Chaeto dieing after a good run, going for a skimmer?

[pythpyth]

Hi everbody,

At first I wanted to go with a filter roller + fuge only. It worked fine for as long as it lasted. Never had a big fuge going, but it was stable and I had some growth. But the chaeto is slowly dieing now. I got a free bubble magus c3.5 skimmer, which someone had laying for alot of years some time ago. Thinking about going the skimmer route, I do want to grow myself more into a SPS dominant tank. I just hope a skiimmer will give me some stability and not drain my tank of nutrients. I do think I will test the coming couple of weeks to see if my nutrients start to rise and then to get my skimmer going. Or would you guys think other wise?

My tank parameters are stable at the moment. I see growth in my torches, and my acropora right now got nice PE.

Please let me know your thoughts and experience :)

Thanks!

 

[exnisstech]

My SPS tank runs a roller and a ball of chaeto, no skimmer. I keep the chaeto for pods and other little critters to reproduce in I don't havest it. I turn my roller off a few times a week and let it overflow at night. I dose AFR and that's it.

 

[pythpyth]

My SPS tank runs a roller and a ball of chaeto, no skimmer. I keep the chaeto for pods and other little critters to reproduce in I don't havest it. I turn my roller off a few times a week and let it overflow at night. I dose AFR and that's it.

Thanks for answering! Thats almost exactly how my sump looked haha.. I am not dosing anything atm, I do got the D&D dosing pump ready for kalk or for AFR. But man my chaeto just died on me, and I think its due to the live rock / ceramic bio rings. It gets stuck and doesnt roll so algae starts to grow on it. Do I put all the live rock and rings in a little filter sack and put it in the corner so the chaeto can room freely? What is smart?

 

[exnisstech]

I've always kept chaeto but mine has never tumbled and grew fine. I just reach in when I think about it flip it over. If yours is dying it's probably missing something in the water. I've read of people using chaeto grow and I believe dosing iron but I have no first hand knowledge.
This chunk is just stuffed in there. I can't remember the last time I flipped it. I'm surprised is hasn't died because this tank runs very low nutrients. Last test has NO3 at 0.6 and PO4 0.03

Forgot the image