Grow Cheato consistantly in the refugium
- Thread starter Dragon52
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reefmutt
Community Member
Hey, no problem. One has to think of cheato as a complex marine organism.. maybe not quite as complex as a coral but it certainly has the same needs as any type of plant.. salt or fresh.. look at what those freshwater planted tanks require.. they have all sorts of supplements to keep the aquatic plants thriving .. iron, potassium, No3, Po4 and CO2 being the most important...
I also run a ca reactor and always set up my systems to have the ca reactor effluent run into my cheato before mixing back into the system..
Nick Rose
Active Member
I use the TaoTronics LED on both of our sumps and the chaeto grows like crazy. The only bad thing is that if you don't have a a lot head room you wont get a great spread but it still grows the chaeto crazy.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HPIPM70/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HPIPM70/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Luno
Well-Known Member
Years ago all we used was a floodlight with warm white globe. Grew cheato like a weed you couldn't get rid of.
Now I use a Chinese 165w led had sitting around. Works great but keep it on white light.
Honestly I really don't feel that the light is the biggest thing with growing cheato. If you want to out compete nuisance algae in a display by using a fuge that's a different story.
I fell like regular removal getting a bit of a tumble have been more important in consistent growth than lighting itself.
Now I use a Chinese 165w led had sitting around. Works great but keep it on white light.
Honestly I really don't feel that the light is the biggest thing with growing cheato. If you want to out compete nuisance algae in a display by using a fuge that's a different story.
I fell like regular removal getting a bit of a tumble have been more important in consistent growth than lighting itself.
I use two of these https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HCLVLS6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_L-ecDb1CJHP7X. Both are attached to the glass down low one on the front and one on the back with two clamp on lights above with grow light bulbs from home depot. This way the chaeto gets light pretty much all through it. I run 12 Hr cycles opposite tank lights.
I get crazy growth and harvest about every 10 days. Mine does not tumble as I installed the baffles wrong but I do roll it by hand every couple of days.
I get crazy growth and harvest about every 10 days. Mine does not tumble as I installed the baffles wrong but I do roll it by hand every couple of days.
Japtastic
Active Member
Great info here. It was along the lines of what I was going to post. I had trouble growing Chaeto until I sorted out my testing and dosing of:
Iron
Potassium
Manganese
Iodine
Even though these trace elements are included in my dosing or water changes, they require additional top up to keep the Chaeto happy. The Iron, Potassium and Iodine were fairly easy to dial in using test kits but the I had to rely on info from Randy and ICP testing to sort the Manganese dose.
I was initially under the impression it would just grow like a weed with my H380 and some Nitrates and Phosphates. Took me a little while to figure out how to grow it consistently and properly.
The other thing mine doesn’t like is high Alk (above 9) or high Mag (above 1450)
bluprntguy
Well-Known Member
I think this has less to do with your light and more to do with nutrients. I dose Brightwell chaeto grow once a week and that seems to keep the chaeto going. Running kessil H80 on for 12 hours opposite of my display.
Brett S
Valuable Member
I have a Radion XR15 Freshwater light over my fuge (the freshwater version is a different spectrum than the normal saltwater Radion that is more suited to plant growth). It’s been working well, but I also recently added some of the Tunze underwater fuge lights to light my cheato from the bottom as well as talked about in the following thread. That has significantly increased my cheato growth.
Underwater refugium lighting
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...rwater-refugium-lighting.589445/&share_type=t
Underwater refugium lighting
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...rwater-refugium-lighting.589445/&share_type=t
ss30
Active Member
Do you have Nitrate as well as phosphate? Cheato needs both
stefanm
Active Member
I have used a pair of warm white 20 watt flood lights for a year now, works well. However I had to make a new sump last week, so the fuge section is deeper now so may need to add a small pump, will know in a few days I guess.
McPuff
Valuable Member
If you don't have enough nutrients in your system then chaeto won't grow very well regardless of the light source. Most of us don't have that problem though. :0)
I have used a high pressure sodium bulb (similar to halide) and it worked very well. Used a mars hydro (300W) and that also was very impressive. Now, I use a DIY chaeto reactor wrapped with grow light LED ribbon. It also works really well when my nutrients are high enough. I probably only empty it every two months.
