Getting Chaeto to grow over Hair Algae

Blue Carbon Reefing · Aug 29, 2017

I was wondering if anyone has any sucess in getting their Chaeto to grow instead of hair algae in their refugium. I am hoping the simple answer is to have enough Chaeto in the refugium to out compete for space and nutrients over the hair algae. I have a couple of different sumps in my system but the one sump is a about 50 to 60 gallons dedicated to just growing Chaeto. I have a Kessil A380 Horticulture light over it and the Chaeto is starving and dieing because the hair algae is smothering it and growing all over the glass and on top of the Chaeto. I saw the BRS Video that they encountered a similiar problem with the Kessil light because of all of the par it puts out but I did what they did and cleaned up the hair algae as best as I could but the hair algae is the first thing that comes back. For their test they blended the hair algae and put it back in the tank but I of course removed the hair algae through water changes and did not put it back in the tank. I have about an 1100 gallon system and thinking I need a much bigger amount of Chaeto to outcompete the hair algae but wanted some opinions here to chime in. Anyone else have this problem? What did you do to get the Chaeto to start removing the nutrients and keep the hair algae from smothering it?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Aug 29, 2017

Dosing iron can help macroalgae at the expense of microalgae. It was suggested to me many years ago, and it worked for me.

keddre · Aug 29, 2017

I can't keep chaeto alive, it always slowly dies away so I've gone with caulerpa

Blue Carbon Reefing · Aug 29, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Dosing iron can help macroalgae at the expense of microalgae. It was suggested to me many years ago, and it worked for me.

What do you use to dose Iron? do you follow the instruction on the bottle or dose a different amount. I have read that high iron and iodine can cause GHA blooms. Is there a range you want to stay in to encourage Macro algae and not stimulate Microalgae?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Aug 29, 2017

My recommendation for the past few years is to make a DIY iron solution using Fergon tablets from a drug store.

Take 1 tablet and dissolve in 100 mL RO/DI (overnight soak). Let the solids settle out and use the liquid. Then I dose about 1-5 mL to my 200 gallons (dose is not critical) occasionally (once a week or so).

I discuss iron here:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iron In A Reef Tank ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2002/chem.htm
Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iron: A Look At Organisms Other Than Macroalgae ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2002/chem.htm

zachxlutz · Aug 29, 2017

Jon Smith said:
I was wondering if anyone has any sucess in getting their Chaeto to grow instead of hair algae in their refugium. I am hoping the simple answer is to have enough Chaeto in the refugium to out compete for space and nutrients over the hair algae. I have a couple of different sumps in my system but the one sump is a about 50 to 60 gallons dedicated to just growing Chaeto. I have a Kessil A380 Horticulture light over it and the Chaeto is starving and dieing because the hair algae is smothering it and growing all over the glass and on top of the Chaeto. I saw the BRS Video that they encountered a similiar problem with the Kessil light because of all of the par it puts out but I did what they did and cleaned up the hair algae as best as I could but the hair algae is the first thing that comes back. For their test they blended the hair algae and put it back in the tank but I of course removed the hair algae through water changes and did not put it back in the tank. I have about an 1100 gallon system and thinking I need a much bigger amount of Chaeto to outcompete the hair algae but wanted some opinions here to chime in. Anyone else have this problem? What did you do to get the Chaeto to start removing the nutrients and keep the hair algae from smothering it?

What are your current nutrients in the tank? It may actually be starved for NO3/PO4 or possibly Fe. (EDIT: I realize Randy already answered with this same thought above. His advice is sage.)

Blue Carbon Reefing · Aug 29, 2017

@Randy Holmes-Farley Very nice articles! I picked up some CVS Brand Ferrous Gluconate 27 MG. It appears to be the same thing as the Fergon. Hopefully that will work. They were buy one get one free so I got 200 Tablets for $8. So if I have an 1100 Gallon System I should take 5 pills in 500ML of water and dose 5 to 15MLs per week?

Andy G · Oct 28, 2017

Blue Carbon Reefing said:
@Randy Holmes-Farley Very nice articles! I picked up some CVS Brand Ferrous Gluconate 27 MG. It appears to be the same thing as the Fergon. Hopefully that will work. They were buy one get one free so I got 200 Tablets for $8. So if I have an 1100 Gallon System I should take 5 pills in 500ML of water and dose 5 to 15MLs per week?

Hi Blue Carbon Reefing, did it work?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 28, 2017

Blue Carbon Reefing said:
@Randy Holmes-Farley Very nice articles! I picked up some CVS Brand Ferrous Gluconate 27 MG. It appears to be the same thing as the Fergon. Hopefully that will work. They were buy one get one free so I got 200 Tablets for $8. So if I have an 1100 Gallon System I should take 5 pills in 500ML of water and dose 5 to 15MLs per week?

Yes. But I might make up 1 pill per 100 mL since that will last a while. Dose is really not very important. It's hardly a detectable amount and is depleted fast, but is way more than NSW.

The CVS brand is likely fine. I picked the Fergon brand since I wasn't worried about the other ingredients in it that they use to make tablets (called excipients)

Andy G · Oct 28, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Yes. But I might make up 1 pill per 100 mL since that will last a while. Dose is really not very important. It's hardly a detectable amount and is depleted fast, but is way more than NSW.

The CVS brand is likely fine. I picked the Fergon brand since I wasn't worried about the other ingredients in it that they use to make tablets (called excipients)

Hi Randy, so you think RedSea Iron+ might work for the purpose of feeding the Chaeto to outgrow the hair algae?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 28, 2017

It might.

Blue Carbon Reefing · Oct 30, 2017

Andy G said:
Hi Blue Carbon Reefing, did it work?

It is hard to say exactly. My display tank has been fallow for over 80 days and I just put some fish back in the tank last night. I can say I have noticed some Chaeto growth and it is a darker green than it was before. However because the tank has been fallow and no food has been added for the last 2+ months there isn't much nutrients to uptake out of the tank. My nitrates have registered zero the entire time. I will update again now that fish are going back in the tank on the growth.

@Randy Holmes-Farley thank you for the responses.