Chaeto Gro And Mexican Turbos

[Dan_P]

I have fifteen large Mexican turbos in a 75 gallon aquarium. The system total is about 100 gallons. There is a 3 gallon kitty litter bucket filled with Ulva. I noticed recently that Ulva was becoming limp and falling apart even though the system was dosed with iron gluconate and the nitrate and phosphate levels had not changed. I guessed that the recent vigorous growth of Ulva had depleted the micro nutrients. I started dosing Chaeto Gro with the recommended daily dose. The Ulva stopped declining and started to grow again. Micro algae in the aquarium also started to grow vigorously and glass cleaning became a chore.

About 1-2 weeks into dosing, the appetite of the Mexican turbos declined from 1 8x8 inch sheet of algae per night to 1/4 sheet in 24 hours. The snails also seemed to be lethargic. I decided to stop dosing Chaeto grow after a recent R2R post talked about the toxicity of high levels of cobalt. Chaeto Gro contains cobalt. Within 2 weeks of stopping Chaeto Gro, the Mexican turbos were eating 1 8x8 sheet of algae a night and they were back to roaming around the aquarium again.

I will probably cut the Chaeto Gro dosing to one daily dose per week and see how the Ulva grows.

 

[CoralClasher]

Interesting topic. Since stopping ChaetoGro and two large water changes I’ve noticed snails more active. My cowrie snail came out two nights ago after hiding for months.