Chaeto died what do I do with my fuge now?

JosephM

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Well after a good month of thriving and trimming back bi-weekly my chaeto decided to let go and die on me. I think it might have been too large of a trimming or maybe the other algae’s in my fuge outcompeted it. What ideas do you guys have for a fuge? I don’t want DSB or anything that’s high in maintenance or super hard to clean. Should I try chaeto again, or some other macro? Right now it’s just bare with my sea hare putting in some work and pooping like crazy. In reality unless my N03 and P04 start climbing I’m fine with no extra export but I want a safe haven for pods as I’m planning on getting a mandarin real soon.
 

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It probably depleted your iron

Just leave it in there and let other things establish, add some eggcrates for pods, maybe gha will grow or the floaty puffy ball ones.

If yiu want to chance it, you can try caleurpa like me. There are things you can do to minimize sexual. Calpeura generally grow faster than chaeto
 
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JosephM

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Chaeto again would be best. Just tweak your feeding and time with the light on it. Better to have than need.
I was feeding like crazy and even dosing nitrates and phosphates, light was on 12 hrs a night then bumped up to 16 hrs when I saw it was dying. I started a thread on what was wrong and it never got solved that’s why I’m scared to try again.
It probably depleted your iron

Just leave it in there and let other things establish, add some eggcrates for pods, maybe gha will grow or the floaty puffy ball ones.

If yiu want to chance it, you can try caleurpa like me. There are things you can do to minimize sexual. Calpeura generally grow faster than chaeto
I was dosing iron weekly in addition to ESV 2-part which contains trace iron. I even had some caleurpa mixed in and it died too. My fuge light is like 1-2” off the surface and under the surface when I turn the pump off. Maybe it was burning it? But makes no sense why it did good for so long then bad (could be because I trimmed it back too much so more light got through)
 

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Get a better light. The grow bulbs on amazon work fine. If mineral content is an issue, then dont use rodi water, just dechlorinate it and leave the other elements in it or dose trace elements. Use fertilizer. Get a better strain of cheato. But then all the rest of the algea will eat well too. And as far as trimming goes, that doesn't matter. It's not a plant in the sense that pruning is gonna kill it. Ie, it's not a rose Bush.

In my fuge I dont trim the cheato. And only in my fuge the cheato out competes all the other algea. But in my display, well that's the exact opposite.
 
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JosephM

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Get a better light. The grow bulbs on amazon work fine. If mineral content is an issue, then dont use rodi water, just dechlorinate it and leave the other elements in it or dose trace elements. Use fertilizer. Get a better strain of cheato. But then all the rest of the algea will eat well too. And as far as trimming goes, that doesn't matter. It's not a plant in the sense that pruning is gonna kill it. Ie, it's not a rose Bush.

In my fuge I dont trim the cheato. And only in my fuge the cheato out competes all the other algea. But in my display, well that's the exact opposite.
I have a grow light from Amazon that I think is great. ESV 2-part from my understanding provides trace elements. The strain of chaeto might have been my issue as I went to buy more from my LFS because the first time I got it it was great but this time it wasn’t ‘crispy’ or long or anything.
 

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I was feeding like crazy and even dosing nitrates and phosphates, light was on 12 hrs a night then bumped up to 16 hrs when I saw it was dying. I started a thread on what was wrong and it never got solved that’s why I’m scared to try again.

I was dosing iron weekly in addition to ESV 2-part which contains trace iron. I even had some caleurpa mixed in and it died too. My fuge light is like 1-2” off the surface and under the surface when I turn the pump off. Maybe it was burning it? But makes no sense why it did good for so long then bad (could be because I trimmed it back too much so more light got through)
Instead of going to 16 hours you should have went down to 8 or even 6. Nutrients were getting removed too efficiently. Then the chaeto got burnt out.
 
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JosephM

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Instead of going to 16 hours you should have went down to 8 or even 6. Nutrients were getting removed too efficiently. Then the chaeto got burnt out.
So what I’m hearing is start with a good, healthy chunk of chaeto and start slow at like 4 hrs and see how it looks and slowly go up until I find a good median
 

Jekyl

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So what I’m hearing is start with a good, healthy chunk of chaeto and start slow at like 4 hrs and see how it looks and slowly go up until I find a good median
The more hours you run the light on the chaeto the more nutrients it removes. If you're having to dose nitrate then your light is on too long.
 

