Chaeto died what do I do with my fuge now?

[Subsea]

Tried this light for about 2 months and gha started taking over. Took it off and cheato took over again. Wish they made it in a less powerful model because it’s a nice water resistant design. Far as I can tell it only comes 100 or 200 watt and the 100 was way too strong in my 20” deep fuge

I like that light. Very sleek, very water proof and very cool to the touch. I had three of them in my 40G algae refugium. It was too much light and I ended up using it to grow out tomatoes & squash for Spring garden.i

 

[JosephM]

consider what owner of ReefCleaners said about growing mixed culture of macro:

Stocking a Refugium - Reef Cleaners

A refugium is a safe place in your system. It is usually a tank that is plumbed into your main system where you keep delicate species, or try to grow copepods,

www.reefcleaners.org

Our Philosophy:

You want both consistent nutrient uptake and pulse nutrient uptake macros and saltwater plants in your tank.

Here is what I mean by those terms: (They use similar terminology in phycology by the idea is exactly the same)

Consistent Macros- Macros that need nutrient at a high levels, all the time to thrive. They filter out nutrients quickly and are effective at dealing with established nutrient problems.

Pulse Macros - Can handle periods of low nutrient levels well, and are long lived plants

Middle of the Road Macros - as you may have guessed, these macros and plants are somewhere in the middle. They grow quickly in high nutrient tanks, but can endure longer periods of low nutrition as well.

Consistent Macro Algae and Saltwater Plants: (High nutrient uptake - not in any particular order)

• Cactus Caulerpa
• Caulerpa Mexicana
• Caulerpa Prolifera
• Chaeto
• Dictyota ciliolata
• Fern Caulerpa
• Manatee Grass
• Grape Caulerpa
• Saw Blade Caulerpa
• Spider Algae
• Suction Cup Caulerpa
• Oar Grass

Middle of the Road: (Medium nutrient uptake -grows quickly under high nutrient conditions - not in any particular order)

• Red Mangroves
• Black Mangrove
• Botryocladia (Red Grape)
• Christmas Tree
• Green Gracilaria
• Halimeda (Monile)
• Halimeda scabra (Money Plant)
• Halymenia
• Halymenia duchassaignii
• Red Gracilaria
• Mermaid's Wine Glass
• Mermaid's Shot Glass
• Pencil Cap
• Scroll Algae
• Shaving Brush
• Ulva
• Acanthophora spicifera (Spiny Algae)

Pulse: (Low nutrient uptake - can store nutrients when they become available - not in any particular order)

• Codium
• Mermaid's Fan
• Laurencia
• Spatula Algae
• Red Titan Algae
• Sargassum
• Fauchea
• Fire Fern
• Flame Algae
• Liagora
• Pink Galaxy

[The most ideal refugiums offer a combination of all 3. The slower filtering algae is there for when your tank stops producing such high nutrient levels. Because they all compete for space, proper trimming of the consistent macros keeps them in check. The slower growers hedge your bet so to speak in case the faster growers have some die off because of lack of nutrients. (You can limit this with proper pruning) There is a long article about this at chuck's addiction that explains the idea better. It is here:]

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/algae.how

That’s very interesting. I might have to try something like that when I get it going again.

 

[AutumnReefs]

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.

ESV does not provide trace elements. Randy has an article on it.

 

[Subsea]

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.

@JosephM
I gather your tank is mature if you are adding nitrate. After many years of reefing, for the past 10 yrs, I added clear ammonia to all of my tanks.

Consider a cryptic refugium. Add some live rock to a darkened area and promote cryptic sponges. You sometimes get those in shaded areas in display tank. Because I have much live rock that was removed from tanks and bleached in the sun for 5 yrs, I mix dry rock with live rock in cryptic refugium. Whenever possible, I use diver collected uncured live rock to seed biodiversity of micro fauna & fana.

As someone already suggested, A sump is a cryptic refugium that will grow pods.

 

[Subsea]

Seems counterproductive to me. If you're having to dose nutrients you obviously don't need the additional export. "Cryptic fuges" grow pods well too

Your logic is sound. It is synonymous with lawn maintenance: fertilize & water grass to cut it every five days. If I was making money with grass cutting, that could be acceptable, but to make work on the front end and the back end is definitely counter productive.

 

[Dom]

I've always been puzzled by posts such as this.

We grow chaetomorpha as a means of exporting nutrients from our tanks. When growth stops, I conclude that the nutrient level in the tank has been reduced and that the chaetomorpha has done its job.

Just leave a small ball of chaetomorpha in the refugium. It will sustain itself with the light provided. If your nutrient levels come up, you will know as the chaetomorpha will begin to grow.

Adding nutrients to the tank so that your chaetomorpha will grow defeats the purpose of placing the chaetomorpha in the refugium in the first place.

 

[AutumnReefs]

I've always been puzzled by posts such as this.

We grow chaetomorpha as a means of exporting nutrients from our tanks. When growth stops, I conclude that the nutrient level in the tank has been reduced and that the chaetomorpha has done its job.

Just leave a small ball of chaetomorpha in the refugium. It will sustain itself with the light provided. If your nutrient levels come up, you will know as the chaetomorpha will begin to grow.

Adding nutrients to the tank so that your chaetomorpha will grow defeats the purpose of placing the chaetomorpha in the refugium in the first place.

Some people use the chaeto to raise pH and not just for waste removal.

 

[Acros]

ESV does not provide trace elements. Randy has an article on it.

Could you please share a link to that article. I couldn’t find it with a quick search.

 

[AutumnReefs]

Could you please share a link to that article. I couldn’t find it with a quick search.

The Many Methods for Supplementing Calcium and Alkalinity - REEFEDITION

There is no aspect of reef aquarium chemistry more important than calcium and alkalinity. Many of my previous articles have described various aspects of these systems in detail. In reading those articles, aquarists will note one pervasive theme: that maintaining appropriate levels of each are...

www.reefedition.com

ESV B-Ionic 2 Part

I have read that B-Ionic 2 part (and Magnesium) has trace elements in the formula. Does anyone know if it also has macro elements as well? I am wondering if you can successfully run a SPS dominant tank with just B-Ionic and...say Acro Power for amino's without any water changes., along with...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Dom]

Some people use the chaeto to raise pH and not just for waste removal.

But when you consider the context of the original post, it was for nutrient removal.

 

[AutumnReefs]

But when you consider the context of the original post, it was for nutrient removal.

I know, I am just responding to the last line in your post in that adding nitrate to keep a fuge going is not necessarily a bad thing. For example, if you have high phosphates, you may need to add nitrate if you are looking to bring the phosphate down (and vise versa).