wierd problem with high no3 and po4 but cant grow chaeto

[tokigami]

HI,

I have a weird problem. I have 20ppm no3 its off the charts. I also have po4 around .04PPM

I have 0 algy in my tank and also cannot grow chaeto. I tried dosing iron but it still didn't help with the chaeto. I want to grow the chaeto to bring down my n03.

is there anything wrong with my tank in why I cant grow chaeto. I have it in a chaeto reactor and run the lights 24.7

weird..

 

[Crabs McJones]

What test kit are you using? To have those levels and no algae whatsoever doesn't sound right at all.

 

[tokigami]

I agree I am using red sea pro

Maybe it is a faulty kit .. That's why I find it wierd

 

[james983]

Cheato does not do well if you run the lights 24/7. It will not go sexual like caulerpa so don't worry about that happening. Give it 8 hours of darkness.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I agree I am using red sea pro

Maybe it is a faulty kit .. That's why I find it wierd

How old are your kits? They do expire. Check your dates

 

[Tombones]

How is your iodine? I think dosing some can help.

 

[tokigami]

Ok thanks for the tip.. I do have chaeto in another system and it grows amazing and running 24.7. Do you think somehow it's different in this system and will work better on 12 hour light cycle

 

[tokigami]

I actually never tested iodine nor tested for it I shoild look into that

Ok thanks for the tip.. I do have chaeto in another system and it grows amazing and running 24.7. Do you think somehow it's different in this system and will work better on 12 hour light cycle

 

[Tombones]

Be careful and read about dosing iodine. Most tanks that don't dose it are deplete as it is used up rather quickly. I dose iron and iodine and my cheato grows like weeds. I ran my fuge lights for 16 hours but cut back to 12 because my nitrates became too low.

 

[tokigami]

Thanks I'm going to read up on iodine

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Be careful and read about dosing iodine. Most tanks that don't dose it are deplete as it is used up rather quickly. I dose iron and iodine and my cheato grows like weeds. I ran my fuge lights for 16 hours but cut back to 12 because my nitrates became too low.

I agree with iron, but I have shown experimentally that iodine dosing did not help macroalgae (chaeto and caulerpa) grow faster compared to water depleted in iodine.