Chaeto dying

Aries360 · May 2, 2023

Hi everyone. Ok so the Chaeto I have had for years is starting to die in my sump. My coral is doing great my fish are fine. Does there come a point when the coral uses more nutrients that the Chaeto? I use ocean water and do large monthly changes approx 200g a month. It’s a 360 gallon tank with approx 55g sump. Nothing has changed in over a year. Thoughts? It has its own light and I’m curious why now it would start to die off?

Spare time · May 3, 2023

Do you dose trace elements? What kind of light is it? What are the nitrate and phosphate levels? How often do you feed?

Aries360 · May 3, 2023

I don’t dose anything. I use ocean water so no need for dosing . I feed roughly once or twice a day. No change for years. Tank has been thriving for years. I changed 200 gallons about 10 days ago so I’m sure my parameters are fine but will test tomorrow. Coral is way pickier than my Chaeto and they are all open and happy. Same light since June 4, 2020. Fish are fat n health with no recent deaths.

Aries360 · May 3, 2023

levels are as followed
Phosphates 200ppb or 0.613ppm or more
Ph roughly-7.8
Nitrite-0
Ammonia-0
Nitrate-between 0-5

Tuan’s Reef · May 3, 2023

Might be low on iron. I'd test for that 1st

Dburr1014 · May 3, 2023

Hmmm... If you are changing that much water why use chaeto in the first place?
Are you seeing a problem in your system?

-JoJoReefing- · May 3, 2023

Could it be the grow light making the chaeto too warm and burn it? Or sometimes not adequate light in the corner making the chaeto ‘melt’. I manually rotate it a couple times a week.

Aries360 · May 3, 2023

My current set up. I haven’t changed the light. I also never trimmed it. Guy at the store told me that might be my problem. Also brought my water in to get checked and it checked ok with similar readings to mine. He said I should start trimming it. It’s weird that it would go from thick Matt Chaeto that you can’t reach through to almost all dead. No way to check iron he said unless send out. I also will start to rotate it.

Debramb · Oct 4, 2023

Aries360 said:
My current set up. I haven’t changed the light. I also never trimmed it. Guy at the store told me that might be my problem. Also brought my water in to get checked and it checked ok with similar readings to mine. He said I should start trimming it. It’s weird that it would go from thick Matt Chaeto that you can’t reach through to almost all dead. No way to check iron he said unless send out. I also will start to rotate it.

Beautiful reef!