Chaeto (1st time)

[Pakman2]

So I purchased a softball size of chaeto from Algae Barn and it arrived on Friday. I also purchased a Kessil H80 light. The refugium is small as the tank is a Red Sea Reefer 250. I’ve attached pictures of the chaeto and the light. If you zoom in on the picture, you can see that some of the chaeto is turning slightly brown. This is all new to me. I’ve never had a refugium so any suggestions, tips and advice are welcomed.

I have the Kessil light set to grow. I also have the intensity set to the lowest setting.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

So I purchased a softball size of chaeto from Algae Barn and it arrived on Friday. I also purchased a Kessil H80 light. The refugium is small as the tank is a Red Sea Reefer 250. I’ve attached pictures of the chaeto and the light. If you zoom in on the picture, you can see that some of the chaeto is turning slightly brown. This is all new to me. I’ve never had a refugium so any suggestions, tips and advice are welcomed.

I have the Kessil light set to grow. I also have the intensity set to the lowest setting.

Hi there! We would be happy to help you with that! Can you tell us what your water parameters are in ppm?

 

[Pakman2]

Hi there! We would be happy to help you with that! Can you tell us what your water parameters are in ppm?

NO3 is 40ppm
PO4 is .35ppm
No coral in the tank currently. It’s been running 6 months. I wanted to start the refugium to start to lower the nutrients in preparation for corals. The Kessil H80 light is on for 12 hours on grow setting with a low intensity to start.

 

[EugeneVan]

The light intensity is too strong and too long. If you are already at the lowest intensity. I will cut the hours to 6 hrs and let the chaeto to adapter to the new setting. Increase 30 mins every week. Also you have to make sure you have enough iron, potassium in the water if you are running high intense lighting.

 

[Pakman2]

The light intensity is too strong and too long. If you are already at the lowest intensity. I will cut the hours to 6 hrs and let the chaeto to adapter to the new setting. Increase 30 mins every week. Also you have to make sure you have enough iron, potassium in the water if you are running high intense lighting.

How do you check your iron and potassium levels?

 

[Pistondog]

Ime, the light/par cannot be too bright, and is the source of most failures. Move the chaeto to the top of the tank with egg crate or live rock and get a cheap, stupid bright horticulture light.
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[AlgaeBarn]

NO3 is 40ppm
PO4 is .35ppm
No coral in the tank currently. It’s been running 6 months. I wanted to start the refugium to start to lower the nutrients in preparation for corals. The Kessil H80 light is on for 12 hours on grow setting with a low intensity to start.

The 40ppm on Nitrates is most likely causing the chaeto to turn colors and die. Even those chaeto does consume nutrients at a certain point it is toxic to it and can go dormant and/or start to die off. I would consider doing a water change to bring your nitrates to 10ppm or under so that the chaeto can work for you in keeping the nutrients under or at that level.

 

[Oldsman]

I agree w algea barn ! Mine was turning color w high nitrates and was slow to grow . After a few water changes, the ppm is around 10- 15 and the cheato is full green and growing like crazy. I monitor ppm now to avoid bottoming out , and keep cheato ball cut to decent size

 

[AlgaeBarn]

I agree w algea barn ! Mine was turning color w high nitrates and was slow to grow . After a few water changes, the ppm is around 10- 15 and the cheato is full green and growing like crazy. I monitor ppm now to avoid bottoming out , and keep cheato ball cut to decent size

There you go! It's all about finding the sweet spot for your own aquarium

 

[Pakman2]

There you go! It's all about finding the sweet spot for your own aquarium

I’ll start doing daily water changes and bring the nutrients down slowly. Thank you for taking the time and helping with a resolution.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

I’ll start doing daily water changes and bring the nutrients down slowly. Thank you for taking the time and helping with a resolution.

No problem at all! Feel free to DM us if you have any more questions or need help with anything else!

 

[EugeneVan]

How do you check your iron and potassium levels?

For potassium I use the Salifert test kit. It is not easy to test iron level in the water. For my 210 gal DT, I daily dose 2ml of Brightwell Ferrion and 2 ml of Brightwell Potassion to keep my Chaeto growing healthy and green. My Potassium level is about 380 ppm