Poll: Chaeto/macroalgae - To tumble or not to tumble?

[dbl]

I've read where many people say the chaeto/macroalgae needs to tumble and others say it's not necessary. I harvest mine every 2-3 weeks (and a lot of it) and I personally do not have my chaeto tumble in the fuge. So I'm curious to see the comparison between tumblers and non-tumblers.

 

[McMullen]

Wrong question. Many reefers, myself included, have a refugium and simply allow cheato to rest peacefully (not tumble) and it grows rapidly. The question should be, does tumbling cheato increase growth, or something similar. The thought that the plant will grow faster via rotation makes since, the plant will grow all the way around. Mine, once gets to a certain point, stops growing on the bottom and turns pale, possibly with die-off.

 

[dbl]

Wrong question. Many reefers, myself included, have a refugium and simply allow cheato to rest peacefully (not tumble) and it grows rapidly. The question should be, does tumbling cheato increase growth, or something similar. The thought that the plant will grow faster via rotation makes since, the plant will grow all the way around. Mine, once gets to a certain point, stops growing on the bottom and turns pale, possibly with die-off.

Wrong question or a different question? I understand your point and actually changed the poll title. "Does yours tumble" and "Does it (tumbling algae) increase growth" are two different questions in my opinion, and I was simply looking for the former in this poll.

 

[madweazl]

Mine doesnt move at all; it is growing in and among various caulerpa species and everything is too dense for any movement. I'm not sure how to quantify its growth rate; I toss a couple handfuls every month or two.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

When I used chaeto in my Nuvo Fusion 20, it would tumble for 2-3 days then grow large enough to stop tumbling in the chamber it was housed in, since I did not have a pre-filter before the chaeto, it effectively became a organic filter floss and would trap detritus for my pods to work through. When it came time to harvest some chaeto, I would would have to remove quite a bit of chaeto to get rid of the detritus and other stuff it had caught and then rinse what of it I was going to keep for the next round. No telling how many pods ended up in the trash/down the drain because of that.

I actually think stationary chaeto would harbor more pods than tumbling chaeto, but tumbling chaeto probably impacts more water volume but not enough that I would think it makes a huge difference.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Mine tumbles, quite well actually I had to up my turnover to get it to do it, but that needed to be done anyway.

 

[bo0sted2g]

I designed mine to tumble by putting the return pipe coming from my UV sterilizer at the bottom of my fuge chamber but the chaeto ball catches some micro bubbles from that and just floats to the top. So I manually flip it over daily so that both sides get some light and so that the part that rises above the water stays wet and doesn't die.

 

[madweazl]

When I used chaeto in my Nuvo Fusion 20, it would tumble for 2-3 days then grow large enough to stop tumbling in the chamber it was housed in, since I did not have a pre-filter before the chaeto, it effectively became a organic filter floss and would trap detritus for my pods to work through. When it came time to harvest some chaeto, I would would have to remove quite a bit of chaeto to get rid of the detritus and other stuff it had caught and then rinse what of it I was going to keep for the next round. No telling how many pods ended up in the trash/down the drain because of that.

I actually think stationary chaeto would harbor more pods than tumbling chaeto, but tumbling chaeto probably impacts more water volume but not enough that I would think it makes a huge difference.

My refugium is home to a lot of detritus and I make no effort to remove it. And by a lot, I mean that is where it all ends up.

 

[don_chuwish]

"I tumble for ya" now stuck in my head. Thanks.

 

[saltyhog]

The volume of chaeto in my refugium pretty much precludes it tumbling despite me having a good sized powerhead in there. When it get's really dense there will be a few areas that are pale but it's amazing how green it is even in areas you wouldn't think the light is penetrating to. I have harvested approximately half of a 5 gallon bucket (pretty tightly packed) in the last 3 weeks.

My powerhead is there simply to prevent detritus accumulation. I choose to try and remove that via filter socks.

 

[lbacha]

I don't tumble mine as I would need a powerhead since my water doesn't flow into the chamber via a bottom baffle but through a series of slots the baffle from the skimmer chamber. I do flip the cheato every couple days as I'm inspecting the sump just to even put the growth.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Just started growing chaeto last week. At least trying to. Mine doesn't tumble. At first it just sunk, yesterday is floated up and has stayed there.

 

[SDReefer]

I don't have the ability to make my Chaeto tumble, but since I don't use filter socks, I use the Chaeto to catch detritus and then clean it out weekly.

 

[Rakie]

Removing chaeto was the best decision I've ever made for my reef. Implementing chaeto was my largest error.

SPS like nutrients.

 

[mpjmeyer]

I purchased a small handful of chaeto from my lfs over a year ago and it just rests peacefully in the fuge. I do however rotate it about once a month but last week, I took handfuls of it out to trade in and received a $30 in store credit. Mine grows rapidly and I still have a good amount leftover which will keep growing to trade in for more goods.

 

[JacklePappy]

Tumbling chaeto is the aquarium equivalent of the machine that goes "ping"

 

[Brew12]

I wish I could get mine to tumble but it always get stuck so I give up. I do flip it just about every day.

 

[ca1ore]

The argument for tumbling was to get all of the chaeto enough light to grow, as opposed to the top bleaching and the bottom dying. Most chaeto will tumble when small, but not when large. I got around the 'problem' by elevating my sump and shining a grow light up from below.

 

[revhtree]

Mine does not tumble and as a matter of fact it builds up a tan slimy something on top of the algae. Any ideas?

 

[cracker]

So does mine I have to give it a shake & turn it over every so often.