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Mine keeps getting overgrown with gha. No idea why. Basically I now grow gha on coarse mesh in my fuge and harvest it every week or two.I can't seem to keep the stuff alive. I grow other types in the DT, but the chaeto just keeps shrinking. Anybody have any ideas why that would be?
I also get weird foamy algae on the surface. I'm not worried about it.I I have a nitrate problem so I set up a 55 gallon acrylic tank I no longer use and just plumbed it into the sump. I use the output of my UV to supply water to the refugium and it just drains back into the sump. The macro algea is like three different kinds and all grown together.. Should I be worried about the brown foamy stuff on the surface?
That sounds like quite the system! If I were not so far away I'd see if I could talk you into letting me see it in person.I have been using chaeto in sumps for the past 20 years. I cheat because my sumps are outside and get direct sunlight year round..
A few years ago we redid the filtration system and moved the main sump into a somewhat covered area. The system volume is 1500g and the sump is 340g. But the covered sump isn't that efficient. I have a 120 tank above the sump called the skimmer tank. It's a 7' lowboy tank. And it gets enough light to grow chaeto well.
I also have 2 outdoor 180g frag tanks. And for years I have been growing chaeto in the overflow boxes of the frag tanks. They get abundant sunlight and constant flow of water from the linear overflow. It gets so densely packed that I have had clowns in the overflow that actually get pushed out of the water because the chaeto gets so dense and tight.
In the overflows the chaeto does seem to collect some aptasia.
During the summer months the two over flows produce a 5g bucket of chaeto every week.
After a disaster in March of 22 the frag tanks were empty of corals and one was empty of fish. The chaeto made it's way into the frag tanks - 96x36x15. Once spring time came one frag tank alone was producing enough chaeto to harvest a full size trashbag every week.
For a few months we had one frag tank dry for cleaning. When we filled it back up hair algae popped up. (All the tanks are attached as one 1500g system). When the hair algae showed up the growth of the chaeto increased. After 3 weeks of inattention I pulled from 1 of the frag tanks a pile of chaeto that covered 6' of concrete by 30" wide and was 30" tall.
While all the tanks are the same water circulating 24/7 the hair algae only appeared in the one tank that had been dry for a few months. We moved some chaeto into that tank (and some snails) and after about 3 weeks we were harvesting chaeto out of frag tank 2 and there isn't a trace of hair algae anywhere.
Dave B
That's the path I'm testing. Seems senseless to struggle with more complicated life forms then that we are trying to avoid in the first place. Just make the Fuge a bigger competitor than the main and it should keep GHA out of it. Going to test pegging the light duration to Ph. Shut the lights off when it passes a certain point otherwise 24/7.Mine keeps getting overgrown with gha. No idea why. Basically I now grow gha on coarse mesh in my fuge and harvest it every week or two.
Can the color of the chaeto indicate iron or other trace deficiencies?We grow lbs of it weekly. There are some secrets to growing but also its not that hard to figure out. Light (high powered full spectrum LED, one that can grow veggies-- hint hint. ), then comes nutrients. You will want to keep mag/calc at bay (never too high) and nitrates not too high but high enough for the chaeto to thrive. Phosphates are also important but again not too high and never zero. Lastly, Iron and ammonia are important too, dont let those deplete, yes zero ammonia is not as good as the test strips have you think it is. Iron is hard to test for so most just dose a little monthly to ensure there is some and/or do regular water changes.
Dont get hung up on trying to get the chaeto to spin or roll, it wants light and oxygen, so just flip it around once in a while. Again, we grow a lot of it and the last 10 years we have learned a lesson or two. Once you stablize your system and know what your system needs to have dosed weekly/monthly you will end up harvesting and throwing some away.
Yes, absolutely. When chaeto is starving for something it changes either in color or texture. Too much light or too little light changes its curls too. Even smells or feels deflated and soggy if its not thriving per nutrients but also can become brittle and have white dead areas too. We watch chaeto in any tank and if its not growing and bright green (vs yellow or dark green) then we know something is off and test things.Can the color of the chaeto indicate iron or other trace deficiencies?
I I have a nitrate problem so I set up a 55 gallon acrylic tank I no longer use and just plumbed it into the sump. I use the output of my UV to supply water to the refugium and it just drains back into the sump. The macro algea is like three different kinds and all grown together.. Should I be worried about the brown foamy stuff on the surface