Chaeto problem

[Michael_Henry7]

I'm pretty stumped and need some help diagnosing this problem. I have a chamber with good flow for chaeto to tumble in my sump. It has a 12w full spectrum grow light from Amazon about 8in away from the surface of the water (runs 12h opposite of DT). Nitrate is at 5ppm and phosphate is at 0.5ppm. The problem is that the chaeto is flimsy and slowly falling apart, as well as the stands becoming translucent.

 

[Michael_Henry7]

(the light in this picture is a flashlight not the grow light)

 

[lapin]

Some people can grow it some can not. Im a can not person. Can can grow Ulva like crazy. Maybe you can too.

 

[marinebreeders]

Have you tried using chaeto gro?

 

[Michael_Henry7]

Yeah I dose according to the bottle. I shut my skimmer off to see if the chaeto can pick up some more nutrients. The bio load is pretty light for the size tank I have

 

[marinebreeders]

The last time this happened to me, I used a spare gfo reactor and I placed the chaeto inside. After week it was nicely compacted, and I was able to save it. Perhaps it was better flow?

But if you do have good nutrients and are using chaeto grow, it might just be the chaeto. Where'd you get from?

 

[MoshJosh]

this light?

???

I have this same light and it’s OK, I have grown macro algae under it but anecdotally I find white lights work better. Might be worth trying a different light and see what happens. I prefer freshwater planted lights. . .

As said the light is not bad, but if you have adequate flow, nutrients, and are dosing chaeto gro without seeing results. . . it might be worth giving it a shot.

 

[Michael_Henry7]

this light?

???

I have this same light and it’s OK, I have grown macro algae under it but anecdotally I find white lights work better. Might be worth trying a different light and see what happens. I prefer freshwater planted lights. . .

As said the light is not bad, but if you have adequate flow, nutrients, and are dosing chaeto gro without seeing results. . . it might be worth giving it a shot.

yeah that's the one. I will give a good ol' hardware bulb a chance, any recommendations?

 

[Michael_Henry7]

The last time this happened to me, I used a spare gfo reactor and I placed the chaeto inside. After week it was nicely compacted, and I was able to save it. Perhaps it was better flow?

But if you do have good nutrients and are using chaeto grow, it might just be the chaeto. Where'd you get from?

I got it from Addictive Reef Keeping. It was very clean when I got it.

 

[MoshJosh]

yeah that's the one. I will give a good ol' hardware bulb a chance, any recommendations?

I mostly use old lights I have laying around from my freshwater planted days. I have also used cheap 6500k clip on desk lamps. If you have any coral lights laying around you could also give that a shot just dial the blues back.

 

[Freenow54]

I'm pretty stumped and need some help diagnosing this problem. I have a chamber with good flow for chaeto to tumble in my sump. It has a 12w full spectrum grow light from Amazon about 8in away from the surface of the water (runs 12h opposite of DT). Nitrate is at 5ppm and phosphate is at 0.5ppm. The problem is that the chaeto is flimsy and slowly falling apart, as well as the stands becoming translucent.

I Hate I repeat Hate the stuff. In my opinion not worth the effort. Same issues as you. Probably can grow it as an exclusive crop and make $$$$$$$ but not in small batches. Also had an issue with the debris it removes getting into my tank, and killing my coral

 

[floridareeflabs]

Hello. If you ever have questions about Chaeto please reach out to us, we love to talk shop! That said, Chaeto is one of our specialties and we grow A LOT of it. There are many misconceptions when it comes to chaeto and how to grow it and how to keep it thriving, we have tried them all over the years and found what works and we stick with it. Tumbling for example, is just not needed. You just need to "fluff" it every week or so, this ensures center will get some light but in the end it really self regulates meaning, it will thin itself out to get more light as needed and tighten back up if gets too much or enough etc. The other big thing with chaeto is stability of parameters. Alk/calc/mag all need to be in check, alk run in the 8's. You also want nitrates and phosphates and never let reach 0. Also, ammonia is important and you want some but not unhealhy levels of course. Iron is needed but hard to test for so you want to dose it and things like chaeto gro are good or you can dose it seperately. The nitrogen cycle in your tank is important as well so ensure you have proper substrate and if clean bottom tank then hopefully sump is loaded with stuff to create habitate for bacteria etc. If its too good then ammonia is always low and could even be required to dose ammonia or feed heavier etc, lots of moving parts. Lighting is important but not as much as most think. Some can maintain chaeto with a led white cheap bulb and others use expensive grow lights, each has its pros and cons and you just need to find what works. We recommend full spectrum led bulb(s).

Chaeto falls apart, turns white, or gets brittle when any of these things are out of whack, its a great indicator that something is wrong or just too clean (which really is wrong). If chaeto is breaking off and getting into display then its not happy as it should not do this. Once params are off for extended perior chaeto goes into shock, and it takes a few weeks of things being right for it to rebound and bounce back. Just last year we almost lost an entire crop of Chaeto from params being off, long story but we found it after 2 weeks which was enough time to shock it. It turned to mush and fell apart. We cleaned it up, got params right and kept the debrie at bay for 3 weeks and then no more falling apart but not major growth, by week 5 it was doubling in size again and happy.

