Chaeto went from harvesting bucket loads for 3 years to dying in a few days time ... ideas?

[Tim Olson]

I'm stumped ... I've been growing Chaeto successfully for a few years now, to the point I sell a bucket load to my Local Reef Store every 2 weeks. But a week ago the Chaeto started crashing ... what's going on?

Photos - Before it was thiving (9/21) and After almost dead (9/28)

Everything is exactly the same as before, except for 2 things:
• I did a normal GFO change on 9/22
• I mixed up a new batch of Triton Core 7 Base Elements, which I've been using for 5 years

Could it be I got a bad batch of Core 7, or could it be something else that cropped up?

The parameters before were; NItrate 0.2-1.0 ppm , Phosphate 0.02-0.05 ppm, Alkalinity 7.0-8.0 dKH, pH 8.0
As of this morning, after the collapse of the Chaeto they are; NItrate 50 ppm , Phosphate 0.068 ppm, Alkalinity 7.3 dKH, pH 7.91 ... nutrients have skyrocketed, since the Chaeto is dying.

The light is a Kessil H380, which has been on 24 hours a day for 3 years.

Also, this is the weird part. I also have Cheato in my display tank and it's doing great. I also have a ton of Caulerpa in the DT, which is thriving as well.

 

[Dan_P]

I'm stumped ... I've been growing Chaeto successfully for a few years now, to the point I sell a bucket load to my Local Reef Store every 2 weeks. But a week ago the Chaeto started crashing ... what's going on?

Photos - Before it was thiving (9/21) and After almost dead (9/28)

Everything is exactly the same as before, except for 2 things:
• I did a normal GFO change on 9/22
• I mixed up a new batch of Triton Core 7 Base Elements, which I've been using for 5 years

Could it be I got a bad batch of Core 7, or could it be something else that cropped up?

The parameters before were; NItrate 0.2-1.0 ppm , Phosphate 0.02-0.05 ppm, Alkalinity 7.0-8.0 dKH, pH 8.0
As of this morning, after the collapse of the Chaeto they are; NItrate 50 ppm , Phosphate 0.068 ppm, Alkalinity 7.3 dKH, pH 7.91 ... nutrients have skyrocketed, since the Chaeto is dying.

The light is a Kessil H380, which has been on 24 hours a day for 3 years.

Also, this is the weird part. I also have Cheato in my display tank and it's doing great. I also have a ton of Caulerpa in the DT, which is thriving as well.

WOW! Great mystery. Is the Cheato in the display tank a sample of the Chaeto in the sump?

 

[Tim Olson]

WOW! Great mystery. Is the Cheato in the display tank a sample of the Chaeto in the sump?

Yes it is .... I take some out of the refugium and put into the display tank to feed my Pitho crabs, and also to give shelter for them and the Amphipods.

I hope I figure it out quickly, since the Chaeto removed a ton of nutrients. Also, now that it's dying it's also dumping in the nutrients stored in the Chaeto. I've been pulling out the whitish parts out to minimize the problem.

The things I've I'm trying are:
• In the process of doing major water changes to help bring down the nutrients in the water
• Added 4 drops of Iodine, since I heard that may help
• I turned off the refugium light and will reduce the hours from 24 to 12 hours a day
• I turned the flow through the refugium way down

I'm almost ready to pull all the Chaeto out of the fuge and put some of the good Chaeto in from the display tank, but I'm afraid of that dying as well.

Another alternative I just thought of is to start growing Caulerpa in the fuge instead of Chaeto. Although, I'm not sure if the nutrient uptake is comparable to Chaeto.

Thanks for the help

 

[Dan_P]

Yes it is .... I take some out of the refugium and put into the display tank to feed my Pitho crabs, and also to give shelter for them and the Amphipods.

I hope I figure it out quickly, since the Chaeto removed a ton of nutrients. Also, now that it's dying it's also dumping in the nutrients stored in the Chaeto. I've been pulling out the whitish parts out to minimize the problem.

