Chaeto is tight and curly

[Steverd]

The top Chaeto is from my frag tank with a Kessil H80 Tuna Flora Refugium LED Light over it.
And the bottom is Chaeto a club member just gave me, It's a lighter color and not all curled up.

What is going on? Is the top Chaeto just getting too much light do you think?

Thoughts?

Thank you

 

[BranchingHammer]

Sometimes my chaeto gets curly and dark green after not being exposed to light for a little (farthest from light) and the lighter green is new growth. Just a thought

 

[Auquanut]

I'm absolutely no expert, but I would say it's just a matter of how much flow and light it's getting. Mine tends to look like yours and grows like crazy. The main consideration is whether it's growing and doing it's job. Yours looks healthy to me. If it's not tumbling, just flip it every few days.

 

[naterealbig]

I was using the Kessil H380 on my Chaeto and killed the first batch. Part of it I think was my tank was too new, and the light was too strong (you can't dim the H380).

What I had to do was put a regular light (18 watt spot LED made for outdoors) on the Chaeto for a couple weeks, and then slowly ramp up the Kessil (30 min per week). My issue may or may not be your issue.

One thing for sure though, is that it can be tough to tell if the Chaeto is actually growing. What I did with mine was weigh it (in grams) on a digital scale once a week. This made it very easy to tell if I was doing things right or not.

 

[csb123]

I’ve noticed these two variants of cheato in different tanks in our local club. I wonder if they are different species.

 

[Steverd]

I’ve noticed these two variants of cheato in different tanks in our local club. I wonder if they are different species.

I was kind of wondering that also.
But maybe growing conditions.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

There are 50 some different species of Chaetomorpha algae. I've seen thick, hard, wiry chaeto, and I've seen thinner, stringy, straight chaeto. Both will do the same job but maybe one is more suited to higher light than another... I'm not sure on that. Mine is the hard, wiry variety I got from a local. I've ordered some in the past from Algae Barn and it was the stringy variety.

 

[rkpetersen]

There are 50 some different species of Chaetomorpha algae. I've seen thick, hard, wiry chaeto, and I've seen thinner, stringy, straight chaeto. Both will do the same job but maybe one is more suited to higher light than another... I'm not sure on that. Mine is the hard, wiry variety I got from a local. I've ordered some in the past from Algae Barn and it was the stringy variety.

Exactly this. Many different species.
I actually had someone tell me they got their chaeto to change to hard and wiry by massaging and turning it everyday.
Uh, no, probably not.