Does anyone grow Chaeto only in a tank on it's own?

KevPool

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Just wondering if anyone grows chaeto only in a separate tank? I have an 11 gal tank that I was going to use as a QT tank but I thought of setting it up for just chaeto to test out different lighting options. any thoughts on what I need to set this up for growing just that?
 

smol_reef

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The chaeto would need some source of nutrients to grow. Don't know if just throwing food in there and letting it break down would be good enough, or if you'd have to dose things.

I'd also say that the chaeto needs some type of water movement in there as well
 
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The chaeto would need some source of nutrients to grow. Don't know if just throwing food in there and letting it break down would be good enough, or if you'd have to dose things.

I'd also say that the chaeto needs some type of water movement in there as well
I was thinking of putting in a 8"x8"x1" Marine Pure Media brick in there from my sump to help it cycle just wondering what a good source for nutrients would be.

as for water movement I have a hang on the back filter installed with nothing in it right now just to create some flow.

also I will be doing a water change on the nano tomorrow I will toss the water from there in that as well.
 
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Just mixed in my salt, I'll mull it over a bit before I decide what to do with this tank lol

PXL_20210109_213916761.jpg
 

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I mean, you can just dump your dirty water from your wc in there... after 1 week its probably clean and you can put that back into the DT and put a new batch of dirty water from the next wc

Basically a manual fuge LOL
 

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You don’t need water movement, but you do need nutrients. I agree with using water change water, as long as it has some nitrate and phosphate.

It wouldn’t need to be cycled.
 
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You don’t need water movement, but you do need nutrients. I agree with using water change water, as long as it has some nitrate and phosphate.

It wouldn’t need to be cycled.
thanks man good to know. as for nutrients I don't think a couple gal of tank water a week would quite be enough, do you think maybe adding a few inverts to the tank and keep them fed could establish enough for the chaeto?
 

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If you add livestock then make sure you also have the nitrogen cycle done. Its one thing to toss in some food to rot and feed the chaeto since algae consumes ammonia more easily than nitrate, its quite another to subject livestock to ammonia poisoning.
 

ThePurple12

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thanks man good to know. as for nutrients I don't think a couple gal of tank water a week would quite be enough, do you think maybe adding a few inverts to the tank and keep them fed could establish enough for the chaeto?
I’m not sure. In my planted seahorse tank, which ran for a while with no seahorses, I just dosed at least 10 ppm of nitrate (Spectracide Stump Remover) every week or 2 and the macros did great.
 
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I’m not sure. In my planted seahorse tank, which ran for a while with no seahorses, I just dosed at least 10 ppm of nitrate (Spectracide Stump Remover) every week or 2 and the macros did great.
do you have a thread to your seahorse tank I would love to see that
 

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I grow chaeto in a 5 gallon bucket. I give it high light, low water flow, and dose with ammonia. You want some kind of barrier if you are going to have a powerhead in the tank. I heat the water to 80. I’ve heard it grows best in 78-80 and can survive in a high range of salinity. Why are you wanting a chaeto tank? Did you ever start it up?
 

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Found this thread looking for the same info. I took my cheato out of my sump to nurse back to health since nutrients were to low in main system.. and also want a seperate system to pull cheato from for fuge if needed. Maybe even grow pods in.
Right now its in a bucket with a lid ⅓ from bottom with a hole in the center and a 1" adjustable pvc pipe connector. The threading like a union goes through and pinches around the lid hole when screwd on. it keeps the cheato seperated from the pump below and the water drains back down into the center. Forgot to put the heater plug through before finishing so its on top section, but shld be beneath as not to obstruct the "spinning cheato".. yeah, I wanted it to spin around but the pump isnt strong enough. I have another design i'm going to try. A Small bucket elevated inside big bucket. I want to create a 'chaeto basket' so the bottom and sides is all cheato , so it gets all the light, promotes growth, and prevents hair algae. And with the overflow being the sides of lil bucket.. the light can be dead center right on a hole in the lid. Right now cheato Color is ok, but Still pretty brittle at the moment.
20221207_122802.jpg
20221207_122830.jpg
 
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biecacka

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I grow chaeto in a 5 gallon bucket. I give it high light, low water flow, and dose with ammonia. You want some kind of barrier if you are going to have a powerhead in the tank. I heat the water to 80. I’ve heard it grows best in 78-80 and can survive in a high range of salinity. Why are you wanting a chaeto tank? Did you ever start it up?
Do you feed it from your drain?


corey
 

PeterErc

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Why grow chaeto? There are some way nicer macros IMO. I am using ORA dragons breath at the moment. Had it in a 12g cube with diy led, now it is in a 20g. I found that if I dosed potassium nitrate, the algae turned deep red with bright spots. I never had issue with po4 as tank was a cesspool. I would occasionally dose some iron and iodine. Xenia was growing on the back wall. I overdosed ammonia to see what would happen. Xenia was not happy, shriveled up and proceeded to die. Couple iron man mushrooms and the macro were fine. The hermit crabs and mini strombus snails fine.
Well now the tank is going to be qt/frag tank.
 

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