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yeah I’d try less light period and hopefully u don’t have to dose or anything. This reminds me to start dosing Iron because my levels were low according to an ATI or whatever it was test kit. Sounds like it was working too good so make it work less or put something that’ll eat it in there lol
 

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I have a 55 gallon aquarium for a fuge/sump with DIY baffles. So the middle section is where I keep the chaeto, but I also have some ulva and another unknown macro algae. My grow light is a 600W horticulture light that I run on an opposite cycle from the display in order to try and eliminate ph swings. I have 12 fish including six tangs which I feed heavily multiple times per day. I don't have any GFO or other reactors. No filter socks. So the chaeto and ulva grow like crazy and I have to harvest it about every two weeks. And it grows so thick that it almost acts as mechanical filtration.
 

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Interesting mine is on a 12hr opposite cycle of my dt lights. But again I dont use rodi water and I have algea problems in my dt tanks. But the fuge has 0 algea other than the cheato. Amazing.
 

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Not using RoDi is always going to pack with tank with who knows what and where.
 
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yeah I’d try less light period and hopefully u don’t have to dose or anything. This reminds me to start dosing Iron because my levels were low according to an ATI or whatever it was test kit. Sounds like it was working too good so make it work less or put something that’ll eat it in there lol
Since you’re my local guy you know anywhere good to get some chaeto? Upscale had some good chaeto awhile ago but when I got some a couple weeks ago it was horrible chaeto to say the least (I’ll probably try again but check it before I buy it)
 
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I have a 55 gallon aquarium for a fuge/sump with DIY baffles. So the middle section is where I keep the chaeto, but I also have some ulva and another unknown macro algae. My grow light is a 600W horticulture light that I run on an opposite cycle from the display in order to try and eliminate ph swings. I have 12 fish including six tangs which I feed heavily multiple times per day. I don't have any GFO or other reactors. No filter socks. So the chaeto and ulva grow like crazy and I have to harvest it about every two weeks. And it grows so thick that it almost acts as mechanical filtration.
That’s how mine was. I mean I was harvesting quarts of it every couple weeks and then it just started disintegrating so I pulled it. It was very confusing but I’m hoping it was too much light and just bad chaeto
 

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Since you’re my local guy you know anywhere good to get some chaeto? Upscale had some good chaeto awhile ago but when I got some a couple weeks ago it was horrible chaeto to say the least (I’ll probably try again but check it before I buy it)
Low key, I’ve got some I throw out (should sell lol) that you can have for free man. I know Nemos reef, one of my preferred stores has some good chaeto. My friend probably has some too. Hope it works better with some adjustments man!
 
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Low key, I’ve got some I throw out (should sell lol) that you can have for free man. I know Nemos reef, one of my preferred stores has some good chaeto. My friend probably has some too. Hope it works better with some adjustments man!
Hey, I’ll always take some free chaeto if you’re willing. Can’t beat free and we can finally put a face to the name lol
 

PBnJOnWheat

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Hey, I’ll always take some free chaeto if you’re willing. Can’t beat free and we can finally put a face to the name lol
Hahaha exactly, yeah man mine should be like pest free and all that jazz. I got mine from my friend and nemos, big fuge. We can schedule something soon and as you said put a face to the name
 

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Well after a good month of thriving and trimming back bi-weekly my chaeto decided to let go and die on me. I think it might have been too large of a trimming or maybe the other algae’s in my fuge outcompeted it. What ideas do you guys have for a fuge? I don’t want DSB or anything that’s high in maintenance or super hard to clean. Should I try chaeto again, or some other macro? Right now it’s just bare with my sea hare putting in some work and pooping like crazy. In reality unless my N03 and P04 start climbing I’m fine with no extra export but I want a safe haven for pods as I’m planning on getting a mandarin real soon.
What kind of fuge light do you have?
How deep is water where cheato is?
How many gallons is fuge, and what’s gph ?
 

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