The things I've I'm trying are:
• In the process of doing major water changes to help bring down the nutrients in the water
• Added 4 drops of Iodine, since I heard that may help
• I turned off the refugium light and will reduce the hours from 24 to 12 hours a day
• I turned the flow through the refugium way down

I'm almost ready to pull all the Chaeto out of the fuge and put some of the good Chaeto in from the display tank, but I'm afraid of that dying as well.

Another alternative I just thought of is to start growing Caulerpa in the fuge instead of Chaeto. Although, I'm not sure if the nutrient uptake is comparable to Chaeto.

Thanks for the help

Ulva is easy to grow but I have to dose ChaetoGro to keep it healthy.

You mention pulling out whitish Chaeto. Any possibility that Chaeto reproduces like Caulerpa, completely emptying out its insides? My Ulva started doing this, turning my Ulva pond as green as phytoplankton culture and leaving behind white Ulva leaves.

 

[Tim Olson]

Thanks ... That's pretty cool about the Ulva. Chaeto, though, doesn't do that ... it just starts off as one strand and then it keeps on extending the strand. It happens pretty fast, when it's healthy and has lots of nutrients and light.

About 2 hours ago I decided to raise the light from about 14" off the water to 23", since maybe it was getting to much light. We'll see if it helps.

 

[Tim Olson]

I looks like there's a little growth in parts of the Chaeto, so I'm cautiously optimistic.

The parameters this morning are; NItrate ~45 ppm (down 5 ppm) , Phosphate 0.068 ppm (same), Alkalinity 7.6 dKH (up 0.3), pH 7.94 (up from 7.91) ...I think the Nitrates going down is primarily the result of feeding almost nothing yesterday. Also, hopefully it's from less "melting" of the Chaeto.

 

[Mikey-D]

I looks like there's a little growth in parts of the Chaeto, so I'm cautiously optimistic.

The parameters this morning are; NItrate ~45 ppm (down 5 ppm) , Phosphate 0.068 ppm (same), Alkalinity 7.6 dKH (up 0.3), pH 7.94 (up from 7.91) ...I think the Nitrates going down is primarily the result of feeding almost nothing yesterday. Also, hopefully it's from less "melting" of the Chaeto.

When you switched from 24 to 12 hours, are you running the opposite schedule from the DT?

 

[Tim Olson]

I was at 12 hours, for about a day, with opposite hours from the DT. Although, I felt uncomfortable veering to far from what worked before the crash. So I decided to raise the light about double the height it was before and run it at 24 hours. The thought being I might have been "burning" the Chaeto. It's still weird, though, since before the Chaeto thrived on the intense light. I guess the next few days will determine if I guessed right.

I forgot to mention that yesterday I did a 21% water change, to bring down the nutrients some. Also, I wanted to lower the concentration of any contaminants in the water that might have contributed to the crash.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I'm stumped ... I've been growing Chaeto successfully for a few years now, to the point I sell a bucket load to my Local Reef Store every 2 weeks. But a week ago the Chaeto started crashing ... what's going on?

Photos - Before it was thiving (9/21) and After almost dead (9/28)

Everything is exactly the same as before, except for 2 things:
• I did a normal GFO change on 9/22
• I mixed up a new batch of Triton Core 7 Base Elements, which I've been using for 5 years

Could it be I got a bad batch of Core 7, or could it be something else that cropped up?

The parameters before were; NItrate 0.2-1.0 ppm , Phosphate 0.02-0.05 ppm, Alkalinity 7.0-8.0 dKH, pH 8.0
As of this morning, after the collapse of the Chaeto they are; NItrate 50 ppm , Phosphate 0.068 ppm, Alkalinity 7.3 dKH, pH 7.91 ... nutrients have skyrocketed, since the Chaeto is dying.

The light is a Kessil H380, which has been on 24 hours a day for 3 years.

Also, this is the weird part. I also have Cheato in my display tank and it's doing great. I also have a ton of Caulerpa in the DT, which is thriving as well.

Reasons can be-
Overcrowding
lack of water movement
Insufficient light
Lack of Iron
Toxins in the sump

 

[Tim Olson]

That's a good list, thanks!