Moral of story, chaeto is amazing at reducing nitrates/phosphates and ammonia but it will do so to the point it starves itself and you will need to either feed heavier or dose specifically for the chaeto to be happy. Most hobby tanks just feeding alone "should" be enough but everyones sytems are different and some are good with overall nitrogen cycle and others it barely exists and others keep things too clean while some keep very dirty so lots of variables.

 

[Michael_Henry7]

Hello. If you ever have questions about Chaeto please reach out to us, we love to talk shop! That said, Chaeto is one of our specialties and we grow A LOT of it. There are many misconceptions when it comes to chaeto and how to grow it and how to keep it thriving, we have tried them all over the years and found what works and we stick with it. Tumbling for example, is just not needed. You just need to "fluff" it every week or so, this ensures center will get some light but in the end it really self regulates meaning, it will thin itself out to get more light as needed and tighten back up if gets too much or enough etc. The other big thing with chaeto is stability of parameters. Alk/calc/mag all need to be in check, alk run in the 8's. You also want nitrates and phosphates and never let reach 0. Also, ammonia is important and you want some but not unhealhy levels of course. Iron is needed but hard to test for so you want to dose it and things like chaeto gro are good or you can dose it seperately. The nitrogen cycle in your tank is important as well so ensure you have proper substrate and if clean bottom tank then hopefully sump is loaded with stuff to create habitate for bacteria etc. If its too good then ammonia is always low and could even be required to dose ammonia or feed heavier etc, lots of moving parts. Lighting is important but not as much as most think. Some can maintain chaeto with a led white cheap bulb and others use expensive grow lights, each has its pros and cons and you just need to find what works. We recommend full spectrum led bulb(s).

Chaeto falls apart, turns white, or gets brittle when any of these things are out of whack, its a great indicator that something is wrong or just too clean (which really is wrong). If chaeto is breaking off and getting into display then its not happy as it should not do this. Once params are off for extended perior chaeto goes into shock, and it takes a few weeks of things being right for it to rebound and bounce back. Just last year we almost lost an entire crop of Chaeto from params being off, long story but we found it after 2 weeks which was enough time to shock it. It turned to mush and fell apart. We cleaned it up, got params right and kept the debrie at bay for 3 weeks and then no more falling apart but not major growth, by week 5 it was doubling in size again and happy.

Moral of story, chaeto is amazing at reducing nitrates/phosphates and ammonia but it will do so to the point it starves itself and you will need to either feed heavier or dose specifically for the chaeto to be happy. Most hobby tanks just feeding alone "should" be enough but everyones sytems are different and some are good with overall nitrogen cycle and others it barely exists and others keep things too clean while some keep very dirty so lots of variables.

Wow, didn't expect the pros to find this chat. Thank you everyone and Floridareeflabs for all the advice. I am testing out a different light and I am consistently testing and using trial and error to find what works best in my tank. My trace elements (alk/calc/mag) have been low so that could be a contributing factor. I will use this thread to let you all know what ended up working for me.

 

[Michael_Henry7]

Update: I got a new test kit (Tropic Marin compact lab) and my phosphate is at .02ppm and Nitrate is at .2ppm. I also switched to a white bulb from the hardware store. The chaeto is in the same state however, no strands are falling off. I have been dosing All for Reef but can't seem to keep my Alk stable, currently it is at 7dKH a few days ago it was as low as 6dKH, my PH however has been maintaining a level of 8.1-8.4. Will be doing a water change on Saturday.

 

[BigMonkeyBrain]

Update: I got a new test kit (Tropic Marin compact lab) and my phosphate is at .02ppm and Nitrate is at .2ppm. I also switched to a white bulb from the hardware store. The chaeto is in the same state however, no strands are falling off. I have been dosing All for Reef but can't seem to keep my Alk stable, currently it is at 7dKH a few days ago it was as low as 6dKH, my PH however has been maintaining a level of 8.1-8.4. Will be doing a water change on Saturday.

My chaeto was a mess at first. I did no water changes used Chaeto Grow and dosed iron. Also I used a standard replacement white led bulb and a cheap strip grow light.

My Chaeto is nice and green growing nicely.

Sodium bicarbonate ( baking soda ) will not raise PH much but raise Alk - the PH does rise a little usually after the Alk rises.

 

[Michael_Henry7]

My chaeto was a mess at first. I did no water changes used Chaeto Grow and dosed iron. Also I used a standard replacement white led bulb and a cheap strip grow light.

My Chaeto is nice and green growing nicely.

Sodium bicarbonate ( baking soda ) will not raise PH much but raise Alk - the PH does rise a little usually after the Alk rises.

I'm going three weeks strong with no water changes but my ammonia levels are rising (everything still looks great), I might invest in Nitrate and Phosphate additives for the chaeto as well as the chaeto grow. I have a 125gal system with 4 smaller fish so I might have to have more livestock to see better growth.