Why did my chaeto die?

[John A!10]

So I started noticing a couple of days ago my tank getting some algae. I checked and found my chaeto was brittle and yellow. I removed it from the tank. The tank had been running for more than a year and the chaeto was growing beautifully. Around a month ago I was having some high nitrates / phosphates so I maxed out my $20 cheap LED light. Did that cause it or could it also die from high nitrates? All my coral are growing nice and loving life!
I will be buying more chaeto today.

 

[Suohhen]

Chaeto does bleach if hit with too much light but usually it looks stark white instead of what your seeing. It can certainly be hard for chaeto to compete with other algae. Even if the algae is not growing on the ball of chaeto they are competing for the same nutrients which are not just No3 and Po4 that we test for. Those things are more of a barometer.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Might also have depleted a critical trace element.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I was never successful with Chaeto. Never. Not sure what happened to that though. Very weird. My guess is too much light or not enough nutrients, duh (that is to me).

 

[John A!10]

Might also have depleted a critical trace element.

Would that affect coral growth? The corals are all doing great.

 

[John A!10]

I was never successful with Chaeto. Never. Not sure what happened to that though. Very weird. My guess is too much light or not enough nutrients, duh (that is to me).

Is their any other macro you prefer. I might try to find it at the fish store today.

 

[John A!10]

I also want to confirm it is dead, right? It’s not just fading because of lack of nutrients.

 

[John A!10]

Chaeto does bleach if hit with too much light but usually it looks stark white instead of what your seeing. It can certainly be hard for chaeto to compete with other algae. Even if the algae is not growing on the ball of chaeto they are competing for the same nutrients which are not just No3 and Po4 that we test for. Those things are more of a barometer.

I don’t really have algae. I started getting a lot of algae on the glass so I assumed that it was from the chaeto dying?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I also want to confirm it is dead, right? It’s not just fading because of lack of nutrients.

Brittle is a problem, but yellow may not be.

The owner of Reefcentral years ago came to the chem forum for help with yellow caulerpa. At our recommendation, he dosed iron, and within 2 days it was green again and began growing faster.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I am not sure about fading or dead. Mine would just dissolve to nothing. It actually just looks "sick". I would be tempted to leave it in and see if it gets the green back or dies completely. That is me though just being curious.

I run an UAS in my systems. I have used the floating too. Just more sucess with the UAS. Love them.

If you have a lack of nutrients for it, it will die off. Goal is to have the algae soak up extras and grow in the right places.

 

[Suohhen]

I don’t really have algae. I started getting a lot of algae on the glass so I assumed that it was from the chaeto dying?

A sudden change in the amount of algae on the glass could very well be related to the chaeto.

 

[John A!10]

I’ll leave it in and do a water change to help with the trace elements. I haven’t done one in a while so it’s probably why it’s dying.