Chaeto Farming Question

[Dr. Bluethumb]

Has anyone ever tried growing chaeto or any other beneficial macro algae in a completely separate system then their main tank? I was wanting to do a 20g, light, air stone and chaeto then just dose and top of with an ATO. Chaeto is always great for bargaining and trades in my area so I want to try farming some, but I don't want to use any water from tanks just so i know no pests or unwanted critters get in there. Not to mention its a great snack for all my tangs.

What should i dose, potassium nitrate and some sort of phosphate to get consistent growth?

Thanks in advance !

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

You got it. Iron and Boron are other common things to dose. Iron will get sucked out of the water very quick.

 

[dedragon]

Interesting thought to farm it, you could put it in with a couple captive bred clowns from ORA or Biota so you feel safe about pests and to add to the biology. Then just additives that both of you said. I use seachem flourish phosphate and nitrate and chaetogro to supplement but there are probably cheaper alternatives like buying in the salt form

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Fergon pills for iron, sodium/potassium nitrate and trisodium phosphate. Significantly cheaper than chaeto grow

 

[dedragon]

Thank you neonrabbit, do you know dosage on these as I dont have an iron test, i usually use like half the dose of chaetogro as well as mine grows like crazy

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Hope this helps. For the phosphate I believe I used neophos but I will have to check. Let me know if you have any questions from my chicken scratch

edit: i did use neophos by brightwell. I get some trisodium phosphate in a few days so I will redo my math if needed

 

[dedragon]

Thank you! it helps a lot to have

 

[Dr. Bluethumb]

Hope this helps. For the phosphate I believe I used neophos but I will have to check. Let me know if you have any questions from my chicken scratch

edit: i did use neophos by brightwell. I get some trisodium phosphate in a few days so I will redo my math if needed

This is super helpful, thank you a lot for this!

 

[Dr. Bluethumb]

Interesting thought to farm it, you could put it in with a couple captive bred clowns from ORA or Biota so you feel safe about pests and to add to the biology. Then just additives that both of you said. I use seachem flourish phosphate and nitrate and chaetogro to supplement but there are probably cheaper alternatives like buying in the salt form

Thats a really good idea with the clownfish just to get those nutrients added in naturally

 

[Dr. Bluethumb]

Hope this helps. For the phosphate I believe I used neophos but I will have to check. Let me know if you have any questions from my chicken scratch

edit: i did use neophos by brightwell. I get some trisodium phosphate in a few days so I will redo my math if needed

Can I mix all of these together in like an 8oz bottle or even a 2L bottle and set them on 1 doser to make life a little easier or would you do them separately. Obviously there would be some math involved and trial and error, but if possible I wouldn't mind taking the time just for convenience sake.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Allow me to explain. I use a 500 ml wash bottle. First I put 1 27 mg Fergon pill in 100 ml of water and let it dissolve. You want it to settle out and don't use the silt/junk that ends up sitting at the bottom. I then dissolved the sodium nitrate in some RODI. I add the 94 mL Neophos and 25 mL of the Fergon solution to the bottle along with the sodium nitrate mixture then I top off with RODI.

5mL of this is a "dose" for my 40B which I use about twice a week which increase it to the levels indicated. Hope this helps!

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

I will add that doing them separately has the benefit of adjusting nutrient consumption for your tank. I think I have since adjusted the solution to have more phosphate as that was the limiting nutrient for me. Depends on your parameter levels. BRS sells an iron test kit refill that is fairly easy to use if you have any of their other test kits (i dont think it comes with a spoon for the powder)

 

[Dr. Bluethumb]

I will add that doing them separately has the benefit of adjusting nutrient consumption for your tank. I think I have since adjusted the solution to have more phosphate as that was the limiting nutrient for me. Depends on your parameter levels. BRS sells an iron test kit refill that is fairly easy to use if you have any of their other test kits (i dont think it comes with a spoon for the powder)

Ok, that makes sense. Ill do the separate approach initially to get an idea of what nutrients are being absorb and at what rates. If im lucky ill see consistency and I can make one complete mix and if not just continue to dose accordingly. Thank you again for all your knowledge, I really appreciate your input

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Anytime!

 

[Spare time]

I did so with chaetogro and neophos and neonitro. I also did so with seachem flourish