matter, for example, can alter the bioavailability of iron.

I got some 27 ml Fe tablets and plan to try your recipe....the tablets I got are Ferrous sulfate, I noticed the Fergon tablets you mentioned are Ferrous gluconate. Will this affect dosage or use at all? Thanks for your advice and all of your information on here BTW!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I got some 27 ml Fe tablets and plan to try your recipe....the tablets I got are Ferrous sulfate, I noticed the Fergon tablets you mentioned are Ferrous gluconate. Will this affect dosage or use at all? Thanks for your advice and all of your information on here BTW!

IMO, Fergon tablets are a good choice for several reasons, including the form (gluconate) being more stable and I have looked at the other ingredients and they do not concern me.

Other tablets may be fine, but the sulfate will be somewhat more prone to precipitation in the tank.

 

[Ordovician_Reef]

IMO, Fergon tablets are a good choice for several reasons, including the form (gluconate) being more stable and I have looked at the other ingredients and they do not concern me.

Other tablets may be fine, but the sulfate will be somewhat more prone to precipitation in the tank.

I will go with the gluconate then.

 

[Blue Carbon Reefing]

@Randy Holmes-Farley any tips on getting the Fergon tablet to disinigrate in water? I tried to mix up a manganese and iron 500ml solution and the fergon tablet is still there days later.. should I try again crumbling it up first?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

@Randy Holmes-Farley any tips on getting the Fergon tablet to disinigrate in water? I tried to mix up a manganese and iron 500ml solution and the fergon tablet is still there days later.. should I try again crumbling it up first?

Really? Mine always crumbled apart.

Is it ro/di?

Is it actual Fergon brand?

Smashing it up is fine.

 

[Blue Carbon Reefing]

Really? Mine always crumbled apart.

Is it ro/di?

Is it actual Fergon brand?

Smashing it up is fine.

Its a CVS brand but I thought it does say fergon tablets on it.. I did put it in R.o. di water.. I will try breaking it up next.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Its a CVS brand but I thought it does say fergon tablets on it.. I did put it in R.o. di water.. I will try breaking it up next.

It is likely fine, but different brands (like a store brand) may have different excipients in the tablet or different coatings on the tablet.

 

[merkmerk73]

Great thread


I am going to set up dosing of iron and manganese both and see if that helps my gonis and my chaeto.

 

[BigMax]

@Randy Holmes-Farley I'm considering using Seachem Iron Flourish. It is more concentrated than most iron products. A 500ml bottle contains 5000 mg of iron gluconate. (10x the iron content of Brightwell's Chaeto Grow). However following Randy's DIY usage, I also have a 300 gal tank, I would add 0.1ml twice a week. Therefore I intend to dilute Iron Flourish further in distilled water to make the dosing more manageable, likely 10-to-1. I assume this approach is not an issue, the iron gluconate will remain is suspension?