Chaeto Disappeared

[editour2]

Today as I was adding water to my overflow container I happened to look over to my refugium and something looked off. I noticed that I didnt see any chaeto. Usually its at the top of the water level. I stuck my hand in the 40 gallon tank, (refugium), and to my shock discovered it was all gone. I had a ton of chaeto....probably 14" wide by 14" deep. All gone.....but where did it go is the question.

All I can think of is that about a week and a half ago, (maybe 2 weeks), I had a problem with my doser.
I dose vinegar, (have been doing that for years about 175ml per day in 12 doses), and 1 day I noticed the whole vinegar container was empty. I thought I recently filled it but wasnt sure so I filled the container again, (holds approximately 1.5 to 2 quarts). Later that day I came back to check on the container and it was half empty.
I turned off that doser until I could recalibrate. Dont know the time frame of when I last saw the refugium filled with chaeto.

My refugium is 40 gallons and my total system volume is around 330 gallons. The doser empties into my sump. The sump goes to the main pump which splits between my display tank and frag tank. The frag tank overflows into my refugium.

Is it possible that that amount of vinegar wiped out all my chaeto?

 

[wculver]

That is quite a bit of vinegar certainly but it's been my experience it doesn't just "melt." It usually gets more brittle and falls apart making a mess of things including pieces ending up in the DT and clogging up the pumps and power heads.

 

[Dan_P]

Today as I was adding water to my overflow container I happened to look over to my refugium and something looked off. I noticed that I didnt see any chaeto. Usually its at the top of the water level. I stuck my hand in the 40 gallon tank, (refugium), and to my shock discovered it was all gone. I had a ton of chaeto....probably 14" wide by 14" deep. All gone.....but where did it go is the question.

All I can think of is that about a week and a half ago, (maybe 2 weeks), I had a problem with my doser.
I dose vinegar, (have been doing that for years about 175ml per day in 12 doses), and 1 day I noticed the whole vinegar container was empty. I thought I recently filled it but wasnt sure so I filled the container again, (holds approximately 1.5 to 2 quarts). Later that day I came back to check on the container and it was half empty.
I turned off that doser until I could recalibrate. Dont know the time frame of when I last saw the refugium filled with chaeto.

My refugium is 40 gallons and my total system volume is around 330 gallons. The doser empties into my sump. The sump goes to the main pump which splits between my display tank and frag tank. The frag tank overflows into my refugium.

Is it possible that that amount of vinegar wiped out all my chaeto?

Macro algae tends to leave behind some sort of mass when it dies. If the flow in the refugium is strong enough to suspend the is algae detritus, the fluffy near colorless material could have flowed out of the refugium.

 

[editour2]

Do you think the massive overdosing of the vinegar could have that effect? This could have happened over a 2 week period where I just didnt take notice of what was going on in the refugium.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Do you think the massive overdosing of the vinegar could have that effect? This could have happened over a 2 week period where I just didnt take notice of what was going on in the refugium.

Yes

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm not surprised it didn't thrive or died, but I am surprised it is not present at all.

 

[Dan_P]

Do you think the massive overdosing of the vinegar could have that effect? This could have happened over a 2 week period where I just didnt take notice of what was going on in the refugium.

What else died in the aquarium? Just the Chaeto?