I'm guessing the crash might have been the lack of iron or toxins in the sump, since the other reasons have been constant over the last 2-3 years and the Chaeto has thrived.

The crash happened a couple of days after I changed the GFO and mixed up a new batch of Core 7 base elements. Do you think toxins might have gotten in the system during the changes of GFO and Core 7?

Right now the Chaeto in the refugium is holding on, but barely. So, I'm planning on putting in a new Poly-Filter to help with the toxins and go to my reef store to get some iron to dose some. Does that make sense?

 

[Mikey-D]

That's a good list, thanks!

I'm guessing the crash might have been the lack of iron or toxins in the sump, since the other reasons have been constant over the last 2-3 years and the Chaeto has thrived.

The crash happened a couple of days after I changed the GFO and mixed up a new batch of Core 7 base elements. Do you think toxins might have gotten in the system during the changes of GFO and Core 7?

Right now the Chaeto in the refugium is holding on, but barely. So, I'm planning on putting in a new Poly-Filter to help with the toxins and go to my reef store to get some iron to dose some. Does that make sense?

Found this while doing some research on this topic. Maybe it will help as they discuss Iron helping with color and growth.

Iron Levels in reef tank??

What would be a good reading on iron levels in my sps reef tank. I have been harvesting large amounts of Chaeto evrey 3 weeks for the past year. Will this effect my iron levels?

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Tim Olson]

Thanks for the great article!

So, I'm going to dose Iron very cautiously and see if there any changes.

 

[legionofdoon]

I know it's taboo now but didn't old reefers use to put an iron nail in their tanks?

 

[legionofdoon]

Also if you mix caulerpa in one will grow then stop then the other will grow then stop. I have 2 types of caulerpa and chaeto. For some unknown reason to me one will always dominate for awhile then die back and the others will take over then die back. Right now it's in a chaeto dominant cycle but I see my prolifera is starting to send out more runners. Also I'm no botanist but I believe that algae prefer ammonia over nitrates, do you think that maybe your ammonia started to get processed elsewhere in the tank before it reaches the sump?

 

[JCOLE]

If you pull your Chaeto does it pull/snap apart or does it just break easily? If it breaks easy then dose Iron. It will consume Iron quickly especially if you have a lot of it.

When my Chaeto is growing well I will harvest this much every month. If I leave it too long then my Iron levels will drop and the Chaeto will become week and pull apart easy. You want your Chaeto bright green with thick walls that snap and not break apart.

Also could be your lighting. I never had good luck with the red/pink/blue lights. I just use a daylight bulb over it and it grows well.

 

[Gp!]

I know it's taboo now but didn't old reefers use to put an iron nail in their tanks?

Good luck finding a pure iron nail these days...

 

[fishybizzness]

If you pull your Chaeto does it pull/snap apart or does it just break easily? If it breaks easy then dose Iron. It will consume Iron quickly especially if you have a lot of it.

When my Chaeto is growing well I will harvest this much every month. If I leave it too long then my Iron levels will drop and the Chaeto will become week and pull apart easy. You want your Chaeto bright green with thick walls that snap and not break apart.

Also could be your lighting. I never had good luck with the red/pink/blue lights. I just use a daylight bulb over it and it grows well.

What brand light do you use?

 

[JCOLE]

What brand light do you use?

SANSI Grow Light Bulb with COC Technology, Full Spectrum 15W Grow Lamp (200 Watt Equivalent) with Optical Lens for High PPFD, Perfect for Seeding and Growing of Indoor Plants, Flowers and Garden https://a.co/d/5CS2i6f

 

[legionofdoon]

Good luck finding a pure iron nail these days...

Well they really are just an Amish community away. Lol pure iron isn't that hard to find. Cast iron is pretty common in the camping community or the rural areas. I personally use iron only when cooking unless I'm boiling water

 

[Gp!]

Well they really are just an Amish community away.

Sorry I hadn't considered Amish nails since we were talking on an internet forum