In my experience, the key is to use a lot of light, give the chaeto some "rest time" (i.e., dark time for respiration), turning it every so often seems to help. Removing the chaeto to rinse it/shake it out occasionally also helps to reduce competition with other algae that grow on/in the chaeto. I don't believe tumbling really does much and at some point it simply won't have room to tumble anyway. And obviously, harvest 1/2 to 3/4 of the chaeto regularly to actually perform the nutrient export it was used for in the first place. :0)
I have used a high pressure sodium bulb (similar to halide) and it worked very well. Used a mars hydro (300W) and that also was very impressive. Now, I use a DIY chaeto reactor wrapped with grow light LED ribbon. It also works really well when my nutrients are high enough. I probably only empty it every two months.
In my experience, the key is to use a lot of light, give the chaeto some "rest time" (i.e., dark time for respiration), turning it every so often seems to help. Removing the chaeto to rinse it/shake it out occasionally also helps to reduce competition with other algae that grow on/in the chaeto. I don't believe tumbling really does much and at some point it simply won't have room to tumble anyway. And obviously, harvest 1/2 to 3/4 of the chaeto regularly to actually perform the nutrient export it was used for in the first place. :0)
Tjakes680
Community Member
I have always used a freshwater 65 k plant light t5 or PC been using this since the 90 s and always had success in growing Cheto with this light also i run it oppisite my DT lighting I actually feel the way Cheto or any other type is cut and harvested in fudge make a difference in grow rate I have seen many grow the first batch easy fast and no problem but after they trim it to take some out when its grown to much they can never achieve that growth again i dont know if that has anything to do with them cutting it or tearing it
BeejReef
2500 Club Member
I've not had an issue with growing it. Maybe a touch overkill on a $50 ebay horticulture light. Mine won't tumble well, but it fills the center section of my sump. If I throw half away, it comes back within weeks.
No dosing has been required yet, but I still do >15% weekly WC. ATM, my fuge is my only filtration. I run a small bag of carbon, no filter socks, no skimmer. Every two weeks, I pull out the green mass and rinse it in WC water.
I'm not against filter socks or a skimmer, but I'm lucky to see 5 Nitrate and any detectable phosphate at all running just the fuge and I'm down to only lighting it 7 hours a day. I have the Hanna LR Phosphate, not the ULR. I'm hoping that 0.0 isn't really 0.0 all the time. Tank looks good though, so I'm not messing with it.
One trend I've seen in my limited time reefing and on here is what a canary chaeto seems to be. Seems like every problem thread, the OP is talking about how their chaeto won't grow/never would grow/recently melted.
No dosing has been required yet, but I still do >15% weekly WC. ATM, my fuge is my only filtration. I run a small bag of carbon, no filter socks, no skimmer. Every two weeks, I pull out the green mass and rinse it in WC water.
I'm not against filter socks or a skimmer, but I'm lucky to see 5 Nitrate and any detectable phosphate at all running just the fuge and I'm down to only lighting it 7 hours a day. I have the Hanna LR Phosphate, not the ULR. I'm hoping that 0.0 isn't really 0.0 all the time. Tank looks good though, so I'm not messing with it.
One trend I've seen in my limited time reefing and on here is what a canary chaeto seems to be. Seems like every problem thread, the OP is talking about how their chaeto won't grow/never would grow/recently melted.
rkpetersen
walked the sand with the crustaceans
Excellence Award
Reef Squad Emeritus
Pacific Northwest Reefers
Exactly my experience as I mentioned above. Trace elements seem to be the most important factor, more important than which particular light you're using.
Ian M
Active Member
I run two fuges, a 75g with the kessil h380 and a 55g with two 6500k clip-on work lights. In the last 8 weeks I pulled 10 g bucket full out of the h380 tank and just now thinking of pulling from the other. Yes they both grow healthy but the kessil is growing at double the rate, so many people want to know if they are worth the higher price tags. The way I see it is the faster the growth means it is pulling more phos/nitrates out twice as much as the cheap lights do, so depending upon your system requirements and bio load would determine the amount of light needed to produce your desired export. Not everyone is running large fuges so the cheap option might be all they need, I use 125g of refug instead of using filter socks or skimmer which keeps the 280g total water volume at <2 No3 and undetectable Po4. It also serves as a massive pod factory as well as to grow other types of micro algae to feed the tangs.
reaper0268
Community Member
https://www.amazon.com/Spectrum-Veg...led+grow+bulb&qid=1561395757&s=gateway&sr=8-3
I use this cheap 50W bulb to grow chaeto in my 30 gal sump for my 90 gal tank. I harvest half my cheato (tight packed 1 gal ziplock) every two weeks.
I use this cheap 50W bulb to grow chaeto in my 30 gal sump for my 90 gal tank. I harvest half my cheato (tight packed 1 gal ziplock) every two weeks.
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